Delia

We are to the beach by 9AM. This follows a perfect cappucino which gets Sonnet and me going vrrooom. I am mostly content to sit under the canopy while the Shakespeares try their best to drag me in the water. Why spoil it? I tap away on my blackberry which raises Sonnet's eyebrow but it does make me happy. It is good to be busy even on holiday. Madeleine sunburns like a lobster.

This afternoon we visit Delia, pictured, who has a huge affection for Silver (they have not seen each other since '81 in Naples, where the di Domenico family lives when not it Tortoreto). Delia tells us how she taught Silver to make stuffed zuchini which won an award in an Alaska cooking contest -- Delia still has the newspaper clipping sent to her by Silver (this BTW gets a laugh from Sonnet who does not otherwise recall her mother being an enthusiastic cook). Delia owns a garden patch behind her house with luscious red tomatoes and smokes like a chimney; she calls Silver "argento" or Italian for silver. Sonnet recalls the first time she was here the di Domenico apartment half-finished so the living space one big open air terrace. Sonnet says "ten women would come to chat; Delia was the grand poobah. Each would stop by and buzz the door and sit on the terrace and drink coffee or wine and chat." One evening Silver showed the ladies her American bras and they thought - exclaimed! - that it was a marvel of technology with the wires and techno-fabrics and all that. This was '78 after all. In another instance, Sonnet brought her then boyfriend Pino to Naples. Delia asked - "so, are you engaged?" Sonnet replied no and Delie said: "So, why are you here?" Good point, I may suggest, 19 years later.

Sonnet and Madeleine look at statues of the Virgin Mary in the holiday shop.

Madeleine: "Wow, there must be a lot of Jewish people in this country."

Sonnet: