Inside Out, Upside Down

We've been looking at the Duomo all year, from all sides.

 

But last month, we saw the Duomo from the inside out,

                                                                                       and from the upside, down.

 

We climbed to the top of its highest dome

 

 and down again.

We saw what was carved on the outside of the dome,

 and what was painted on the inside of the dome.

 

The insides of domes and beautiful places have inspired us this year, 

inspired us to make beauty ourselves,

from the inside out.

 

Easter

This year, our biggest Easter surprise came at the end of the Duomo's morning Mass, something that has been surprising the people of Florence for over 500 years.

 

It started when a team of white oxen wheeled an age-old cart into the piazza. Then, a dove-shaped flint was sent all the way from the front altar, down the center aisle and out into the piazza, igniting the cart and setting off rounds of firecrackers.

 

                                             Fireworks and smoke filled the air . It was a type of Easter Fourth of July!

By far, it was the craziest, Easter tradition any of us had ever seen.

More fun than fireworks were the friends from Seattle who joined us in Florence for Easter this year:

our dear friends, Joe Hastings and Ray Ishii, 

Ann Muno, and her sweet daughter,

Bella.



Even the Easter Bunny hopped by for a visit.





On Easter night, we had our own little fireworks in the kitchen and blew a fuse, inspiring another, age-old tradition: by candle light, we shared a meal with friends, read poems to one another, and played a favorite, family game.



Buona Pasqua! May your days be full of Easter blessings.

Kissin Cousins



Florence won't be the same after the Erickson family came to town.



Our special visit from Auntie Arden, and cousins Bo, Halle and Kelton in April began at the train station with a sweet, 5-way cousin hug.
 

For 5 straight days, the girls were eating and sleeping with cousins! 

 

 In Florence, the cousins roamed the streets together...

...and saw the sights together. 

 They rode trains,

rode rides,

and rode bikes together.

In nearby Lucca, the cousins rode on top of, 

jumped on the side of, 

 

and picked flowers along the edge of Lucca's rampart walls. 



 

They played around the Duomo....


 








...and climbed its highest dome to check out the best views of Florence!

  

And after eating as much gelato as they could,

 

the cousins headed back to the train station.... 

... where we said goodbye. 

 

There's no place like home, and, there is nothing like Florence when family and cousins from home come to town.