When I first came to Motovun, I was in my mid-fifties. Now I am in my early-sixties, and my age is starting to show, especially because of my gray hair and a bit of a paunch. Several years ago, little kids waddling around town started calling me barba or “uncle” in the Venetian dialect. Taught by their mothers, they used this honorific term with ease customary in these parts. But even women in their late twenties and early thirties are now starting to call me barba, as well. Silvia Ujčić started this fashion in a teasing sort of way, but her friends Zdenka Perčić, Nives Valenta, Tatjana Sutera, and Sandra Kaligari picked it up quickly enough, and in the same vein. In a few years, this is how everyone will be calling me, no doubt. Teasing will stop, and the honorific term will stick till the end of my days. Anyhow, it is time for me to start getting used to all this. Barba Ranko is here to stay.