As with all fun travel -- the days passed too quickly as Bernie and I continued our exploration of family history (reviewing baptism and marriage records at the local Catholic Church, and finding the original 1873 marriage record of my paternal great grandparents - including the consent for my then 19 year old "spinster" great grandmother to marry my then 32 year old "miner" great grandfather). We also visited another cemetery - always interesting, always sobering:
before heading to visit some of Bernie's cows on a pasture which overlooks the entire area:
The clearing between our heads is the homesite/property of Bernie's family -- including the original homesites of my great grandparents and my great, great grandparents.
And we capped off the evening with a traditional Swiss-Italian meal of polenta (thanks to my mom for teaching me how to make it) and "
Bull Boar." Interestingly, polenta was a huge part of my upbringing but not Bernie's -- and we never called Swiss Sausage "Bull Boar." Bull Boar was a favorite of Bernie's dad. Swiss sausage/Bull Boar is a red-wine sausage that is distinctively different from any Italian sausage primarily because it does not include fennel. We fixed the Bull Boar both the way my mom used to fix it (in gravy) and the way Bernie's dad used to fix it (boiled) -- and celebrated a wonderful week of family connections and friendship.
And early Wednesday morning (Tuesday afternoon in the USA), I repacked
and drove back to Melbourne airport vowing "I Will Return" with credit to Arnold Schwarzenegger."
I am writing this in the Melbourne airport as I await my Jetstar flight to
Cairns (pronounced "Cans" by Australians) for the second week of this three week adventure.
