Another Beautiful Day in Paradise

Ciao a tutti il mio amici,

As much as think of the things I will miss here and the things I look forward to at home, I can’t help but notice… the similarities. Northern California and Southern Italy have many things in common. As I get older and as each winter starts in Southern Humboldt I think more and about having to find another place to spend my winters. I have pretty severe arthritis. Mostly due to the many broken bones I have had. The cold and wet weather in Southern Humboldt have started to bring on more and more pain.

At this point the pain is not severe enough for me to accept the idea I have to live somewhere where it is desert. I hate the idea of living in a place without trees. But I do keep thinking I will need a bit warmer and dryer retreat for the winter/spring… as I get older… if the pain persists or gets any worse. I break down into tears at the idea of leaving Southern Humboldt and my community there for good.

So part of being here has been a kind of exploration into the idea of finding a winter retreat. Many So Hum residents leave for some period of time each winter. Some even have homes elsewhere in places like Mexico, Chile, or Equador. Some just take the cold winter months as an opportunity to visit a variety of warmer, less rainy places. Like I said before, this past winter in So Hum it seemed like the sun did not come out for almost 90 days and it made me crazy. So getting away for a while to a place where the sun shines was a very attractive thought.

The Similarities
The fact that so many Italian families came to our region of Northern California speaks to the fact there are many similarities. I know many Italian American families in the region, and once when I was looking for the grave of an ancestor in Fort Bragg I found an all Italian Catholic cemetery there. I was amazed. According linguistics maps, our region has one of the highest percentages of Italian speakers in the US. Somewhere between 4% (in San Francisco) and .20% (in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino Co).

We are at basically the same degree of latitude, early 40°. This means that our seasons are the same. Depending on precise location the weather and temperatures vary within similar ranges. The grapes growing in our region are another indicator of similar climate and soil types. The landscape is similar in some ways with the coastline effects, but varies widely with other features.

We have some of the same flora and fauna. When I see this I always wonder… is this a widespread plant/animal or is it introduced in Northern California? I think there are some of each. Sometimes I am surprised to find out that a plant is introduced and sometimes not. For example (Per esempio), The hypericum species St. Johnswort, one of my favorite plants, is introduced by humans, but very common in our region. But then dandelion is native in both regions, I think. Another example is the cottonwood trees. They are here and at the moment they are sending out their cotton balls. I wonder… are they introduced here? at home? or are they native to both regions? I could learn more with the ID books and intend to do more research on this.
The Differences
Our temperatures in So Hum vary to a wider degree. In Garberville I have seen the Temps vary from day to night by 40-50°. In this part of Southern Italy temps usually vary only 10-15°. We have more fog and it lasts longer into the day. We have earth movement. This part of Southern Italy does not move much, but other areas of Southern Italy, like the regions surrounding Mt. Etna and Vesuvius do have some pretty frequent movement.


The Catholic Church pervades here and we have the Native American culture. We have rainforest and salmon. Our landscape is much younger and shows much more activity of youth. This is shown by our rivers and some natural lakes. They have small creeks, but no rivers here in Southern Italy. They seem to have plenty of water and a similar amount of rain in the spring, but the rivers areunderground. The hills here are very old and stable unlike our steep and constantly shifting slopes.

The historical civilizations, the presence of Castles and Ruins, ancient art and a more sustainable style of living makes for some pretty big differences between the two places! We have much to learn in that aspect in Northern California.

One thing I have found personally… My arthritis pain is the same here. Darn it. But there are other places that are dryer and warmer in both Northern California and Southern Italy I have yet to explore. And other variables like needing more time to heal from my back surgery, and alternative dietary and medicinal remedies etc. So I still do not have to consider moving to the desert yet.

It all needs more exploration and research. This kind of activity makes me very happy!

Blessings:
-la spiaggia qui. The beach here is very close to my apartment and very nice too.

Curses:
- my e-mail server has been down for 2 days not so if you have sent me a message I have not received it.
If it is urgent that I contact you for some reason, leave a message here or in my myspace inbox. www.myspace.com/tracibear. I check them all frequently.

It’s a nice sunny day today… so I am going to the beach for a few hours. This can also be done in So Hum… Both places are “Paradise” and I feel lucky to have experienced and have access to them both.

Like Kim says… have some fun today. My love goes out to all of you!