In the park

Well. I'm sitting in the park at the moment with Leasha writing a card, and me relaxing in the sun on my big green blanket. This blanket was bought in Austria at our family reunion about 15 years ago, when numerous members of my family attended. I remember having had a really great time with my cousins, and being envious that they spoke fluent German and could talk to anyone there. This wasn't really repeated until about ten years later in Spain, at my Gran's 80th party celebration/reunion. By this time our family had expanded and my little niece had been born- both my brother and his wife were in attendance. It's amazing how much, and how little nearly ten years can put between people. I guess I'd grown up by that point, from an annoying brat with short blonde hair and a penchance for extra large t-shirts into a more mature individual. This didn't seem to stop me having just as much fun with my cousins, although they argued among themselves as usual, often in Norwegian. Mind you we ate really great food and went to a few really good places to eat and drink. Seems like a while ago now, but there's one planned in September for Italy, which I'd be eager to go on although my parents seem to have found an excuse not to attend. Milan'd be a really great place to visit, and I'll always welcome an excuse to practise my Italian. Now there's just finding a way to cover the very reasonable - although difficult to justify - plane fare. I was hoping a rich family benefactor might sub me on this account, so we'll have to wait and see. I'll keep you updated.
This reminds me of the time when I was driving down to Italy with my cousins in the back of our Peugot 206. I don't remember when this was, just that it was a very long time ago, and I didn't feel as cramped in the back of the car as I would do now. Also the age difference between my cousins and I seemed a little bigger than when I've seen them recently. The kids were in the back of the car, enjoying themselves as only we could when we're that young, and my dad was driving with my mum giving directions from the oversized map of Italy. We had all the windows open because of the heat (it was the middle of a very hot Italian summer), and the wind was blowing through the car as we drove down the motorway. One moment my mum was consulting the map, and the next the page we were on had flow out the window. There was so much air passing through the car it wasn't really surprising it got blown away. However, we did ok because dad remembered that the road simply continued straight along the coast, and that we didn't really need to turn off till way further South so we continued the uninterruptible glorious weather and scenery. We stopped much further down - on the next page - at a service station and stopped in the queue, at which point all of up except my dad got out because it instantly became too hot to be in the car. A car pulled up behind, and lo and behold, on the bumper there was the missing page of the map, stuck for a hundred miles. My cousin retrieved it and it was reunited, much to the surprise of my parents.
I can't say I remember much else about the trip, as those yearly trips to Italy seem to blend into one. Spent by the pool with many books, and trips to various cities to see some of the best works of art in the world. Sitting in the park here now seems like a million miles away, although just different rather than better.