November 6, 2011
Sheila had a fantastic time on an 8-day walking tour of the Langhe area to see the fall colors. This area is in the Piemonte region in the NW part of Italy between Torino and Genova.
It was a group tour organized by La Compagnia Dei Cammini. The group of 15 was primarily Italians. There was a man from France, a father & son born in Switzerland, but living in Italy, and Sheila. It was an area that is rather remote and so there were not many tourists at all. It made for quite the immersion experience for Sheila both with language and culture.
The group backpacked about ten miles each day, staying in hostels, farmhouses, and inns. The scenery included forests of pine, larch, aspen, farmland, hazelnut orchards, vineyards, and many tiny villages. The hikers enjoyed picking apples, pears, figs, hazelnuts, and walnuts along the way.
Besides the amazing vistas, the food was incredible. The area is famous for wine, hazelnuts, cheeses, and truffles (a special kind of mushroom). Every night was a feast that lasted 2-3 hours. The group usually stopped “al bar” for a caffe in the morning and afternoon. It was not uncommon for someone to break out in song during the hikes and others to join in with the traditional Italian songs. There were visits to many churches, , a small cheese producer, a vineyard, and a hazelnut processing factory.
Sheila and Joe’s dear friend Agostino invited Sheila to come along on this journey. It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for her. Thanks Ago!
Four days later Sheila flew to Zurich, Switzerland for a 4-day intensive yoga therapy workshop. Although most of the participants were locals and spoke German, the training was in English. Doug Keller, the teacher from Washington, DC was very impressive. He is one of the leaders in this new movement of yoga as therapy. Sheila came home inspired and invigorated about her yoga practice. She is planning to do private sessions with some of Joe’s art school classmates (who stand to draw 8-10 hours a day and not surprisingly, have a few aches and pains). Sheila has no travel plans as yet in November!
Joe continues to be immersed in his art studies. Like any graduate school, it consumes almost all of his time. However, Sheila has made sure that a couple of evenings in the week and most of the weekend remains family time (at least when she is in town).
Besides classes in anatomy and art history, the study is all studio time. It consists of 3 to 6 hours a day of drawing from a live model and about 3 hours a day drawing from master drawings or “barge” drawings. Basically the training is designed to improve a students ability to accurately see shapes, sizes, angles and values better and be able to draw them with more precision. Once you’ve mastered one exercise another more challenging one is provided. The photos attached are of Joe’s first completed “barge” drawing (the original is on the left) and Joe’s first long pose charcoal drawing. Joe is having a blast.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! We miss our family and friends, but continue to enjoy our incredible opportunity of a lifetime.
Sheila e Joe
Translation: Make Love, Not War!
