It broke my heart to see the little walls torn down that had stood for so many years. What have I done… with tears running down my face I could only walk around the house and take photos, whispering to the old stones, I am so sorry.
The crew could see my face and tried not to look at me. That night I sent photos back to John and we skyped over glasses of red wine on my side. Coffee for John since it was early morning in Fiji.
As the next few days went by, I accepted the fact that what came down would also go back up, and it did. During the takedown of some of the walls we found an old donkey shoe, put in the two foot thick stone walls for luck. Another day and a different wall I found 5 old lire coins laying under years of stone chips. This was followed by many old pottery pieces, a very old iron for pressing clothes and rusted scythes for cutting grain. Several carved stone sinks lay around the area. When the walls went back up the donkey shoe would have a place in the kitchen. My days were kept busy shooting photos and exploring the property for more artifacts as the boys worked and the evenings filled with photos sent to John.
This was the absolutely stunning view from the little house that I stayed in while the boys worked on the house. The late afternoon and evening thunderstorms were amazing! It was a good time, a peaceful and reflective time and yes, the little house did start to resemble the vision in my mind and on my paper…but she would never again look like this, the first time that I saw her.
