Just back from two weeks in Italy visiting Nonna Ciccina and all the zii and cugini. And the cani and pulcini. And Luna (excitedly renamed by Lola to, “Luuuu!”) and Felix (with whom Lola had many a finger-wagging, impassioned yowl-style conversation).
We had great weather: two weeks of hot, blue-skied days. The only downside was the bloated population of flies and mosquitoes, the like of which hadn’t been seen for years. Both Isa and I were being bitten constantly by tiny flies and tiger mosquitoes which, unlike normal mosquitoes, give no whiny warning of their approach. Lola got a few bites, too, but didn’t appear to be bothered by them.
Lola ate constantly. She’s really started wolfing it down these days — a change which started a week or so before we went away. She learned to dunk her ‘fete biscottate’ into her milk after watching Mum dunk biscuits into her tea and coffee. Lola seemed to spend the whole holiday wandering around with something in her hand: a breadstick or a hunk of raisin bread or whatever. It became a running joke. As did Lola’s constant use of the word, “this” which she used, and still uses, to refer to everything.
We spent three days in a holiday apartment in Caorle which was lent to us by our friends the Grazias. A typical Adriatic-coast resort with hotel-lined beaches and rows of regimented loungers and umbrellas. The apartment block had its own outside pool and Lola and I went for a quick swim every in the afternoon heat. A quick swim as the pool was unheated and we didn’t want Lola to get too cold. She loved it and didn’t want to come out even when she was shivering.
Lola was a bit wary of Zio Renzo and Zio Claudio — Claudio especially was always trying to get Lola to come and see the dogs (which she loved to do) with him but she would refuse. “No, no,” she would say when asked, backing away from the offered finger. Perhaps it was his “vocone” which she found offputting; he is a big man, our Claudio. Perhaps, though, if Claudio had just scooped her up and taken her (as Zia Morena would) she would have quickly come round.