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There is a man who has lived here his whole life, up high in the mountains, who decided to build a pizza oven on his property. Our friend Ikkun knows him and invited a small bunch of us to have a pizza bake.
We drove up the steep scraggly mountain road and arrived at a little oasis in the stratosphere. He's an avid photographer and his whole house is full of his nature photos. Literally full. On all the walls, hanging down from the walls, over and under everything. He planted over a hundred sakura (cherry blossom trees) around the area so you can imagine that the photos are mostly pinky fluffiness at different angles.
When asked why he built the oven, he explained that someone told him sakura wood has a lovely aroma that could possibly add to the flavor of food. So he built the pizza oven. Like you do.
The scene is gorgeous. And all you hear are birds and wind. And the air smells like flowers with a slight evergreen twang. And the little paths all around are perfect for little legs to run and chase things. And the stones are perfect for looking for creatures to admire.
And the pizza is scrumptious.
The man also built a lookout tower. He explained that in his childhood, he spent most of his time climbing trees to see how high he could get, to be able to look out over the valleys, and if high enough, to see the sea. He built a tower in response to this voice that came back to him later in his life. But it wasn't right so built another. The view is absolutely breathtaking, and the climb up is quite thrilling.
Nik and I climbed up when Hopper went with Eri and Ira to collect something from the car, because the structure was completely inappropriate for a 3 yr old. But when they returned, I was still up the tower. Hopper did not like mama on the tower, 80 ft over his head. And yelled to me to come down, that it was old and had splinters.
I loved him a little bit more for that, for showing a deep guttural concern for my wellbeing, really for the first time. And it felt well-founded. He needed to talk about it a few times, about how he would be boos (mad) at me if I went up there again. This interchange sunk deep into my mama well, and I felt important and needed and loved in a very tangible way. With a full heart I promised not to go up again.
Sometimes parenting is also scrumptious.
