The Unwed Mother

This small Victorian stone statue was almost left behind in Scotland. She was half hidden by a rambling rhododendron. Her back was to a path through giant beech trees called "The Bride's Walk." Her anguished face looked down a weedy bank to a gopher-ridden former bowling green. She was seldom seen. I always called her "The Unwed Mother" because of her facial expression and the tales of girls being expelled from the family home or from service for the sin of giving birth out of wedlock.

When she was removed from her crate here in Italy she was greeted by cries of "Madonna!" from the men who unpacked her. We received instant moral credit for owning such a statue. There was much to-do and ceremony about where she was to be placed, "guarda Lucca o guarda la strada?" She was placed facing Lucca, once again with her back to us but this time looking down a weedy bank, across an olive grove to the walled city of Lucca.

The miniature daffodils were in a dried up pot shoved into her crate by the packers. They were a gift from Wales. I almost threw them away but planted them with the Madonna instead.