Sue and I were riding home from our latest visit with my eye surgeon–that’s another story. After stopping for lunch at 7 Leguas, a local Mexican restaurant which we decided to try today. A great option for lunch.

it was pretty late, after 3:00. The radio came on automatically and was tuned to NPR’s broadcast of the Market Report. The story was on terramation or human composting; I have read stories and heard reports on this a number of times in the recent past, but this time it really hit home.

Terramation is a name for human composting. The website Wikimpedia says “Although the natural decomposition of human corpses into soil is a long-standing practice, a more rapid process that was developed in the early 21st century by Katrina Spade, entails encasing human corpses in wood chips, straw, and alfalfa until thermophile microbes decompose the body. In this manner, the transformation can be sped up to as little as 1–2 months.^[2] The accelerated process is based in part on techniques developed for the composting of livestock.”

For.a long time now, I have known that I didn’t want my family subjected to the traditional body disposal that we have long been subjected to. Clearly, there are many people just like me who no longer think that embalming and burying the body in a sealed casket in a graveyard is the ideal option.

Colorado is one of the very few states now permitting the option of terramation. Sue and I are certainly going to look into it.

This wasn’t our ship–but one just as big and obnoxious as ours, coming into the Santorini harbor; fours hours were soon to follow. The following morning, there were six ships, with something like 20,000 passengers, all of whom had to take a tender from their ship to the shoreside dock, then wait for a spot on the funicular to take them up to the village on the hilltop. I don’t know how many people actually succeeded in seeing anything on the island of Santorini, but I know a lot of people never made it off the dock. Fortunately, we had decided against even trying as we had see Santorini before.

In the last decade, cruising has became a nightmare–there are just far too many people just like us–with time and money enough to afford a Mediterranean cruise, but there are just so many places you can visit. The next stop was Athens. We thought that it wouldn’t be too hard to get into town from the harbor at Piraeus. So did all the other people in line with us.

Don’t get me wrong. Sue and I have taken some cruises that we have enjoyed. Our favorite are the TransAtlantic repositioning cruises that leave from Florida, perhaps stop by a Caribbean island or two and then sail for six or seven days without touching land. Sure the food, drinks, and entertainment can get boring, but it’s usually peaceful and serene sailing from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean. We might even do that again, but not sure now if we can bring ourselves to try it. You still have to contend with your three to four thousand fellow passengers, all striving to get fed or into the nightly theater production.

The saving grace on this trip was being with John and Bonnie, Sue’s brother and sister in law. We do enjoy being with them and sharing some of the experiences.

On this cruise, we enjoyed seeing Mykonos with them:

Olympus:

The Amalfi Coast and Sorrento:

And most especially the stop in Malta and the visit with their granddaughter, Betsy, who was there for her semester abroad:

In June I embarked on a solo two week adventure in the Puglia region of Italy, an area I had never visited before, despite many visits to Italy over the past forty years. I am so glad I did.

Alberobello is a small city, located in the heart of Puglia, famous for its Trulli architecture. and orecchiette pasta.

I chose it because of the Trulli Italian Language School and the opportunity both to refresh my Italian and to get to know and explore a new part of Italy.

I thoroughly enjoyed my two week stay, the school and opportunity to see a lot of the Puglia region. The weather during the first two weeks of June was great–some very warm and sunny days, interspersed with some more temperate, blue sky days.

The Trulli Language School offered a two week Italian course. Twenty-five of us showed up on the first days of class when we were divided up into three groups, based on our level of Italian proficiency.

Classes, consisting of five to seven students, were taught every morning from 9:00 to 1:00 by talented and friendly faculty.

Afternoons were devoted to excursions to nearby towns as well as wine tasting, an olive oil tasting, a cooking lesson and excursions to several nearby towns.

Most of the towns were just an hour or so away; many of them on the Adriatic; all of them beautiful and fun to explore. There was always an opportunity to shopped/or sample the local wines or cuisine. My favorite town was Polignano a Mare where our tour included a boat ride that took us into some of the caves that honeycomb the cliffs under the city.

And, of course, there was always gelato–why is always so much better when combined with a ramble through an Italian village or town?

I was surprised to learn that I was the only man in the summer program, along with some 23 woman who came from all over the world–the US, Egypt, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Argentina and throughout Europe and the Americas.

The teachers and the owner/director, Andrea, were friendly and helpful. My classmates and I really enjoyed our teacher, Angelica, who had a degree in teaching, could speak French, Spanish, and Arabic and was a very intuitive and creative instructor (pictured above on the far right).

Two of my classmates, Chris & Holly, were great dinner companions. Over a bottle or two of Negroamaro wine, we enjoyed talking about our different backgrounds and experiences–Holly is from New Zealand and a mountain hiking guide, Chris is from Australian and a retired teacher; sharing family stories; and laughing at our mutual struggles with mastering Italian.

I really hope to return soon to Alberobello and to get Sue to accompany me!

Delta County, CO is one of our favorite places. We love visiting there and love sharing it with others. This past week we spent a wonderful week there with some longtime friends.

This was the view from the back deck, where we met most mornings and evenings to talk, laugh, covetch and enjoy good food and wine. We were often entertained by hummingbirds bickering to control access the feeders. The view changed with each day depending on the time of day and the weather

Our group included longtime friends–we all met in 1970 in New Orleans when some of us were enrolled in a Masters Degree Program in Latin American Studies at Tulane University–that was 54 years ago.

We have kept in touch and visited with each other during these years and gotten to know their partners, welcoming their children, and sharing good news and bad.

This week we made our headquarters in a lovely Airbnb home, perched on ten acres outside of Hotchkiss, CO. Highlights of our trip included a visit to the North Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the Orchard Winery near Paonia, Pioneer Town in Cedaredge and the nearby Grand Mesa.

Martin & Lois Simpson, Ben & Lauriece Aguirre, John Cunningham, and Sue.

Lois, John and I enjoyed morning walks along Mesa Stuckey Road. The Black Canyon is always worth another visit. August is a good time for wildflower viewing.