It feels like summer is here, and we are now using air conditioning. On Monday we had a cleaning party with the young missionaries, cleaning up the basement storage area, about which I have already posted. Tuesday, in addition to our regular work, we went grocery shopping for Wed. and then cooked in the evening. On Wed. we went to the Cimiano church for new missionary training. We had prepared our usual "Mormon Kabap" (barbecue sauce on chicken breast cooked in crock pots served on hamburger buns with cheese), potato salad, potato chips and Myrna's home made banana cream pie for the missionaries. I gave them my financial training, we had lunch, cleaned up and were home to our office in Opera by 3 pm. It was a good day.
On Thursday I had a hemoglobin A1C test (for blood sugar over time) at the Humanitas hospital. I get the results on Tuesday, which I will send to my doc at home. After the blood test we went shopping for dinner on Sunday, when we feed the Shumakers, a new couple, who came in on Saturday. They are from St. David, Arizona and know my sister Jan, who lives in Elfrida. We didn't have a music lesson for Samantha because we didn't find a key to the church (the APs had one, but forgot to give it to us). On Friday we did our usual office work and a little more grocery shopping.
On Saturday morning, after cleaning the apartment, we drove down, about 20 minutes, to Meleganao to see an old castle there. We learned they were having a special pranzo (luncheon) at the castle for retired Alpini, soldiers who guarded the alps between Italy and Switzerland and Austria.
From the castle looking back at the piazza, you can see what was the moat, now with grass and a walking trail at the bottom.
Here is a pix of a couple of Alpini talking about the good ole times, with a sign behind telling about the day's activities. Alpini from all over the Milano area are coming.
Sorella Hoopes was reading about the castle, which didn't open for visiting until 2:30 pm.
It was only about 10 am and the Alpini were already starting to gather.
We walked around town and saw a Rotary Club symbol. The plaque on the wall below it is about a battle against Austria that happened at this very spot in 1859, in which the Apini fought.
The painting must be of what the battle was like.
About a block away is a fairly large church, actually a minor basilica.
There was a beam of light coming from a window above the high altar shining on the floor near some fresh flowers. Typically Italian churches get fresh flowers every day.
The flowers were beautiful.
But what I appreciated the most lived above the front door, the organ. I asked the sacristano, who was cleaning up from after the Saturday morning mass, if I could play it. He said I would need to speak with the paroco (priest in charge). He was in his house, next door, waiting for a class at 11 with parents of babies to be baptized on Sunday afternoon.
While looking around, I saw this painting of Jesus' baptism.
The above painting, according to this sign, was painted by a guy named Bergognone in about 1522, and was restored by the Rotary Club in 2000. That Rotary Club must be pretty active in Melegnano, at least in their Jubilee year of 2000.
Speaking of baptisms, the church listed the names and dates of baptism for recent babies, and from the number of parents who began to show up, it looked like there would be about 10 more being baptized tomorrow.
A lot of the old paintings in churches need restoration, at least cleaning and perhaps more light. This one was high on the wall of the church, so it was hard to take a good pix.
This is the sign below the above, which actually showed up pretty good.
This poor pietà (dead Christ with his mother), painting really does need some restoration work.
It looks like some water (perhaps a rainstorm came in through a window) got to this old painting. The church had many other paintings and statues that need restoration work.
Here is a pix I snapped of Myrna sitting at the back of the church, while I was asking if I could play the organ and taking pix of paintings, etc., while I waited for the priest.
Above a side altar there was this image of Christ, almost life size.
And across the church was another altar with this image of baby Jesus being held by his mother.
So finally the sacristan came back with the key to the padlock for the gate to the rickety metal spiral staircase that led up to the organ loft. Myrna climbed up with me so she could take pix and video of me. Here I am trying to figure out the stops, after having thrown all of the electric switches. Of course, it was originally pumped by hand.
While at the organ bench I tried to take a pix of the maker of the organ. It was pretty dark up there and I couldn't hold the camera steady enough, but I can read that this organ was made by Serassi Giuseppe from Bergamo in the year 1817. So this is a 200 year old organ.
It is a two manual tracker with pedals and many more stops than are usually found on Italian organs from this time. I came home and Googled the maker and found that the Serassi family, from Bergamo, made over 500 organs and this one was made in the last year of Giuseppe's life, although his sons took over after that. Myrna took videos of me playing the organ, which turned out well. There were many pipes that were out of tune, especially the reeds, although the sacristano said they use the organ every Sunday for mass.
Joy at the bench.
On the way out of the church, I took this pix of the paving stones, which were interestingly laid.
On our way back to where we had to park the car, we saw another old church, actually three more.
I took this pix in one of them. It really needed some restoration work.
In one of the side altars of the above church there was this life size set of statues of putting the dead Christ into the Santo Sindone, the holy burial burial shroud. (They claim to have the actual linen cloth in the duomo of Torino, which left an imprint of the body, which is visible--so they believe they knew what Jesus looked like, and from that they make statues, which we have seen, even recently.).
This sign was near the above set of statues, pointing out who the people were, and with credit to the Lions Club of Melegnano, which apparently paid for restoration in 1993 and again in 2001. So the Rotary and Lions Clubs must be alive and well in Melegnano. I have never attended one here, but have always wanted to, as I was a member of both.
Official pix I took of the Shumakers on Sunday after dinner. They flew in on Saturday, went to the Golf Hotel and then with us to church today. After church they watched videos about driving cars, while we were making dinner in our apartment. President and Sorella Allen, the Shumakers and Sorella LoRusso came to dinner. We started with bruchetta (toast, rubbed with fresh garlic, with mozarella cheese, tomato and a basil leaf), then green salad, followed with risotto alla millanese (saffron rice), then the third course of a milanese (chicken breast sliced thin, dipped in egg, bread crumbs, parmesian cheese and fried in butter), with asparagus, zucchini and carrots (with honey), and a really nice shortcake Myrna made, with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, for dessert. After dinner I took the Shumakers to see the church where St. Bernard wrote "Jesus the very thought of Thee," and around to Scalo Milano, and back to the Golf Hotel. I came back to the office, did rimborsi, and worked on this blog.
This morning, Monday, we got the Shumakers off to Arezzo, a four hour trip, after figuring out the pin for their cell phone The office anziani and APs went in the large vans to get the furniture from the apartment we are closing in Verazze. It was a busy morning.
Ciao for now.
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