Saturday, March 3
Up and out again this morning. We set off for a two hour drive to the Blue Mountains and to see the Three Sisters. In a relatively short time we are out of the city and into the foothills – a lot like driving from Denver to Vail. We arrived at a trailhead with an overlook from which we can see the vistas of the blue mountains and also the Three sisters formations. There are three huge rock formations that sit majestically overlooking a huge canyon filled with eucalyptus trees and a vista that of mountains beyond mountains into the distance – gorgeous!
The aborigine legend goes that here were three sisters in one tribe and three brothers in another. The tribes were not allowed to intermarry. But the brothers were determined to have the three sisters and so they attacked the other tribe and a war began. The medicine man of the sisters’ tribe cast a spell on them and turned them to stone so that they could not be stolen away during the war. After the war when they were safe, he would remove the spell. Unfortunately, the medicine man was killed during the war and so the sisters are still under the spell !!
This is a beautiful area. There are a tram ride down into the gorge and the forest and also a sort of gondola that traverses a part of the gorge. There are trails all over the place. One could spend days hiking and exploring . Angelo and Dominique and the boys are with us today (in two cars) and so we head out to lunch. We stopped at a wonderful little place called the Swiss Cottage and had an outstanding al fresco meal. Monique and her husband are the owners and only employees. He cooks and she waits on table.
We returned to Sydney in the afternoon and went to Angelo and Dominique’s home. Don and I have not been online since we left the ship and the mortgage is due : ) I want to update the blog, too, but just didn’t have the time.
We returned home to dinner of stuffed calamari, grilled shrimp, and an assortment of cheeses and antipasti.
Antonio and Rosa, friends of the DeFran’s came over for a visit. Antonio was born in Castanea and knew of my father and grandfather. Rosa is from Puglia.
The DeFrans call Antonio and his wife compare and comare - godfather and godmother.
Antonio was the sponsor of Orazio’s brother Battista at his confirmation. and so he and his family are forever related. Anthony explained that copare and comare are a connection through a religious ceremony – baptism, confirmation, wedding. This is similar to the “madrina and padrino de battisma” – godparents - when we baptize a baby but sort of an exrtended idea. I don’t know if this is a Sicilian thing ? or an Italian thing? I do remember my mother calling some people comare but I never really knew that they had a significant connection. I always sort of thought it was like calling a close family friend “auntie”.
Any way, the history and the culture of the family and of Castanea is alive and well in Sydney, Australia.
Copare Antonio came here to Sydney with Orazio’s father after WWII to work in the cane fields up north. There was devastation and great poverty in Italy in post WWII and many Italians emigrated to other places in search of work and life. Orazio followed his brother in 1950 but never worked in the cane. Antonio explained that cutting the cane was back-breaking work but that he made much more money doing it than he could make doing anything else – about $15. a day rather than a week! So he did it for five years, saved everything he could, and then moved to Sydney to live.
This entire area of Sydney is very Italian. The shops are Italian, all the Italian foods are everywhere. The grocery has about 40 kinds of olives in the deli. It’s fabulous.
Everybody speaks Italian – often as their first and sometimes as their only language. The DeFrans speak Italian almost exclusively at home, although they do speak English also. Having a conversation with Lina is fun and interesting. She mingles Sicilian dialect, Italian, and English all together in the same sentence! And with both Italian and Australian accents! It’s hilarious. We are having a ball together.
They have a very real connection still to Sicily and to Castanea. They still have relatives there whom they speak to several times a week. The history and the memory of the place and the people is still very much alive. Antonio has explained to me that the village is so small that everyone knows everyone and they all tell all their stories over and over again.
So everyone knows everyone and they all know all about everything and everyone in their families. The other night Lina called Orazio’s sister, Nicolina, in Castanea. Nicolina’s husband passed away a month ago. Lina put me on the phone with her. I began to explain who I was and she said, “Oh, I know who you are. Orazio told me all about you and your husband. You live in Colorado” Then she said, “When your father came her, he brought me a gift of a black mantilla (shawl). I never wore it because it is black, but now my husband has died, I am wearing it every day” How amazing is that!!!! My father was there probably 20 years ago !!!!
Basta…. sono stanca
(Enough… I am tired)
Up and out again this morning. We set off for a two hour drive to the Blue Mountains and to see the Three Sisters. In a relatively short time we are out of the city and into the foothills – a lot like driving from Denver to Vail. We arrived at a trailhead with an overlook from which we can see the vistas of the blue mountains and also the Three sisters formations. There are three huge rock formations that sit majestically overlooking a huge canyon filled with eucalyptus trees and a vista that of mountains beyond mountains into the distance – gorgeous!
The aborigine legend goes that here were three sisters in one tribe and three brothers in another. The tribes were not allowed to intermarry. But the brothers were determined to have the three sisters and so they attacked the other tribe and a war began. The medicine man of the sisters’ tribe cast a spell on them and turned them to stone so that they could not be stolen away during the war. After the war when they were safe, he would remove the spell. Unfortunately, the medicine man was killed during the war and so the sisters are still under the spell !!
This is a beautiful area. There are a tram ride down into the gorge and the forest and also a sort of gondola that traverses a part of the gorge. There are trails all over the place. One could spend days hiking and exploring . Angelo and Dominique and the boys are with us today (in two cars) and so we head out to lunch. We stopped at a wonderful little place called the Swiss Cottage and had an outstanding al fresco meal. Monique and her husband are the owners and only employees. He cooks and she waits on table.
We returned to Sydney in the afternoon and went to Angelo and Dominique’s home. Don and I have not been online since we left the ship and the mortgage is due : ) I want to update the blog, too, but just didn’t have the time.
We returned home to dinner of stuffed calamari, grilled shrimp, and an assortment of cheeses and antipasti.
Antonio and Rosa, friends of the DeFran’s came over for a visit. Antonio was born in Castanea and knew of my father and grandfather. Rosa is from Puglia.
The DeFrans call Antonio and his wife compare and comare - godfather and godmother.
Antonio was the sponsor of Orazio’s brother Battista at his confirmation. and so he and his family are forever related. Anthony explained that copare and comare are a connection through a religious ceremony – baptism, confirmation, wedding. This is similar to the “madrina and padrino de battisma” – godparents - when we baptize a baby but sort of an exrtended idea. I don’t know if this is a Sicilian thing ? or an Italian thing? I do remember my mother calling some people comare but I never really knew that they had a significant connection. I always sort of thought it was like calling a close family friend “auntie”.
Any way, the history and the culture of the family and of Castanea is alive and well in Sydney, Australia.
Copare Antonio came here to Sydney with Orazio’s father after WWII to work in the cane fields up north. There was devastation and great poverty in Italy in post WWII and many Italians emigrated to other places in search of work and life. Orazio followed his brother in 1950 but never worked in the cane. Antonio explained that cutting the cane was back-breaking work but that he made much more money doing it than he could make doing anything else – about $15. a day rather than a week! So he did it for five years, saved everything he could, and then moved to Sydney to live.
This entire area of Sydney is very Italian. The shops are Italian, all the Italian foods are everywhere. The grocery has about 40 kinds of olives in the deli. It’s fabulous.
Everybody speaks Italian – often as their first and sometimes as their only language. The DeFrans speak Italian almost exclusively at home, although they do speak English also. Having a conversation with Lina is fun and interesting. She mingles Sicilian dialect, Italian, and English all together in the same sentence! And with both Italian and Australian accents! It’s hilarious. We are having a ball together.
They have a very real connection still to Sicily and to Castanea. They still have relatives there whom they speak to several times a week. The history and the memory of the place and the people is still very much alive. Antonio has explained to me that the village is so small that everyone knows everyone and they all tell all their stories over and over again.
So everyone knows everyone and they all know all about everything and everyone in their families. The other night Lina called Orazio’s sister, Nicolina, in Castanea. Nicolina’s husband passed away a month ago. Lina put me on the phone with her. I began to explain who I was and she said, “Oh, I know who you are. Orazio told me all about you and your husband. You live in Colorado” Then she said, “When your father came her, he brought me a gift of a black mantilla (shawl). I never wore it because it is black, but now my husband has died, I am wearing it every day” How amazing is that!!!! My father was there probably 20 years ago !!!!
Basta…. sono stanca
(Enough… I am tired)
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