After going out onto the kitchen deck to view the moon hanging over Lago Trasimeno, with its little star companionably lurking over its shoulder, we were greeted by firelies dancing a mating dance and twinkling at us.

This inspired a desire for star gazing, so we adjourned to the uppermost deck of the house, above the front door. The air was so perfectly perfumed and lovely it made me wonder aloud what it might be like to sleep outside there. My friend, Alvilda, said that as children she and her cousin, Noam (now the mayor of New Rochelle, NY–think “The Dick Van Dyck Show”), used to sleep out on the porch to watch the stars in every stage of the summer night.

Who would not rest peacefully after hearing this?

~Wei Ming Dariotis