By the door a black and white towel hangs on a hook. I wipe my hands on it in between stirs as I hover over pots and pans in my sister-in-law's tastefully minimalistic kitchen. She washes  lettuce at my side.

Children banter upstairs while uncles philosophize in the spacious, open-walled living room that looks out on an equally pastoral vista.

The church clock strikes the hour. Off in the distance, down further into the valley, is our house. Little bits of heaven do really exist on earth...