Sheilaclapkin's Blog;

Up the long flight of stairs to the “The Nunnery”

We entered the town of Agrigento with a specific task and that was to go to the Nunnery to visit with the Mother who still makes marzipan the old way.  First we began a climb up the stairs leading to the church; our guide knocked on a door of the lady who cleans the church. She is the key keeper and would let us into see the church built in the 15th century. She was home and said she would let us in. After we bought the Marzipan from the Mother, there was a huge knock on the door of the nunnery. It was the cleaning woman who has been doing this work for the nunnery all of her life waving the key to let us into the church. It is who you know the world around wouldn’t you say? The key keeper is a quintessential old world woman, who dressed and is living the part of a dying breed of woman from the old country with old country ways. I felt it was important to make more than a sight contact with her, so I hugged her and said, “Thank you.” She hugged back, kissed my cheek and asked something that did not sound like  English, so I said, “No,” which was followed by “Americano?” and I answered , “Yes.”  I am pleased with the personal contact. Getting and giving a hug to an old woman from a different place and time, gave me an elevated experience.We had both come a long, long way to meet each other.

Many, many times, an uncanny amount of times, when Skip and I have entered a church, we hear choirs practicing, Organ Master’s practicing, and today we heard the nuns practicing their singing. The voices produced angelic and very beautiful sounds, sitting down, eye shutting, mind wandering, praying kinds of sounds. It was an honor and a privilege to be invited into their sanctuary and it seemed like a true invitation from God.

The Mother who sold us Marzipan.