A blonde, well groomed woman is sitting opposite me, her hands folded over each other, slowly removing nail varnish from her nails.“You know, I won't use gel again. It ruins my nails and takes too long to take off.“ Everything has to happen quickly for Silvia Delago. Otherwise she would never manage to tackle the mound of tasks that await her every day. 'Arbea Appartements' with holiday flats, two small children, her in-house wood carving workshop and regular performances with her female voice quartet 'De Cater'.

The secret gets around

But Silvia's secret actually lies in her crammed diary. She says that she needs to be busy. Wood carving, taught to her by her father, has become a hobby and a job, just like singing.“I have time to switch off when I am doing what I love, making household chores, and looking after the children and guests a lot easier.“ This is how her wheel turns, in the right direction, one spoke not being able to do without the other, ending in full circle.

Carved from life

“I am really happy. I have two healthy children, a work that I love and a nice house – what more could I wish for?“ I can only nod in agreement. But I still ask her if there's anything she would change, if she could.“The only thing that I would sometimes carve out for myself would be a little more time - time for myself, or time to go on holiday involving no deadlines, guests or exhibitions.



Mother's Day – the joy of motherhood

On Mother's Day, does Silvia just drop everything? “No, definitely not!“ she says, shaking her head. I knew all along that Silvia is a woman of action and one who does things properly.“There are things that I simply have to do every day – even on Mother's Day. Of course, we celebrate it, and ideally, I spend it in the mountains with my family. At least somewhere where I can take things slowly, away from the crowds. When I can get a bit of peace and quiet and the children are happy, then I am happy too, and Mother's Day goes smoothly.“

Sung

Silvia is the first person I've met who will sing something for me without hesitation when I ask her to. “It's a good thing that we're in the garden – first of all, the neighbours can hear the performance and secondly, her voice needs more space than a room affords.” I applaud and see before me a self-confident woman who is aware of her talents.



Carved

Silvia finds time to show me her workshop. She ties her apron with expert hands, laughs, sits down on the stool and gets to work on her current wood carving. It's a photo that she has to 'put into wood'. Next to her there is a small table where her children sometimes 'work' while she is busy with her carving. On the other side there is a bag of onions with a photo of Silvia's group, 'De Cater', above it. All aspects of this multi-talented Gröden native meet under one roof – successfully.