Today is Sabato. (Saturday)To counteract gelato frenzies and inhalation of crusty breads at every meal, I hauled Hannah with me on a power walk this morning. We are already noticing the influx of more people on the weekends, longer lineups, more street artists and general more pedestrian traffic.
Tomorrow is Domenica. (Sunday- ok this is personal orientation to day and time!) we are heading off on a ROAD TRIP to Assisi! Therefore to be well informed travelers once again, the ever ready Wiki/Sherlock found us, a deal of a bus trip that includes lunch and the pleasurable company of a local english episcopalian church group! And did I mention they were even showing the Franco Zefferlli 1972 musical classic 122 minute , "Brother sun Sister moon" to inform us even further. It was showing @ 4pm.
It was the highlight of the day thus far!
We checked it out online before we went on website called Rotten Tomatoes. Not that this creates any foreshadows or preconceived notions, but let's just say Hannah was less than excited. The trailer and soundtrack by Donovan are the quintessential '72 kitch. Nevertheless,in the hope of creating a memory, we walked across town to the beautiful stone St. James Episocopalian church and were let in by a proper and kind elderly woman named Marion. She led us to the "circa 1970" church basement through a side door, where we were immediately greeted by a handful of retirees.
" You drop the age by a hundred Mom, "whispered Hannah. ( this was significant and meaningful as this is part of my birthday celebration~ more on that later!)
After a warm and friendly chit chat and a good strong Italian espresso, we all made our way into the theater. There it was, the 21 inch TV in the children's Sunday School class. It was a time warp back to my early childhood. We increased the group significantly so we brought in our own grey plastic chairs and sat at the back...right by the door... just in case we needed to leave for some dire emergency.
So there we were in the dark corner of a church viewing a TV with 12 retirees and one mid-30 aged woman. One gregarious gentleman with twinkling eyes and a ruddy face, could not for the life of him get the machine, nor the remote, to work. The woman pastor asked ,"Can ANY one help, especially if they were of a younger generation.Will any one to admit to that scale?!"as her eyes bore down on Hannah who was squirming and looking like a ferret backed into the corner, desperate for an escape. Her eyes turned pleadingly to Randy as he is encouraging her to go. Mother, caught in the middle and sensing Hannah's panic, had to jump and save her youngest, " Randy! At least go with her!" Mother frantically whispered. So he moves to the front to see if he can get the VCR working . Hannah stayed firmly planted. Yes I said VCR, meaning VHS . Randy as Wiki/ Sherlocky and brilliant as he is - the technical stuff is not his forte- this why we have a luke and hannah. he can and does fiddle around and somehow it works eventually.
So I lose it in gut wrenching laughter. I now am shaking uncontrollably with Hannah chastising me. It cannot get any more insane than this moment. The website gave the movie a 5.7/10. It was already at a 7 for me and the movie wasn't even working yet.
Randy , the ever -noble man came to the rescue of all the elderly and damsels in the room. My modern day David. larger than life was valiant once more. He saved the day and the movie played, albeit with the color darkening in and out.
We learned something about St. Francis today. He turned his back on all his wealth and upbringing to live a simple life of poverty, chastity and charity. And as Alec Guiness who played
the Pope said, after being rebuked by St. Francis," Sometimes we get too focused on the original sin that we forget the original innocence."
May we never forget the innocence nor first love.
Oh you guys crack me up. I love reading this blog!!!
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