Quinn's adopted.

Pat came back on from a week in the UK on the 16th, accompanied by Candy and Quinn. Went to Pepe Nero in Porto Sant’Elpidio for lunch on Candy’s birthday, to Le Pietre di Drago in Matelica on Wednesday, to Ascoli on Friday and to San Benedetto on Monday. They went home yesterday. Click here for a film of their visit.

   Candy was rather bored but Quinn had a great time entering into Italian life with gusto. He even asked to come to mass with me on Easter Sunday and managed to stick it out until the sermon when he wanted to play outside. I took him home - the sermon, alas, was still going on when I got back to church. Candy went round to see Maria Grazia on Saturday to ask if Quinn could play with Filippo- they’d played together the previous summer. After that Pippo was more or less a fixture in the house - the photo shows them playing together on Easter Sunday. On Monday we thought Quinn should have an early night as his mother and he were flying back to England the following day. However when I went round to Maria Grazia’s to return a jacket Pippo had left at our house Quinn was invited to join them at Lupo’s for a pizza. Pat sent me off at 9.30 to pick him up. Just as well that I did as I met everyone else - Pippo, his mother and siblings plus Paul, Paola and Edward -  going home at 11.30 when I was taking the dogs out for their late night walk.

   Quinn spent all his time talking English to everyone and Pippo spoke Italian to Quinn, both blissfully unaware that their auditors couldn’t understand a word they were saying. But that, I’ve been told is the way small children approach language - there isn’t English and Italian, only speech. And after a time they understand the ‘speech’ they hadn’t previously and without knowing it can speak both languages. Wish it worked for me!


Click here for main site.