Archery

My husband is an archer. Behind the house we live in there are mountains to climb, where he used to shoot wild boar, deer and capriola. We walked up yesterday to check out the Archery club who's lands are at the top of the mountain, and to our surprise Flavio found some old friends he used to shoot with. We spent the afternoon teaching Nicholas and me to shoot a bow and arrow. It was great! He actually managed to hit the target a few times (me too!), but more important, he loved it.

Part of me is thinking, "put a bow and arrow in the hands of a four year old? Are we nuts?" but another part loves the idea of him getting involved in a precision sport where he can spend time outdoors. For me there is a romantic aspect of it. It makes me think of the scene in Lord of the Rings when the elves dressed all in white came in to the battle at the critical moment to save the day with their arrows..........in fact, my husband kind of looks like Orlando Bloom. Well, maybe a bald Orlando Bloom, and maybe if the sun is behind him, and maybe if I squint.................
On our walk back, we saw a young lynx chasing a neighbors house cat. The house cat got away, but it made us think about our own lazy American cats that were kept inside for most of their lives and have only just recently started to experience quasi-freedom, so we hurried home to check on ours, but they were fine. Our property is fenced and there are two dogs and five cats that live here. I think if a lynx or other predator got in we'd here about it from the dogs. At least I hope so.

A little bit about Cortina. About a month ago I posted pictures from the Alps but I didn't write anything. The Alps of course are stunning and I'm not going to embarass myself by trying to describe them, but I can tell you about the towns. Cortina is a resort town, with designer stores, celebrities, etc. It is called the "Aspen of the alps". The architecture is georgous! They paint directly on to the buildings and use wood facades with intricate carvings.Dobbiaco is another town in this section of the Alps, which is called the Dolomite Mountains. It is close to the Austrian border, so it has both a German name (Toblach) and an Italian name (Dobbiaco). The people who live here consider themselves Tyroli. They have a certain amount of legal and economic independence, and they don't really think they are Italian. They also speak a different language, Ladina. This lanquage has evolved over the years from a combination of vulgar latin and german influence.