January 3, 2006
Today, there’s going to be ice in the church, and I can’t wait to hear the stories around supper.



Yesterday the power was disconnected at mid-day, as the construction workers on the road to the fort closed down for lunch. Miche had to shut Cafe des Forcats and our crew used “the environmental system” (Art’s description) “Open the windows!” until it went back on. I’ve got to figure out how to tell Mara (in Italian) what a disaster it will be if this happens once we start painting. Last night the guys sat around the table, exhausted from an overtime day of fighting the chill and their first day in the church. Their cheeks glowed red hot and everyone was hungry. Sylvia fixed pasta with broccoli and seven whole trout and salad and we ate every last bite. Today is the first time in almost a month that I’ve been able to do laundry. Whoo hoo!

Here’s Jaz standing on the road down from the fort. The tiny hamlet of Fenestrelle in the background.It’s been like this, sharp, sunny, glorious.



Another two hours wasted trying to send one email, this time in the back of the Dragoni Rossi, using Jophile’s dial-up while she prepared lunch for the locals in the hotel’s kitchen. Gord is getting anxious about press contacts. Can VANOC give us some lists? I’m waiting to hear from them. I know Gaby is working on it from the Italian side, with a couple of press conferences scheduled.We’ve got a crew back home doing press; I’m counting on them as there isn’t much I can do here, save confirm appointments with Gord once the ice and the paintings have been made. I’m going to Torino next week for some meetings, a phone and fax. Maybe I’ll stay , as the 21st century has arrived in Turino, but certainly not in Fenestrelle.

We have to get a special pass for our vehicle, come the games. Everyone else must travel by bus up towards Sestriere. The Olympic flame goes through here on the 3rd or the 4th of February, but there aren’t any signs at all indicating that anything special is happening at the fort. (Aggggh!) I paid 400 euros down for part of this week’s lodging. That’s just plain nerve-wracking, I can’t think about what it is costing us every single day just to be here. (Aggghhhhhhhh)

I took a walk outside at dusk, and the cold came through my gloves. The path just up from Meizoun along the river towards Fenestrelle is frozen and then dusted in snow. Icy water rushes below me on the right. To the left, (sinistra), water coming down the mountain has stopped somehow mid-stream and packs soft looking ice in its place. Everything else, bleak and brown and bony. The mountains stretch above my head into the vast blue sky going pink with the setting of the sun, as the cars roar by on the highway, their headlights carving a path in the dark. If I look up, I see snow covered peaks and the world is big and magnificent. I feel so small and so alive.