Maria doesn’t quite accept it, but she is a wonderful story teller. As a former television producer, I spent a lot of time listening to story tellers, and Maria has all of the right ingredients. The camera loves her, she is animated and articulate, she tells a story with her whole body, especially her hands, which are just as expressive as her voice.

I love listening to her stories, I love the very original and unusual way in which her mind works. We were having lunch at the Round House Cafe today, and Maria was telling me a story about Mrs. Mandela and her grandmother, the two were friends.

Maria did not care for her grandmother, as is apparent in the story. I love almost everything about Maria, and I hope to record more of her stories.

This morning, we found a pear tree in the back pasture, we had no idea it was there. Maria wrote about it on her blog, and then we went to lunch, and she started  telling the story of Mrs. Mandela.

I was laughing and watching her hands spin around – she is half Sicilian – and I asked her if we could stop and record it, and she reluctantly agreed. But as you can see, once she got into it, she was like Amy Schumer on the stage.

Everyone in the Round House was laughing at the two of us, and at her story. Come and see.