Lives of the Rich and Famous

Yesterday, I was lucky to make the acquaintence of two of Mark and Zeek's friends. We drove from Lucca through Monsegrati to the small town of Camaiore (just near the beach) and then up the winding mountain paths to their beautiful home. The man is a screen writer in Hollywood and has produced dialogues for many well known sitcoms (I believe he has won an Emmy). His wife is a sculptress who has a sculpture garden in the States and a studio in Camaiore. For six months of the year they live in Italy and for the other six, they live in Hollywood. What a juxtaposition I found that to be, but they seem to pull it off nicely by having a strong set of friends in both places and lovely homes in each, as well.
There is a long and steep driveway up to their Italy home. Upon entering there are grape vines over a terrace which open up to a pool area and patio. It is absolutely picturesque and I would love to have a place like that, should I ever own a place in Italy. I found them to be wonderful company - very kind people who are never short of enthralling life experiences and stories to share. In addition, they are very politically/socially minded and I found their discussion of current topics interesting. One question, which is easy to dismiss but interesting nonetheless, that Nancy raised was "is relgion crazy?" She gave this analogy: if you see a man on the subway wearing a tin foil hat who believed aliens were talking to him, most of you will say that he is insane. She then asked, if you saw a man on the subway in a red hat who said that God was talking to him, what would you think? Both forces (aliens and God) are equally invisible and both men appear to be the same. Is faith crazy? What is crazy? I guess these are the questions you ask yourself in transit between California and Italy...*sigh*