Books
Saving the Griffin
Defending Irene
Play-by-Play Track
Play-by-Play Field Events
Fundamental Softball |
Finding the Griffin
Grifone con Palla: Griffin with Ball
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It had been a long day in Siena. My family and I
were walking along the Via Terme back to the Blue SITA buses when
I saw him in the store window: a griffin clutching a ball. I stopped
and stared. A larger version of this creature could have sat on
the roof of Siena's cathedral and not looked out of place. My family
came back to see what had caught my attention. I murmured that it
must be too expensive to even consider buying.
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Torre del Mangia: City Tower of Siena
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My husband, who always ridiculed "dustcatchers"
of any sort, said six words that will live in my memory forever: "You
never know until you ask." He and I went inside. The griffin
was expensive, but not horribly so. The owner of the shop explained
how her husband had carved the piece for his own amusement out of
a small, spare block of travertine marble. I now wanted the griffin
more than ever. Travertine stone decorates the top of the Torre del
Mangia, Rome's Colosseum and dozens of other monuments around Italy.
Five minutes later, I was the proud owner of an original work of art
by Ruffini Dario.
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Duomo: Siena's Cathedral -A view from the Torre del Mangia
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My carefully swaddled griffin rode on my lap all
the way home to Merano. We gave him a home in our study, right by
my desk. He provided a wonderful remembrance of our trip to Tuscany,
but he also tickled my imagination. He was thinner than any young
griffin ought to be, and he had such worried eyes. I wondered how
I'd feel coming nose to beak with him under a laurel hedge like the
one in our garden.
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Duomo: Siena's Cathedral - Its front entrance |
From there, I moved on to what might happen if a
young, hungry griffin interrupted the batting practice of two young
Americans.
And it was only natural that Blue SITA buses, the Torre del Mangia,
and Siena's Gothic cathedral should appear at some point in the
story.
So what happened? The answer can be found on the pages of Saving
the Griffin now out from Peachtree.
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Read about The Griffin's journey to publication
here.
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