buon giorno

Hello Friends--I am still in Italy, and have had limited computer access since leaving Yuri and Vera's, but have been taking lots of pictures and notes, and when I return will weave some of them into posts relevent to this blog which I try to keep (at least loosely) connected to the store.

Everywhere I turn I am inspired.

Castelvetro di Modena

I love the rustic simplicity of the medieval towns, and the importance of good food.

I want a Carpathian Wolf Dog. Meet Akeela, Yuri and Vera's dog. Half German Shepherd and half Carpathian timber wolf, and the sweetest, most soulful dog I've ever met. Sorry I didn't get a picture of her outside of the fence. (She has her own lovely, hilly acre where, when unattended, she can see everything that's going on and the neighbor's chickens, which are truly free-range, are safe.) Is it shallow of me to want to use the word Carpathian when referring to my dog? Such images the word conjures up.

I have been taking a lot of picture of walls

and missing the store. Here's a random list I made the other night when thinking of how to improve it:
Seamus Heaney/Robert Frost
the old barn
Americana
old-fashioned newsletter
Dylan Thomas
everything has a story
themes: botanicals, the road not taken,
meander
country childhood
Slow Food

I am in Tuscany now--going to Florence this afternoon and so excited. I was there many years ago, and am hungry to see the Botticellis and Santo Spirito and to wander the small streets. I return home Tuesday and look forward to catching up with you.

Jen