breaking the ice without falling

Wonderful thing for Saturday & Sunday, 28 February and 1 March:

Sometimes it's a big challenge to decide on just one wonderful thing, especially when we're covering more than one day.

Shall I write about the beautiful drive to Siena Saturday, where I filled up the back of our car with treasures from the Lees' apartment, which is being closed out when they leave soon (and we are going to miss them!)?

  This brick person (It looks like a woman from the side, but the caretaker said it's a man) was erected a couple of years ago.  It stands atop the ruins of a 600-year-old castle that I saw from the road, then went to take a closer look.

Shall I write about the grace of an attitude adjustment that enabled me to enjoy going ice skating by myself (meaning, without Blaine, still not up to it) with the GANS - and to find out  that I still know how, after all these decades?

I am standing with the only two, of our party of seven, who were actually willing to skate, two of the finest young women I know, Rafaella and Cristina.

Shall I write about my first opportunity to interact with the Young Women ("Giovani Donne") of the Florence Stake, after having been called to serve as the stake secretary?  Yes.  And I'm sorry I don't have a pic.  I'm going to have to remember to snap photos more often.

We drove to Pisa for two reasons yesterday:  to be a part of the stake YW/YM activity, and to make a presentation about Pathway to the Pisa Ward, after the block of three meetings Sunday.  The YW/YM met in a separate room for Sunday School while the Pisa Ward met in the chapel for Sacrament Meeting, then switched to the chapel for their own Sacrament Meeting while we proceeded with our presentation.

Let's see...there were Veronica, Valentina (her birthday), Esther, Kimberly, Anna, Patrizia, Gloria, Eveline, Gina, Francesca, Letizia, our own Diletta, Virginia, Alessia, Jessica ... oh goodness!  I really did memorize all their names!... I think I'm leaving some out.  Beautiful, wonderful, lovely young women.  The YW presidency, minus Marianna who couldn't make it at the last minute, are also beautiful, wonderful, lovely young women, none of them married - unless Marianna is, I'm not sure - Jessica and Denise.

We brainstormed ideas for service as part of the theme for this year (https://www.lds.org/youth/theme/2015?cid=YS-M-youththeme&lang=eng), and shared personal stories of service.  I talked about opportunities to share the gospel based on D&C 4, and told about some of the experiences our children had when they were teens.  The girls gave ideas to visit the elderly, services for the homeless, putting on a show for children in a hospital, etc.  Here it's a bit of a bureaucratic boondoggle to do service projects, but there's always a way.

I'm looking forward to it.

Fun thing:

Yeah.  I skated.  I didn't fall.  I'm glad I persevered past the first time or two around the rink, during which time my feet and ankles were telling me I'd lost my mind.  Apparently I was asking things of those muscles that they'd long forgotten how to do.