Flowers, Cats, and Trees

Dear Charlie and Polly,

I hope you are having a great first week of summer! Your Kiddie Car Wash looks like so much fun, and Charlie, we can't wait to see the new gap in your smile!

Today, I thought I'd show you pictures of all the beautiful things we see each day as we walk (climb?) from our house into Ravello. The first thing I have to mention are the flowers. It seems like everything is blooming and beautiful right now! These are bird of paradise flowers. They don't bloom in Clarksville, but we saw them blooming earlier this year in San Diego and Guatemala. Doesn't it look like the head of a beautiful bird?

This is an orchid growing out of a stone wall on the path. I wonder if someone planted it there or if it got there by itself?

These are some beautiful lillies right outside our door.

Red roses,

A pink snapdragon,

And hydrangeas just getting ready to open up.

I'm not sure what these are...

...or these...

...or these.

But all together, the combination is beautiful!

This is where we had lunch yesterday, the Ristorante Garden.

I had my favorite - Caprese salad. Yum!

Guess who else was very happy with his salad? An Italian "Doccy" salad!

This was next - homemade pasta with fresh tomatoes and shrimp. Delicious!

After lunch, we set out to find more of this... (chocolate and caramel this time)

Along the way, we saw this wedding party. I think every day since we have been in Ravello, we have seen at least one bride. Polly, when you are all grown up, Sweetie and Doc would love it if you got married here! :-)

Something else we see a lot of while walking around are cats. Cats are EVERYWHERE! They call them wild cats, but they don't really seem wild to me - they just don't want people to get too close to them.

There are cats on walls...

And cats on steps...

And cats in bushes...

Can you find the cat in the bushes?

And cats in corners...

And cats expecting more cats!

You can even buy a tile for your house with a cat on it. Guess what it says? Beware of the Cat! What is the Italian word for cat?

There is also a beautiful pine tree that grows here. It has lots of different names, but most people call it an umbrella pine. Can you see why? Do you remember the famous Ravello picture from my post yesterday? There is an umbrella pine in that picture, and there is an umbrella pine in our stained glass window at home. Pine nuts come from this type of pine tree. Ask Mommy if she has any pine nuts you can taste. They are yummy!

Can you find the umbrella pine in this picture? They are easy to spot, aren't they?

This is a very old umbrella pine at the Rufolo Gardens. They have tied up so it won't blow over.

For dinner last night we went to a restaurant called Cumpa Cosima. Miss Kari and Mr. Mark told us about it when we came here eight years ago, and it was the first place we had dinner in Ravello on that trip. Last night, I sent Miss Kari a text with this picture, and we were able to communicate with her in real time, even though we were over 5000 miles apart. Isn't technology great? :-)

Cumpa Cosima is Mama Netta's restaurant. It has been in her family for generations. Miss Kari and Mama Netta are good friends, and she asked that we tell Mama Netta "hi". Instead we made this picture with Mama Netta and sent it back to Miss Kari!

Good night Ravello!

Love you and miss you both!

Sweetie and Doc

 

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