Back when we attended the "Suds-n-Snacks" evening at the Prince's residence, Torreta de Massimi, our hostess discovered that we have a twelve-year old daughter. Her own daughter, Katerina, is also twelve and our hostess, busy as she is, doubles as a girl-scout troup leader. She heralded us with stories of all the wonderful things the Cadette's get to do in the Girl Scouts and put in a plug to recruit Charlotte. We subsequently received an email, inviting Charlotte and her family to a brunch at Toretta de Massimi...for today.
Having accepted the invitation, we headed out to this farm and estate in the city. The Toretta (small tower) on the property is from the 12th century and now operates as a bed and breakfast. www.torettademassimi.it We learned that they have the largest cork forest in this part of Italy (Lazio and parts south), they have donkeys (one of which is very pregnant), chickens, bunnies, porcupines (although we didn't see them), and of course, dogs. We went on a trail to "hunt" for wild asparagus. Needless to say, the kids had a ball. The day was sunny and bright -- warm enough for us to take our jackets off. Although the water in the pool looked inviting, it was still too frosty to swim.
We discovered that the troup is rather intimate. It was just Charlotte and two other girls -- Katerina and Flavia (there is actually another member but she couldn't attend today). The two girls are both of American moms and Italian dads and attend Italian school. The Girl Scouts is a way for them to get together to speak English on the weekend, have fun, and do good works. Charlotte really liked the girls and it seemed the feeling was mutual. Aside from eating and playing, today the girls were to work on a project for "Thinking Day." This is a forum to be held next weekend, where each troup presents the cultures and traditions of a different country. This troup had been researching Oman....and, the woman we met at the wine tasting party on Friday night who works for the Middle Eastern De-Salinization project was supposed to attend the brunch today to work with them. But, she didn't show! The fact is, I don't think the girls minded one bit.
Olivia and Avery played hide-and-seek around the property with the older girls. The adults enjoyed sitting outside in the garden with mimosas in hand. For brunch, we had fresh-squeezed orange and grapefruit juice; we ate quiche, waffles with fruit and whipped cream, and brownies. Everyone was very happy.
Next weekend, the girls are getting involved in a new Roman initiative called Retake Rome. The project is to clean graffiti from the sides of buildings all over the city. Started by an AWAR member, the initiative has received a lot of publicity and recently the backing of the Mayor. The plan is to meet in the Villa Borghese next Sunday, clean some graffiti and then have a picnic. In the end, the girls decided to withdraw from the "Thinking Day" forum and focus their efforts on Retake Rome.
A lovely time was had by all, and by the time we returned home to our villa, everyone was ready for a nap. I may also have been ready for a nap, but instead Charlotte and I headed over to AquAniene to cheer for her teammates at the swim meet. It was interesting for me to see this championship since it was different from the other meets that we'd attended. This session was girls only, and from 1996 (year of birth) and 1997 only. There were only two or three heats in each event -- in other words, only 15 to 20 athletes made the qualifying time in each event. Between events, awards were given to the top three finishers. As such, this session of the meet started at 3:40pm and was over by 5pm. We only attended today, but there were two other sessions for Charlotte's peers on Friday and Saturday afternoon.
Tonight, it was "Italian night" at home for dinner: Buccatini bolognese, insalata caprese, and a fabuous Brunello di Montalcino.
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