Yesterday I fell on my butt. It was going to happen, sooner or later.

Luckily, all I got was some mud on my pants and a lightly bruised ego. After five days crossing the northern part of the Appenine Mountains, our legs are VERY tired from negotiating steep ups and downs.

Thanks to Ed’s careful planning, utilizing local trains, busses, cabs and rides from kind folks, although we knew the mountainous section would be tough, we avoided the impossible (for me) bits and walked 8 to 12 rough kms each day. Damp underfoot made the rocks and mud slippery.

Mountains — and rough ancient paths — teach us to concentrate. Even a moment’s distraction and one finds oneself on the ground. Mountains teach humility, and love for a Maker who conceives of beauty beyond measure. Mountains cause us to treasure quiet, and the small, clear voice of a bird. And when we come out of the mountain path, we welcome reminders of human living like sweeping the floor and walking home from school.

Most evenings we are rewarded with mass in a local church, typically 800 plus years old, and a fabulous meal with fresh ingredients prepared in the locally “typical” way. We have made note of many variations in the presentation of the mass, length (or absence) of homily, etc. We are consoled to listen to the readings in Italian as we try to brush up on a few words.

HURRICANE IAN IN FLORIDA: We learned yesterday that the enormous Hurricane Ian caused great flooding and destruction in southwest Florida, including Naples where we have our condo. We are grateful for our friends and neighbors whom we have heard are safe, and pray for safety and recovery for all. The storm surge apparently reached to within a foot of entering our building’s ground floor (our unit is on the second) but overall it appears as though there was no significant damage. There had been flooding in the streets and not surprisingly the power has been out and is likely to be out for a while, which can cause its own issues, especially in Florida.