Bringing the outdoors indoors.

I am used to bringing the outdoors indoors. Into my home. With big picture windows. With sliding glass doors. With mirrors that reflect the trees and the lake. I suspect that’s largely the American way. And I like it. But I sense that here in Carbonia in Sardinia, that too much of the outdoors is kept outdoors. It’s not brought so much into the interior of homes. There are smaller and fewer windows. Oh, the interiors may be colorful. Nice warm colors. And pastels. All very comfortable. And homey. And many of the upper crust homes are hidden behind gates and high fences. And some windows have bars. Not so much like jail bars. Because there are nice-looking decorative bars. But still, bars are bars are bars. Meant to shut something out. Albeit, these are touted as security measures. Maybe it’s that Carbonia is located inland. Away from the Mediterranean seacoasts. There I tend to see far more openness. The outdoors coming indoors. Maybe, too, it has something to do with the way Carbonia was formed in the 1930s. As a coal mining town. Mainly to house 12,000 miners. I wonder if miners are used to being enclosed. I’d rather think they need to come home to living quarters that are bright and airy. Full of the sunshine found outdoors. –Jim Broede