The Olive Harvest

We were so happy to catch the annual harvest of the olive trees on the temple piazza. The Groundskeepers surround the tree with a giant net and then a motorized rake is used to reach up to shake the branches. 

The nets catch the olives as they fall to the ground. 

There are 30 + trees that grow on the Temple grounds, all but four have been growing on that plot of ground for about 150 years. 

The other four larger trees were transplanted from Northern Italy and are 400 to 500 years old. 

God Be With You Till We Meet Again

Beth's mother, Carol Ann Brown, passed away last week. It has been a tender time. We have found comfort from family, friends and our faith. The following poem was read by Carol at her own mother's funeral many years ago and captures her understanding of dying. We know that she is happy and at peace surrounded by loved one. God be with you till we meet again. Love you Mom!

Gone From My Sight by Henry Van Dyke

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. 

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone." 

Gone where? 

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!" 

And that is dying...

Assisi, Italy

With the temple being closed on Mondays, we are able to occasionally do some exploring of beautiful Italy and Fall is a good season to do it. We rode along with some friends to Assisi in Umbria. 

Assisi sits elevated on a prominent hill surrounded by a valley checker-boarded with olive groves and orchards, tilled fields, and Italian farms. It is most famous for being the birthplace of St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order of monks and nuns. 

Steep stairs, narrow streets and angled alleys tangle and turn through blocks and blocks of stone buildings.

Many churches are found in Assisi with interiors that range from ornate to humble. Brown robed, sandal-footed followers of St. Francis walk among the many tourists. Gift shops, restaurants, pastry shops and gelaterias abound. 

A funny, funny thing happened while we were there. We were FaceTiming with our son AJ, who happened to be looking at a Live Feed Camera of Assisi. He showed us what he was seeing and we realized that the location was right near us. We went to the piazza and waved our hands above our heads and...he found us! There we are...circled in green...in the screenshot they took. That was certainly a fortunate stroke of serendipity!!!!  

Italy has a rich religious history and 2,000 years of Christianity has permeated nearly every facet of Italian life. The showplace and center of every town is the church/Chiesa or the cathedral/Duomo. In the case of Assisi, there are 15 places of worship! What a nice place to visit!

Here Comes the Sun

An earlier-than-usual work assignment at the temple got us there just as the sun was rising. You can see the sun off in the distance adding color to the horizon.

When it hit the grey marble of the temple exterior...  the color changed to pink and then to orange!

What a great way to start the day! 

"The glorious lamp of heaven, the Sun." - Robert Herrick

Another Field Trip - Lake Bracciano

Let us show you what might have just become our FAVORITE field trip destination. Lake Bracciano was an easy and calm 45 minute drive north west of us through beautiful rolling hills and wide open spaces. 

It is easy to see why the lake is a popular tourist location in the summer, but we happened to visit on a very quiet and beautiful Monday in October.  We learned that this lake provides the drinking water for Rome and for that reason motorized watercraft are not permitted on the lake...only sailboats, paddle boards and kayaks, adding to the peaceful feel of the lake.

We visited two lakeside towns on our field trip... 

 ...Bracciano with its castle perched on a hill as a defense against medieval enemies. 

The other buildings look to have attached themselves to it for protection.  

It is impossible to tell where one dwelling starts and the other ends. 

What fun it is to walk those cobbled streets, peaking in to the small stores and shops. 

The narrow streets go up, then down, then around.

After lunch we drove along the lake to the town of .....

(Photo by https://travelconnectexperience.net/anguillara-sabazia/) 
.....Anguillara Sabazia. This town was our very, very, very favorite!!! 

It sits right on the coast of Lake Bracciano and has a peaceful, sleepy charm all its own. 

If you are familiar with the TV show "Everybody Loves Raymond", then you will recognize this town from the two episodes of the Barone family in Italy. 

Italy is providing us with great opportunities to walk our 10,000 steps a day...

...and we have found lots of interesting things along the way! 

Thanks for joining us on this field trip. We have a strong suspicion that we will be back!!!

A Delicious Lunch with Good Friends

Meet our friends, Elia and Stefano! We worked with them in the Swiss Temple five years ago. We were so happy to reunite with them at the Rome Temple!!  

They invited us to lunch last week and really rolled out the Royal Roman Carpet with absolutely delicious food! In this pic, Elia puts the finishing touches on the first course, Spaghetti Carbonara made with freshly cooked, seasoned, and pureed pumpkin instead of eggs....it was perfection!

Stefano and Elia were born and raised in Rome, have two grown-up children, love to globetrot and have beautiful mementos of their world travels displayed in their home. He is currently the bishop of one of the wards in Rome and they work at the temple with us on Friday evenings. They are working on learning English so our lunch conversation ping-ponged between our two languages. Of course, GoogleTranslate helped us when we got stuck!!  

For the second course, Elia served tender Chicken Cutlets with mushrooms and truffles, marinated eggplant and green bean/potato/tomato salad.  All of it was fantastic! At their table we were introduced to a new treat...honey drizzled on a variety of Italian cheeses!!!  

What a terrific time we had sharing great food and musical conversation with our sweet friends in Rome!