Heat wave in Lucca

It is so hot here that every time I go out I need to shower again when I come back. Tomorrow I will be leaving for London because I am going to meet my latest grandchild Toby who is one week old and help my daughter for a few weeks. I am now procrastinating about getting ready as I really hate packing a suitcase. Even though I travel quite often, I never get any better at it. I always seem to leave something vital behind and take all the wrong things instead. I inevitably pack too much and then there are all the presents and requested olive oil and wine that I hope will not break in my case and ruin all my things...in any case travelling is rather horrid these days, I think. I feel like an alien the moment I enter the airport. Passengers are now the potential enemy and are treated as such. I know that it is a necessary process but it makes the airport experience so frustrating not to mention slow. When I travel in the U.S. I am always singled out for a search. I always ask why they pick me and they always assure me it is quite random and not because I have a gallows face!
Chelsea hates me going away and she gets very glum from the moment the suitcase comes out and she follows me around from room to room as I wander about deciding and then changing my mind about what to pack. Usually she goes to my friend Giovanni and despite the hang-dog face before I leave she has a wonderful time there in the country. She loves him and goes off without a backward glance...

London is a wonderful city as it is so vibrant although it is very expensive. The parks are beautiful and plentiful and the main museums are free which is amazing. My daughter is always bumping into famous people like Jude Law and Hugh Grant but I only seem to see people I recognize but can't quite place. Once I saw the Hobbit uncle ? Bilbo Baggins though (great actor name of Sir Ian Holm) as I was walking around Kensington High Street. The pace of life is so different from Lucca, as everyone rushes around running for trains and buses whereas here no one hurries about and I like that so much.
Well, this was fun but I really must go and pack!

A YEAR OF LIVING PRODUCTIVELY

It has been over a year since I wrote last and I can't really imagine that anyone will read this but it has been a fantastic year in many ways. Dominating this period was the birth of Baz, who I have now met twice and of course the Hewlett-Loughman wedding which, because it was in the UK, turned out to be such a very happy reunion of our enormous, crazy, wonderful family. Jane was beautiful, David was handsome, Baz was making his voice heard and the child attendants were enchanting. My other little grandson was afraid of my fascinator ( this is a strange head decoration worn at weddings and Ascot by crazy English women) and looked at me in horror until I removed it and then he saw it was his Nonna--which is Italian for Granny --and not some strange bird of prey swooping down to gobble him up.
Sisters Kate and Moyra sang a wonderful song and David and Jane were absolutely crying with emotion.

After the wedding Kate came back with me and my partner Fabrizio to Lucca. Fabrizio hadn't met most of the family before this but he was instantly accepted as he is as crazy and funny and sweet as they are. Alas, Kate could only stay three days before heading off back to London for the Meet the Hewletts convention or whatever. I have heard little from her since as she is fantastically busy but maybe she will come and spend time here in the fall (everything is maybe with Kate as so much is happening in her life right now!)

After a couple of years of procrastination I started to write again and I really haven't stopped since. I had fun researching a hero of Lucca named Francesco Burlamacchi who planned to raise a revolt to free the cities of Tuscany and unite them 1546. Sadly he was betrayed and tortured and eventually executed. I looked at why a middle-aged respectable statesman would at his stage of life dream of doing such a thing and I found the key in his love of reading the classics. He is now safely locked in a chapter of a book in honour of my wonderful supervisor. The other contributers are all distinguished historians and my only claim to fame was that I was his last student before he retired, so it was a great privilege for me.

After this I decided to honour another hero: this is a wonderful old dog who has lived on the streets of Lucca for 14 years. His story is also both sad and noble. I have written a book for children and it has been endorsed by my 5 year old granddaughters. Hopefully David's little son Baz may enjoy it when he is older. The illustrations are currently being done by Shira who is a talented artist friend of Kate's.
Finally I have finished a semi-autobiographical book about my research year here in Lucca in 1997. I had kept a detailed diary that year so it was a matter of recounting some of the adventures that happened to me in while I struggled with Italian and archival documents in Siena and Lucca. I am not too sure what I will do with it now!
Currently I am working on a series of walking seminars of Lucca. As it is a fantastic place and it easy to talk about its history.

The bad news is that I lost my camera at the wedding so unfortunately I have no photos and no camera. I feel especially sick about it especially as I lost 1500 photos when my computer did something strange earlier this year. No sympathy from David as he is always telling me BACK UP EVERYTHING REGULARLY! I must say that losing all your photos is like having years of your life erased.

The concert series is going on in Lucca. Last night Alicia Keys (? Spelling) was here in Piazza Grande. At the same time it is the 150th anniversary of Giacomo Puccini who was born in Lucca and so there are lots of concerts of his music too.

Thanks to all who have kindly written and kept in touch. Some of you have visited Italy this year and I hope you have enjoyed it!
Right now it is very HOT! My dog Chelsea is spread out at my feet on the tile floor like a bear rug!
Fabrizio has just brought me a glass of cold wine--viva l'Italia!

Squirrel Wars

I know there are a lot of animal lovers out there, so this is for all of you who are interested in the Hewlett squirrel saga. The original plaster squirrel came from my garden in Windsor, Ontario. When the previous owners left, they took their array of garden ornaments with them but left this rather chewed-up looking squirrel behind. Well, I thought he was rather pathetic. He was unwanted and abandoned by his owners and left all alone in the garden, so I didn't have the heart to throw him away. Then David came to stay and started to move the squirrel around as a joke--so the squirrel woud be peering at me from various unexpected locations. When David left, he instructed all visiting family members to move the squirrel around to tease me. Now he, the squirrel, not David, is quite sinister up close, as you may have seen from photos...so to have him peering out from the shower or through the kitchen window at you can give you quite a fright...thus began the squirrel wars. When I moved from Windsor to Lucca I really couldn't bring him with me, so I did the kind thing.....I took him to live with David and Jane. Big mistake! Every time I visit, I find the squirrel hidden somewhere in my room--usually in my bed...yes horrid! At least I thought I was safe in Lucca, but guess what present David and Jane brought me when they came to stay? Ok, not the original squirrel but a bolder, brighter Italian cousin....

INTRODUCING CHELSEA

Ciao and Wow! Thanks for a variety of comments. Some great questions from the history buffs among you. So FYI the materials from the old Roman and Medieval walls were recycled--some of the stones were pinched to build houses and some were incorporated into the new walls. What did the Medici have against Lucca? Well, in the 16th century, a young, ambitious and clever Cosimo de' Medici came to rule in Florence and set about strengthening his power base and dealing with his enemies. Many malcontents had fled from Florence and were hanging out in neighbouring states such as Siena and Lucca, so, in order to control the threat that they might cause him, Cosimo tried to find a way to take over Lucca--which, by the way was a ripe little plum of a place run by rich silk merchants. Well, Lucca was lucky and escaped his clutches, but Siena was not so fortunate and fell to Medici domination after a prolonged siege in 1555. Actually, I was in Siena yesterday; it is currently being besieged by thousands of tourists.
Now, I am sure you have realized that we are a family of animal lovers. My children spent most of their early summers in England with family who owned dogs, cats, horses and even parrots and all of them own pets--mostly cats--except David, who of course has Mars. I too have a dog. She is quite unique but I suppose all dog owners think that! She is called Chelsea, not after the ex-president's daughter or after the soccer team but Chelsea as in Chelsea BUN, a particularly gooey and sticky but sweet english sugary bun, for those of you who don't know. She was given up by her owners, a free dog to good home, and I happened to be there at the right time and adopted her without hesitation. I have never regretted it, despite some difficult re-structuring of my life round a dog with separation anxiety, which means she has often accompanied me to work, wherever that may have been. My kids say this dog has been more places with me than they have, as she has lived in Italy twice (of course she is bilingual), she has also lived in Toronto, Windsor, Washington State, Ohio and maybe England could be next. She is 14 and her birthday is Feb 14, St. Valentine's Day, and she is all about love. She is half Cocker and half whatever, with a bit of Afghan hound thrown in. Actually, that part of her is in her hair. She is very deaf now and now going blind but she still acts like a puppy. She is very greedy and is now on a vet-instigated diet. She is very happy with the life here, especially when people drop a lot of croissants and pizza crusts. She adores her walks on the wall where she socializes with (well, bosses) other dogs.
Lucca is doggie heaven and there are many dogs here. People ride their bikes with dogs sitting in the front basket; people run and cycle with their dogs round the wall. Every year there is a dog show on the wall and the proceeds go to the local dog shelter and last year Chelsea won the Super Nonna (super granny) category. I was very proud of the gold cup she won but she was only interested in the dog biscuit that came with it. There is a show on TV here with a wonderful police dog who carries out all sorts of amazing feats for his team in the cause of justice, and that is the only programme Chelsea lets me watch in peace, but she is really quite jealous of Rex, as he is called, because he is so talented and so we now have to do a lot of frisbee practice to rebuild her ego...brava Chelsea!

More about the Wall

Hello!
Firstly, David and Kate fans: thanks for visiting my blog. Yes, I am very proud of my children (also the two who are not in show business), not just for their talents but also for their courage in following their chosen paths. Hmmm, you ask for embarassing moments, I will have to think about that one. I do owe Kate an embarassing moment for exposing my burst appendix to the world! That was an interesting experience: David INSISTED that I go into hospital that night and so actually I owe my life to him and to my Lucchese friend Nicola who arranged the ambulance very quickly. Kate came with me in the ambulance and stuck by me in emerg and made me laugh, which hurts a lot when you have a burst appendix!! Seriously, it was great from my point of view to have them there, but they were a bit traumatized by the experience! Worst holiday EVER, I think David said.

The purpose of this blog is to tell you a bit about the gigantic wall that surrounds Lucca. Lucca was originally an Etruscan settlement, then an important town in Roman times hosting figures such as Julius Caesar. In medieval times it became a city-state republic and with some brief exceptions, it remained independent until Napoleon invaded Italy. He gave Lucca to his sister and she and her husband ruled here in the early 19th century. After the fall of Napoleon in 1815, it became part of the Austrian Empire until the Unification of Italy in the 1860s when it became part of the province of Tuscany.
The city originally had a Roman wall and then as the city grew, a medieval wall confined its borders. In the 16th century Lucca faced a number of threats, especially from Medici Florence, and so the government gathered a number of architectual experts and an army of skilled workers and set about building a massive wall with bastions which could withstand attack from the increasing threat of gunpowder weaponry. It took 100 years to build, from the mid-sixteenth until the mid-seventeenth century. The city was never attacked after the wall was constructed, and remained intact. Today it serves as a wonderful 4.5 km tree-lined park, enjoyed by the Lucchese and tourists alike. It is a no-traffic zone where one can walk, run, cycle, rollerblade or just sit on one of the many park benches and read or chat.

Blog beginner

I have hi-tech kids but I am a very low tech person, so I am not sure what "posting a blog" means--hmm, am I going "out there" or sending myself a message? Anyway, I was just in Canada to see my wonderful but very spread out family--and David and Kate both said I should write a blog --is that one or two ggs?-about my life here in Lucca. So here goes:
I am an historian. I first came to Lucca, a little walled-city in Tuscany, for a year in 1997 while I was researching my doctoral dissertation. It was a completely new experience. I had limited knowledge of Italian (I am a bit better now) and believe me, some of those 16th century hand-written documents are pretty difficult to decipher. Daily life consisted of long days in the state archive and long evenings sorting out the day's findings. The days in which the archive was closed I explored the city streets and walked the wonderful Renaissance wall that took 100 years to build. I bought an old Fiat Ritmo which had the engine with the power of a lawnmower in which I chugged about Tuscany with my dog Chelsea as my companion. She at least is bilingual. We made good friends in that year, some of whom I still see. The next few years were spent working first as a teaching assistant, then as a lecturer and then a professor in the States and Canada until in 2005. During that time I would come to my lovely Lucca during the holidays for a week or so for research into various projects--and to catch up on food, wine and fashion. Then in 2005 I decided that the time had come to fulfill the dream I have had for a long time, which was to live in Italy. My children were very supportive and really liked the idea of a parent with a place in Italy!! So here I am. watch this space! Mary