ALONG THE WAY: MILAN

After repeated frequents down Villa dell’Orso on my way to and from our hotel, I finally I had to stop in at Astier de Villatte, a whimsical ceramics brand I recognized as my friend John Derian carries them in his legendary Soho shop back home.

Sparkling inside were rows of delectable Christmas ornaments and I immediately spied an oyster, my beloved and mine’s favorite food to share. I was soon to meet him in Warsaw for his birthday and since it was November, such a little gift seemed just the ticket to open. The love and panache the kind salesperson gave to wrapping it up in understated brown paper with the perfect (of course!) moss green ribbon, complete with a small gold bell, made me almost tearful.

Days later, while back home in Connecticut as we were unpacking, we could not find the ornament anywhere. Still lurking on my mind while strolling through Instagram one evening, I spied on a local artist’s account (who coincidently lives in my former house and paints in the barn where I used to write) a small dark oil painting of an oyster she had just completed. Fate or manifestation?! I immediately messengered asking if it was still available and it was.

Weeks later, somehow our oyster ornament became found. Now it rests draped on our bedside lamp- complete with ribbon and bell- as though a muse, to the very painting that I surprised him with that Christmas!