Let me clarify. I am by no means the great American Sportswoman. Just ask my brother-in-law who has a less-than-complimentary name for his wife and me, which I will not repeat here, but it's not "The Great American Sportswomen". My active sports of choice (and with all due modesty, I am pretty fit and in shape) are:
softball - I can play catcher, and I get great hits but I can't run or field well - so if a team needs a great catcher and has a designated runner, I'm their girl
yoga - makes me feel spectacular; it's not a competitive sport, I'm not a competitive girl, I love a sport that's all about me
hiking - at the beach, daily, and in the hills/mountains as often as possible
archery - as of this weekend; read on
and, I am really really good at
the hula hoop.
Some of this did in fact set me up nicely to attend Camp Getaway this last weekend. In a note sent a few weeks ago by ("Fearless Leader") my lovely, extremely clever and brilliant friend Patti Londre, she invited me to come for the weekend in April. I saw was the word "Getaway" and I signed up.
I invited my friend LuAnn to be my cabin mate - she gets away about as often as I do. We Italo-American princesses packed our luggage, MacBooks (mine stayed in its bag all weekend), non-sleeping-bag bedrolls, and left on Friday afternoon for the promise of not having to DO anything for the duration unless we really wanted to.
You know, I swore my intention was to sit on a deck for the entire time and read a book (or better, a magazine) yet, I did in fact sign up for some stuff and became - my own version of the great American sportswoman.
First of all, our cabin was some distance from the main lodge (where, the eating was), so right away we got lots of little hikes in. The thin, fresh, pure, amazingly clear air felt fantastic and I was pretty excited about "roughing it"; it was only for 2 nights after all.
They had a great yoga class first thing in the morning! I LOVED that! I could only sleep until about 6am anyway because that ceiling was a little close for comfort and yeah, it just suited me fine to get up early...
Then, I took archery lessons! This really resonated with me on lots of levels because, Diana, Roman goddess of the Hunt (or, in Italian, la dea della caccia) is my patroness, and she of course was quite adept with the bow and arrow (and, she was the only goddess who wore a short skirt...we may have a little too much in common come to think of it...). So, after an hour lesson, I wasn't by any means expert at the sport, but I was high on the idea of exploring it further, which I will report on later. LuAnn had to call her sister, the Gina, to tell her I was 'arching' which I think they thought was funny (why?).
Then, there was a fabulous nature hike in the afternoon, to Jencks Lake, very beautiful...quite the workout. Some hills, a beautiful stream, varied terrain...I LOVED it.
Now comes my favorite food note. Our cabin mates Brandee and Michele brought a fine bottle of red wine and when I came out of the shower Saturday night, they were serving it up in dixie cups, and I spotted their open bag of Mother's brand iced animal cookies. I had thought I'd seen that bag on the shelf and had hoped they would share them with me. They did, quite generously. I LOVE those! I ate so many I almost wasn't hungry for dinner. But, I was.
And lots of chocolate was easy to come by this weekend. Very good.
After dinner, HIP HOP dance class! Great workout!! SOOOOO much fun! I am not THE dancer by any stretch but Jaami our instructor was adorable and even though she had almost no voice and had to teach pretty much by sign language, it was great and I LOVED it!
Yoga class early Sunday morning!
Oh, and you know what? My new friend Janelle, fellow camper from San Diego (she read my goddess cards, I owe her a tarot reading) told me they have hula hoops there! Very good information.
I did not get the most athletic camper award but one of the leaders thought I deserved it! So did I!
I was both energized and relaxed to come home early Sunday afternoon and that night, was quick to catch up on the Italian sports highlights on RAI's Domenica Sportiva.
Milan and Juve played on Saturday, Juve 3-2 - but the bigger game had been Sunday night - Inter and Fiorentina.
YUM. On the show was an interview, at length, with the beautiful Sebastien Frey, goalkeeper for Fiorentina; he is French and has played in Italy for several years and, speaks very silky Italian. I could only understand part of what he said but never mind. He used to wear his hair longer and blond with a hairband but now sports it dark and spiked and still he's ... did I say beautiful? yum? Oh. I did.
It was just suggested to me (by French Guy) that I ought to do an interview with him ... perhaps a little something to look forward to on my next trip to the continent.
Hm, yes, with a bottle of silky red wine in tow.
Minus the dixie cups.
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