In Love with France, At Home In Italy

Another example of my transition trouble: my architect friend says that farmers like Farmer G, once they have a weed-whacking zappa in hand will whack everything in its path. That includes the pretty, wild, flowering plants that pop up everywhere during certain seasons, and that cost nothing, as opposed to the fancy, expensive ones we’ve been buying. So Farmer G and I have a conversation about his leaving the nicer-looking wild things in place, while I try to control the weeding around them by hand. We discuss which are really dangerously invasive, as opposed to those that are just a nuisance for someone with a zappa and a job to do—someone who has to tiptoe around annoying plants, as well as around a nutty signora who thinks she knows something about aesthetics. Well, of course he was right. When Marcello comes, he shakes his head at my plan to mix the wild with the fancy stuff. The wildflowers that cost niente may look good, but they are too strong for the ones we bought. And if mi...