Parties, Picnics and Sculpture

This writer has been having a bit of a blog holiday because it's been a packed week of work and social events.  Perhaps it's a sign of age, but I can't party like I used to and still function the following day!

Last weekend was the anniversary celebration at Peralta for the Italian artist Fiore de Henriquez, who died ten years ago.  I had the privilege to know Fiore and she was one of the most extraordinary people I have ever met.  Full of vibrant energy, passion, and a complete disregard for rules and regulations! There are some film clips from Richard Whymark's film 'Fiore' on this link.

 The party at Peralta went on for three days, so her life was very thoroughly celebrated.  Fortunately for the guests, the Comune chose to open the road to allow residents through, even though it's not finished.   In January, after the catastrophic storm that dumped 300mm of rain on us, the road looked like this - 6 feet of crumbling slippage

before disappearing down the mountainside altogether, taking the trees and utility services with it, leaving an unbridgeable gap.

April

It's been a really big engineering job to rebuild it - involving a huge retaining wall - and everyone thought it could be many months before the village was reconnected to the outside world. But the Italian workforce has pulled out all the stops and got there early!  It's not finished yet, but is usable. Everyone was cheering and tooting as they drove through for the first time in 6 months.

June

I've been tied to my desk with deadlines all week, but did manage to get out for a picnic to belatedly celebrate the summer solstice.  We went upriver into the mountains where there are rocky gorges and deep pools to swim in.

We had two lovely pieces of news this week.  My biography of Norman Nicholson has been shortlisted for the Lakeland Book of the Year Award (judged by Hunter Davies, Fiona Armstrong and Eric Robson), and Neil has been selected to carve a piece of marble for the 'Omaggio a Michelangelo' at the Carrara Marble Museum.   He picked up his block a few days ago and is already busy chipping away at it.  Nice things do happen!

A bit rough now - but watch this space!