Tuscany?

We played Mah Jongg at one of the other girls' house this week. Rosa Anna lives next door to her mother (sharing a yard) and across the street from her grandmother. (She bought her great-grandmother's house.) This was like a quick trip to Italy - it will suffice as my Tuscany experience for a while. Just being in the midst of these 3 generations warmed my heart. Rosa Anna's husband maintains the garden that her father once tended to. There were tomatoes (what seemed like hundreds of them), Italian green beans, zucchini, corn, arugula, an apple tree, herbs galore and, of course, fig trees. We sat under a trellace that was laced with grape vines, with the bunches of grapes hanging over our heads.

Momma came out to join us - still in full black mourning clothes as her husband of 55 years has only been dead a little over a year. I rushed to show her pictures of my precious granddaughters - just to hear her say, "God Bless" with her genuine Italian accent. Her gentle voice, the wrinkles on her face, her grey hair blowing in the wind, her simple smile - what a pleasant memory. It was like having my own grandmothers back, if even just for a moment.

We will soon return to playing Mah Jong at my house again - but I will always cherish my visit to the 'old country'.