Dov'è Francesca . . . Eccola

I received a call from Gaspari (also known as Rini), who has been a constant friend of ours here in Sicily, who used to be our landlord the first year we lived in Sciacca, and was the Doctor who admitted Fran to the hospital when she became ill, and secured a bed for her at Casa de Cura La Madelenna in Palermo for specialized treatment. He is also working with a Tanzanian relief effort, and Fran had decided that was where her charity dollars would go, and had given them a Christmas gift before she became ill. So it was that charity, not recognized in the US for tax purposes, that I asked people to donate to initially. I have taken the donations and added to them, and we have given a total of One Thousand Euros to help the rural poor in Tanzania. That is enough to build a house for a family in the drought stricken area. It will have a sign on it in memory of Fran.

However, that is not what Rini was calling about. He had just completed cleaning out the gardens that Fran loved to work in, the ones overlooking the Mediterranean, and he wanted me to see something special. That something was a palm tree,
that had grown much bigger since we last left there, and
had also, according to Rini, changed in one other way. He told me
the tree now had a name, and the name was Francesca.

So, without further description, the tree above is, indeed,
Francesca, and to the right you will find a picture of Rini,
who was so helpful to both of us in our time of need.