Reading this as we speed by Fitzgerald, Georgia (!) heading down to Saint Petersburg from Atlanta to keep two of our grands for the week. I love that your parents actually stopped when you called out for them to stop.
Years ago I stayed at Hotel Verbano on Isola Pescatore in the middle of Maggiore. It’s been so long!
How evocative! Just read your piece and I’m eight, maybe ten, years old again rolling down the backseat window of an old Belair station wagon and taking in the strong scent of summer. Thank you for the quick trip “home.”
How lovely to explore country roads and little towns on a Sunday, or anyday! We walked the ramparts at Castigliano del Lago a few years ago. It was a gorgeous May day with blue skies and little puffy white clouds and we saw one other couple on the whole time we were up there and I wondered why it was so desserted.
Ms. Mayes. Lovely piece. Those country drives you enjoyed in your youth still have meaning and importance. While you referenced E-Bikes, pray tell you didn’t indulge on one. The Panda seems very cute and environmentally friendly. Funny you mention WBHB radio station. Radio station initials are quite unusual and their meaning is not generally known. For example, the mega station WLS in Chicago literally means Worlds Largest Store, aka Sears Roebuck. WBHB has two meanings Whiskey Brothers Hell Bent or, from Pennsylvania, Welcome Back Home Boys. The call initials did indeed have hidden meaning. Loved your beautiful pictures especially the Ave Maria Grazia Pucna and fish dinner plate. Your Sunday drives should include attending Masses at those beautiful Catholic Churches, all are welcome. Peace be with you.
It was reading ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ that took me to Italy for the first time many, many years ago and to Lago Trasimeno to stay at Da Sauro’s. This beautiful article evokes all the wonderful memories I have of that area. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your ride around Lake Trasemino with us. I've always wondered about the lake that could be seen from my visit to Cortona. And I also loved your childhood story of eating wild plums and blackberries, and wading in the creeks.
Just read this to my husband aloud as we road trip down the I-80 to who knows where, but wishing we were on the bumpy bumpity Strade Bianche instead. You just gave us ideas on two options we've been weighing—a Pandina or the Panda Grande; think we're landing on the Grande, no regrets. A road trip north or south from La Casa Alla Fine Della Città… we're thinking south, no matter what—elbows out the windows, ears flapping in the wind like a dog. Thank you for the fun Sunday read!
So so beautiful. Some sweetness has to be earned with dusty knees. The fruit you stop the car for, or climb for, is the only kind you never forget; and I wonder if that's still true, still available to us, even now.
Reading this makes me want to do exactly that: get out, stain my hands, wade into the creek, let a road decide the afternoon. Maybe the wild plums are still out there, waiting for anyone willing to shout stop.
A sampler of the best of Frances: the Georgia childhood I so enjoyed reading about in “Under Magnolia”, and the eye for detail of the Italy travelogues. Lovely.
Your lovely memories remind me of childhood Sunday drives with my parents. We always had the radio on listening to such as Fiber Magee and Molly and The Great Gildersleeve. My dad just loved to drive and see what was over the next hill…which wasn’t as enchanting as your Georgia countryside.
That describes my Sunday afternoons growing up in North Carolina too! This brings back so many memories of my mom and dad—with me hanging out the rolled down car window trying to breathe with all of the cigarette smoke in the car. I have visited Italy twice in the past year and have fallen in love. I would live to visit these places you have described.
Always wonderful to explore surroundings in a leisurely way. I felt the urge to do so this afternoon, to check out a local farmstead, but picked black currants and raspberries, which are ripening in abundance, instead.
Your new car looks wonderful for poking around. My EV is perfect for that, too.
I might be of the same vintage and I LOVED riding with my family on Sundays. I'm and only child and because we didn't have much of a "church" direction and most of my friends did Sunday's were lonely!
Today...60 years later I have one friend-not my husband who also enjoys "drive abouts"! Not very often but when we can make it happen, she and I jump in the car and, although we have lived in the same vacation area for 20+ years we find s "new something" and solve-rather try to solve-the world's problems! A day well spent and and article well written! I GET IT!
Reading this as we speed by Fitzgerald, Georgia (!) heading down to Saint Petersburg from Atlanta to keep two of our grands for the week. I love that your parents actually stopped when you called out for them to stop.
Years ago I stayed at Hotel Verbano on Isola Pescatore in the middle of Maggiore. It’s been so long!
How evocative! Just read your piece and I’m eight, maybe ten, years old again rolling down the backseat window of an old Belair station wagon and taking in the strong scent of summer. Thank you for the quick trip “home.”
How lovely to explore country roads and little towns on a Sunday, or anyday! We walked the ramparts at Castigliano del Lago a few years ago. It was a gorgeous May day with blue skies and little puffy white clouds and we saw one other couple on the whole time we were up there and I wondered why it was so desserted.
Ms. Mayes. Lovely piece. Those country drives you enjoyed in your youth still have meaning and importance. While you referenced E-Bikes, pray tell you didn’t indulge on one. The Panda seems very cute and environmentally friendly. Funny you mention WBHB radio station. Radio station initials are quite unusual and their meaning is not generally known. For example, the mega station WLS in Chicago literally means Worlds Largest Store, aka Sears Roebuck. WBHB has two meanings Whiskey Brothers Hell Bent or, from Pennsylvania, Welcome Back Home Boys. The call initials did indeed have hidden meaning. Loved your beautiful pictures especially the Ave Maria Grazia Pucna and fish dinner plate. Your Sunday drives should include attending Masses at those beautiful Catholic Churches, all are welcome. Peace be with you.
“Their feral child …” 🤣🤣🤣
It was reading ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ that took me to Italy for the first time many, many years ago and to Lago Trasimeno to stay at Da Sauro’s. This beautiful article evokes all the wonderful memories I have of that area. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your ride around Lake Trasemino with us. I've always wondered about the lake that could be seen from my visit to Cortona. And I also loved your childhood story of eating wild plums and blackberries, and wading in the creeks.
Just read this to my husband aloud as we road trip down the I-80 to who knows where, but wishing we were on the bumpy bumpity Strade Bianche instead. You just gave us ideas on two options we've been weighing—a Pandina or the Panda Grande; think we're landing on the Grande, no regrets. A road trip north or south from La Casa Alla Fine Della Città… we're thinking south, no matter what—elbows out the windows, ears flapping in the wind like a dog. Thank you for the fun Sunday read!
So so beautiful. Some sweetness has to be earned with dusty knees. The fruit you stop the car for, or climb for, is the only kind you never forget; and I wonder if that's still true, still available to us, even now.
Reading this makes me want to do exactly that: get out, stain my hands, wade into the creek, let a road decide the afternoon. Maybe the wild plums are still out there, waiting for anyone willing to shout stop.
Thank you!!
A sampler of the best of Frances: the Georgia childhood I so enjoyed reading about in “Under Magnolia”, and the eye for detail of the Italy travelogues. Lovely.
Your lovely memories remind me of childhood Sunday drives with my parents. We always had the radio on listening to such as Fiber Magee and Molly and The Great Gildersleeve. My dad just loved to drive and see what was over the next hill…which wasn’t as enchanting as your Georgia countryside.
the Sunday drive tradition could trace back to families who got their first car.
That describes my Sunday afternoons growing up in North Carolina too! This brings back so many memories of my mom and dad—with me hanging out the rolled down car window trying to breathe with all of the cigarette smoke in the car. I have visited Italy twice in the past year and have fallen in love. I would live to visit these places you have described.
Always wonderful to explore surroundings in a leisurely way. I felt the urge to do so this afternoon, to check out a local farmstead, but picked black currants and raspberries, which are ripening in abundance, instead.
Your new car looks wonderful for poking around. My EV is perfect for that, too.
Thanks for reminding me of tranquil excursions.
I might be of the same vintage and I LOVED riding with my family on Sundays. I'm and only child and because we didn't have much of a "church" direction and most of my friends did Sunday's were lonely!
Today...60 years later I have one friend-not my husband who also enjoys "drive abouts"! Not very often but when we can make it happen, she and I jump in the car and, although we have lived in the same vacation area for 20+ years we find s "new something" and solve-rather try to solve-the world's problems! A day well spent and and article well written! I GET IT!
I absolutely agree and I also enjoy the frequent overnight road trips.
"Riding around" is, I think, equally though differently lively in Maine, in Vermont, in Quebec, in the Maritime provinces. Exploring. Revisiting.