ONE FOR THE ROAD
Before I unplug the computer and prepare it to be moved, here are a few last minute thoughts. I know there was something else I wanted to mention, but I guess it will come to me sooner or later (obviously later)
My plan was to strip the bed today, take off the heated mattress pad, then remake the bed. Since we’re leaving at seven tomorrow morning, this was the best I could do, and at the time I formulated this plan, it seemed logical and workable. Except that spring forgot to come to Umbria, and there is NO WAY I am sleeping without the heated mattress pad tonight! Although reason tells me that I won’t need it when we return in four weeks, I still have a hard time imagining that. It’s cold for three reasons; #1, it’s just cold, #2, with all the clouds, the sun never gets a chance to warm up anything, and #3, the dampness only makes it worse. Here’s to a wonderfully warm (not hot!) summer.
We got a big shock today in the mail…our gas bill! First of all, we are on gas mains, which means that our gas is the cheapest type. Bottled gas costs much more and we felt very fortunate to have the mains gas. When we got our bill in February for December and January, we thought it was a bit high, especially considering the fact that we had been gone for most of the period. Mauro assured us that the bill was very reasonable, and what else can you do but pay it? These bills are estimated, I think, so we knew that eventually things would even out.
Sure enough, a few weeks later we got a letter in the mail telling us to call an 800 number over Easter weekend and report our actual meter reading. I marked the dates on the calendar, and we dutifully called in our reading, as taken by Art. The bill came today. To say that I was in shock wouldn’t be right…I guess I was stunned…unbelieving…incredulous…….. €849.50…or, to translate that into U.S. dollars, $1027 and change! This is for a two month period, but also to adjust the reading. I would think that the meter was read for the final bill when the house was sold, so like it or not, this was all ours, and we probably got off lightly the past several times. Haven’t these people ever heard of the equalized monthly payment plan? I wonder if I could suggest it?
Art started to carry on about how he now understood why so many people had their coats on inside, but this has been in stores, not in private homes. Except for Enrico and Wilma, of course. But it’s not like we run around in shorts and tee shirts…I wear an undershirt, and long sleeved shirt, and a sweatshirt every day. I try to keep the door to the living room closed, so that it stays warm. Keeping our bedroom warm is an impossibility due to the size of the water pipe running to the radiator, but what little heat we have in there is generated by electricity, not gas. I’m not sure what our tactic will be for next winter, but I am considering a trip to someplace warm.
I’ve checked our flight schedule for tomorrow, and everything seems to be as originally scheduled. Wendy will pick us up around seven for the two hour drive to Rome. There was once talk of the Perugia airport getting international flights, but that apparently isn’t going to happen. The “international” would have meant Holland, but for us it would have been great. We could have flown into Amsterdam and then flown directly from Amsterdam to Perugia. Since the Perugia airport is only about 30-45 minutes away, this would have been wonderful.
As it is, we have to drive to Rome, and you never know what traffic problems you will encounter along the way. When we came back in January, it took us over an hour to go just a few miles. Of course we experienced the same thing the other day on the E45, and only found out yesterday that it was a strike of some sort, and that the road had been blocked by whoever was putting on the strike!
Strikes in Italy are regularly scheduled events. They are publicized in advance, and last a specified time, usually a few hours. It’s most common for the gas stations to be closed due to a strike, or for a specific airline to go on a four hour strike. Trains are affected too…this is just how it’s done over here. Since we don’t get the newspaper, and couldn’t read it anyway, we can’t find out about the strikes that way. We have to hope that we see something on television, or that someone tells us about an upcoming strike.
Art had intended to get his hair cut today, and just remembered at 6:45. Since every business closes in the afternoon from one until four, more or less. They all stay open later in the evening. This is true for MOST businesses, including doctors. Can you imagine having a doctor’s appointment at 7:30 in the evening? Since it’s now 7:40, I’m assuming that the barbershop was open, and that Art is waiting for his turn. He’s probably happy as a clam, talking with they guys, hanging out at the barbershop. He didn’t return until 8:45, having sat down in the chair at ten till eight. Art just loves the way this man cuts his hair, but really, even with a shampoo, FORTY FIVE minutes? I think it took even longer this time because Art told him that he wanted to show his new cut to the girl who has been cutting his hair for years in the states. This only intensified the barbers’ desire to get it just right, to show a colleague.
We’ve eaten up as much of the stuff in the refrigerator as we can. We’ll have eggs in the morning, and I’ll take a container of yogurt with me for a snack. Tonight we’ll close all the wooden shutters so that we don’t have to do that in the morning. Armando has volunteered to water the plants, if they need it. Right now, they could go for at least 10 days without a problem. I’ve shut most of the shutters, but can’t get the one in the blue bathroom to budge. You don’t think all this rain has caused the wood to swell, do you?
I know we’re going to have a lot of fun in the states, but I also know I’m really going to miss Italy. At least this trip will only be four weeks, not the six we spent in December/January. And, amazingly, I’m going to get to visit with my granddaughter again. Best of all, I’m going to take my grandson with me, so that I can enjoy both of them at the same time. I need a new picture of the two of them for the wallpaper on my computer, and I can’t wait to start snapping away.
RAIN
Guess what happened yesterday? It rained. Again. Still. More. Hard. Continually. It’s getting to the point where rain is expected. It’s the norm. Gray cloudy days now symbolize spring, not just the dreary days of winter. We’re glad we live at the TOP of the hill, and not the bottom. We’re also glad we’re on a base of volcanic rock, not just soil. We’ve seen the pictures from California, where the hillside collapses and the houses just slide down it. At first, when the rain seemed to go on and on, I was glad for the farmers who had already plowed, and even more glad for those who had planted. Now I’m wondering if anything can grow…no, I know it can’t. I know that anything that’s planted must be struggling to survive, to keep from drowning. The rains are needed, but only with an equal dose of sunshine mixed in. I’ve taken the saucers out from under all my pots and sat the pots directly on the gravel, so they can drain, rather than sit in the water. But when the rain is so continually, even that doesn’t help much. It’s starting to get depressing. The only good thing is that we got the majority of our plants in the ground before the rain became a daily event. Now I know they won’t dry out…I just hope they don’t drown.
It seems that ever since we moved to Italy, people are apologizing for the weather, saying, “oh, but this isn’t normal!” The fall was unusually short, and cold. The winter was very cold. And wet. And humid. Lots of fog. Unbelievable amounts of snow. And now spring just refuses to arrive. Last summer there was a drought, and unusually high temperatures. There is no such thing as “normal” any more. Normal is a thing of the past. Average no longer applies. The seasons don’t seem to be what they used to be. Spring is no longer wet and warming. Summer seems to be ferociously hot, or unusually cool. Fall, once such a beautiful season, now gets skipped entirely, as summer heat gives way to winters’ cold. And winter! No longer just cold and gray, winter now swings back and forth between extreme cold and wet rainy days. I don’t need a degree to know that something is terribly wrong. Those who say that global warming doesn’t exist obviously have their heads stuck somewhere other than outside their door.
As usual, it’s been warmer in Louisville than it has here. It’s been like that for most of the seven months we’ve been here. And now, as we prepare to go back to Louisville, we see that the weather will start to get cooler and wetter, just for us. Great. I expect to come back to Italy at the end of May and find that summer has arrived full blown. If there is a spring, it will happen while we are gone, and I’ll miss it. I’ve already warned Art that he’s going to have a tough sell next spring when he want to visit Louisville during May.
We picked up the stones for the patio today. The company hadn’t had a delivery in our area yet, and we need for the stones to be here so they can be laid while we’re gone. Although I’m a bit nervous about having this work done while we’re not here, I’m hoping for the best. If Gioberto were doing the work, I wouldn’t be worried at all, but since some man, name unknown, work unknown, is doing the work, I’m a little apprehensive. I’m sure it’ll be fine…I’m just such a control freak. I have plenty of other things to worry about, so I’ll try to relax a bit on this one.
Luckily for us, the stones only took two trips, and on the first rip, it hadn’t yet started to rain. We were able to take a little more than half the stones on the first trip, and got them moved to the backyard. The second load of stones is still sitting in the car, waiting for the rain to ease up a bit. I hope there are a few minutes tomorrow when we can move them to the backyard without getting drenched.
Of course Art requested one last stop at Ternana’s. He pointed out that it would be an entire month without one of Marco’s pizzas, and what could I say but okay? Luckily for us, we were there early enough to be able to talk with Marco, Marushka and Pino for a few minutes. Marco asked us to bring him back a belt buckle, and told us that he collects them. He offered to pay, but we wanted to bring him back something, and didn’t know what. Now we have the perfect gift. For Marushka and Rita, Marco suggested silver earrings, but we still have no idea what to get for Pino. For the boys, maybe something like Bionicles, but I’ll ask Nicholas for suggestions once I’m in Louisville.
I don’t know if I’ll blog while we’re in Louisville or not. Doubtful. The name of this blog is, after all, Barb and Art live in Italy, so blogging about things that happen in the states seems somehow inappropriate. Should I feel the need to record some special event, I’m sure it will end up on the blog, but generally, when I’m in the states and surrounded by English speaking people, the need to blog is considerably lessened. Blogging while in Italy lets me “talk” and share my thoughts, feelings and opinions with someone, everyone. Art is quite patient, and lets me ramble on and on, and most of the time he even listens, but I know that my need to talk is much greater than his ability to listen.
DINNER WITH THE ITALIANS...AND AN AMERICAN, AND A SARDINIAN
Last night was the dinner for the Italians. Of course it didn’t turn out quite as planned. In fact, it turned out to be a dinner for the Italians, an American and a Sardinian.
On Friday, Jill and Larry, recent transplants from Seattle, had come to San Venanzo to look at an apartment. Since they’re in school during the mornings, we had arranged to see the apartment around six. As it turned out, that day Larry and Jill had learned one of the most valuable lessons it Italy: it pays to know someone. In trying to obtain their Permesso di Sogiorno, they had made several trips to Perugia, to the questura. This usually means getting up in the middle of the night so that you can be at the questura by six a.m. to get a number to be helped when they open. So far Jill and Larry hadn’t brought all the right papers, and were getting ready for another trip.
This was when their friend Roberto stepped in and began making phone calls. Luckily for Larry and Jill, they were involved in Seattle’s “sister city” program, and as luck would have it, Perugia is their sister city! I guess they knew, or knew of, the person in Perugia who is in charge of the program from this end, and luckily, she also happens to be in the mayor’s office! At first she told Roberto she couldn’t help Larry and Jill, but as Roberto persisted, she realized she did know someone who could help. An appointment was set for Friday morning.
Apparently the meeting was successful on many levels, the most important of which is that they now have the Permesso di Sogiorno! And a friend in the mayors office! And they have furthered the good relationship between the two cities! What a day! We are hoping that the suggestion to move San Venanzo from the district of Terni to the district of Perugia is adopted, since we now know someone who knows someone!
This explains why those lines at the questura move so slowly, or not at all…there is always someone who had connections, who is meeting with the person YOU want to see, but since THEY know someone who knows someone, you are forced to stand in line, holding your number, hoping that they get to you before they close for the day, while the person with the connections is coming in the back door.
Wwith that accomplished, Larry and Jill had come to San Venanzo to look at an apartment, and we would later go to Ternana’s for dinner, and also to check with Pino about the apartment he had mentioned.
We had agreed to meet Rosalba and Luciano at the apartment around six. Larry and Jill liked the apartment, and asked about what furniture would stay. We thanked them and told them we would let them know when Larry and Jill had made a decision. Rosalba and Luciano said they hoped to see us on Sunday for the picnic, but that things weren’t looking good…rain is predicted for the entire weekend.
When we entered Marsciano, Art showed Larry and Jill another nice restaurant we like, Trattoria Rosatelli, and also where to buy the cheapest gas in town. Our next stop was the local cantina to buy some wine. After much looking and a few tastes, Larry and Jill bought a five liter jug of the red wine…fine for basic, everyday table wine. After that, we were ready for dinner!
We parked on the street, right in front of Gino’s hardware store. As we passed by and waved hello, Gino came rushing out to tell us that he wouldn’t be able to come to dinner on Saturday night! His wife (Daniela) was sick with the flu. Art asked if she might not be better in time for the dinner, but Gino explained that because she was nursing the baby, she couldn’t take any medicines, so he was sure she wouldn’t be able to come. We expressed our sympathy, but then got an even bigger surprise…Gino said that Enrico wouldn’t be able to come either!
Gino seemed surprised that Enrico hadn’t called us, and told us that Wilma had some sort of a tooth problem and needed to have surgery…at least that’s what I surmised…he made a slicing motion along his jaw line, so I figured it was a fairly serious problem. Although Art and I were both stunned by this double cancellation, we gave Gino our good wishes for both his wife and Wilma, and headed to Ternana’s
At Ternana’s, Marco told me that he had seen my blog, but he asked me why it was only in English! I told him he knows I can barely SPEAK Italian, much less WRITE it! I think he gets very frustrated with my inability to understand him, but I try. He also asked why there was no way for him to contact me, so I gave him one of our cards with our email address. This situation should change once Pauline makes some changes to the blog. I didn’t realize that other blog sites let the reader contact the writer, or post comments. Apparently even Marco knows more about computers than I do!
Pino came over to the table and began talking to Art about the apartment he had mentioned. It’s just outside of Fratta Todina, not in the town itself, but just outside the town. A little while later, the owner of the apartment would show up and there would be more discussion. I’m not even sure how that all ended up, or if Larry and Jill are even going to look at this apartment. They need to find something to rent for eleven months…at a reasonable rent, and in a convenient location. Since they are going to school in Cortona right now, they may want to stay closer to that area.
Part of the reason I don’t know much about this other apartment is because I had gone outside to call Wendy to invite her to dinner…we had made a trip to the IperCoop to buy food for the big dinner…and now there was no one to eat it! Larry and Jill had plans for Saturday, and we leave for the states on Wednesday! I apologized for the last minute invitation, but Wendy was happy to accept…she knew I was making ribs and apple pie, and that was enough for her!
On the drive back to San Venanzo, we had some of the heaviest fog I’ve ever seen. This continuous rain has saturated everything, even the air. We had a few things to give Larry and Jill, and Larry asked if the Formula One race (trial?) he was planning to attend on Saturday might be televised. Since rain seems to be everywhere, and every day, he thought they might be able to come for dinner, and just catch the highlights on TV without having to get soaked in the process. We searched and searched but never could find the coverage on our satellite schedule.
And then, someone rang the doorbell. This is a fairly unusual occurrence, especially when we aren’t expecting anyone! Art opened the door to see Enrico standing there with a bottle of wine in his hand. Of course we both immediately assumed that he was offering his apologies for the cancellation. Once we invited him in and made introductions, he told us that Yes! He and Wilma would still be coming to dinner! Huh?!? I think what happened is that he had called Gino while he and Wilma were on their way to the dentist, and somehow Gino just assumed that they wouldn’t be able to come. Okay, now we’re back to FOUR confirmed guests and two possible guests. Jill said “you can un-invite us”, but I have more than enough food, so it’s really not a big deal to have two more people. I told them to decide what they want to do, and let us know tomorrow. Maybe the weather will be clear where the race is being held and they might want to go. I’m not sure where it is, other than it takes several hours to drive there.
We had a hard time deciding what to make for this dinner. My first thought was to make something that would appeal to the cowboys-and-Indians loving Gino and Enrico. I had thought about chili and cornbread, but can’t round up the necessary ingredients in time. I had considered lasagna because it’s something I can prepare well in advance and stick in the oven. I was determined not to be a “Wilma” and be stuck in the kitchen the whole night. I had asked for advice on the SlowTalk message board, and had been advised NOT to cook Italian for the Italians. It was suggested that I cook something I would have prepared in the states for guests…but that would have meant Italian! Hmmm…
Well, fried chicken is out…too much trouble. What about meatloaf and mashed potatoes? I thought about making my mom’s mashed potato casserole, because that can be prepared in advance, but they don’t have sour cream in Italy. Okay, now Art says he wants ribs. He had whipped up a barbeque sauce the other day that was really good and thought we could recreate it. And what else? Spinach…when it was on sale several weeks ago he had bought a HUGE bag of it. I only like spinach in a salad, not cooked, so I was wondering what we were going to do with all that spinach. Then I was inspired. I browned some pancetta in some olive oil, threw in some garlic, then added the spinach. A few minutes in the skillet was all it took, and it was so good, even I liked it! But it would take several skillet-fuls to make enough for six or eight people. I wasn’t in favor of spinach at all. Somehow we ended up with several bags of spinach when we went to the grocery. Art cleaned and trimmed it, but I still wasn’t’ happy about the idea of making spinach for that many people.
The planned menu ended up being a simple antipasto tray, a spaghetti casserole, ribs with barbeque sauce, spinach, and apple pie for dessert. Most of the things I could prepare in advance. I decided to use a barbeque recipe from one of my cookbooks. The spaghetti casserole was from an Italian magazine. It was the same dish I had prepared for Patrick and Marilda last week, except this time I was going to use Provolone cheese, as indicated in the recipe. I didn’t have any provolone last week, so I had substituted parmesan, and it had been a little dry. The provolone should moisten it up.
I started off our Saturday morning with a substantial breakfast…I knew we would both be working all day long, and that the guests wouldn’t even ARRIVE until eight o’clock. Then I began the preparations…first I peeled the apples and made the pie shells. Two apple pies should be more than enough, even if we end up with eight people. After a false start, the oven was heating. This oven is one of my least favorite things in my kitchen…I hate it! It’s cranky…it goes off unexpectedly, the temperature is very difficult to get right, it has hot spots, and I can’t seem to get things to brown in this oven. Thank goodness I brought a centigrade/fahrenheit oven thermometer with me!
Of course I had to bake the pies one at a time, so that took a while. I was able to check my email and take care of a few odds and ends while the pies baked. Larry and Jill sent us an email saying that they were not coming…Larry had been looking forward to this race for so long, and really wanted to see it in person, not on television…not that we had it on television anyway. Now we were back to the original number.
Art did most of the cleaning and straightening of the upstairs. We were still waiting for the plaster to dry around the shelves we had put up in our bedroom. Art did the touch-up painting, but left the shelf braced for the time being. When it’s all dried and ready, it will look great. I had the glass taken off the oil painting of a horse that I had painted-by-numbers when I was a kid, and will display some of the ceramic horses I’ve collected…some of which I’ve had since I was ten or twelve years old. I was one of those girls who loved horses…at least until the Beatles came along.
In the midst of all this, I had the kitchen table covered with plastic sheets for a notebook/binder, and stacks of papers filled with recipes. These papers were pages that had been torn out of magazines, things I had printed off the internet, recipes from friends, from grocery stores, etc. I had just kept this big stack of papers, and had decided to put them into plastic sheets to keep them organized. Since the pies were baked and it would be a while before I could assemble the spaghetti casserole, I sat down to finish this project. While going through the recipes, I found one for a spinach soufflé that sounded good, and the recipe even said that it could be made in advance then simply reheated.
After preparing the spinach, I baked it then cut it into squares…now all I had to do at dinner time was remember to put it in the oven! Later in the afternoon I made the spaghetti casserole, got the stuff for the antipasto together, and that was it! We both took our showers and got dressed. I was hoping for a few minutes to just sit and relax, but unbelievably, at 7:45, everyone arrived!
I was still assembling the antipasto tray, rolling up the meats and inserting toothpicks into the cheese. I sent Art upstairs with the guests, and by the time it was ready, he was back downstairs with drink orders. Everyone had wine except Wilma. By the time I got upstairs, it was obvious that Enrico was entertaining Wendy and her friend Giuseppe. Enrico had brought some magazines and literature about the Texas Longhorn Society…he’s the president of the Italian Branch. The antipasto tray seemed to be going over quite well.
On to dinner….the first course was the spaghetti casserole, and as I began to serve it, Wilma told me no…and Wendy translated further…Wilma was trying to lose some weight and wasn’t eating pasta. I felt bad, but what could I do? I figured she catch up with the next course, or if not, this would be a very successful weight loss day! Enrico ate his serving, Wilma’s serving, and asked for another. He asked if it was an American recipe, and I’m sure it was a surprise to hear that I had found it in an Italian magazine.
Now it was time to pull the ribs out…I had used the last of my onions for the dinner, and had used half the onions in the spaghetti, and the other half in the barbeque sauce. I already knew from the spaghetti that these were some strong onions! The ribs were nice and tender, but boy, where they hot! Everyone ate them, and although Wendy encouraged them to eat with their hands, Enrico, Wilma and Giuseppe used a knife and fork. Wendy likes spicy food, and she LOVED the ribs…even asked for seconds. I was disappointed that they were so hot, but I don’t have a favorite BBQ sauce recipe…in the states I always used store-bought sauce. As usual, I didn’t hesitate to experiment on company…sometimes it works out better than others!
Next we had the spinach, but I thought it wasn’t really that good (could have used more salt), and all in all just wasn’t worth the effort required. You now how it is…some things just aren’t practical, and if it takes too much time or is too complicated, I just don’t bother. Now more than ever, keeping things simple is my goal.
After dinner I asked if we should wait for dessert, but everyone said no, they wanted it now, so I sliced up the pie…only to find out that it was runny. I had waited to buy the apples, checking with some cookbooks to see what type would NOT be runny. The cookbook I read suggested Golden Delicious as Not RUNNY…although later I would read in ANOTHER cookbook that the sugar should be reduced when using this variety. Oh well…
They did seem to like the pie, with Wendy explaining that this was “the” quintessential American dessert…as American as apple pie! Everyone seemed to like it, and we also enjoyed a sweet wine with dessert called Brachetto. Enrico had brought us a bottle because we had enjoyed it so much at his house.
It wasn’t until after midnight that Wendy said she needed to get home…her cat is sick, and she had a cat sitter!
We’ll see her again on Monday when we go into Perugia to get the plane tickets for Prague, and to sign some papers for the mortgage company. We’re going to close our checking account at Cass di Risparmio di Firenze…the fees on Italian bank accounts are high, and although we are most grateful to this bank for working with us when no one else would, we just can’t afford these fees. At the post office we only break even, but at least we aren’t LOSING money! We will keep the dollar account, unless the dollar gets a lot stronger, because it’s cheaper for us to transfer money as dollars, then convert it over here. Because our mortgage is set up to auto-pay from this chekcing account, we have to sign a fax that Wendy will send to the mortgage company.
During the conversation, Enrico had told us about his ranch, and had told us he has all the firewood we will ever need. He also told us if we ever need to borrow a car, or get a ride to the airport, he’ll be glad to help. I will be very interested to visit his ranch and to see his horses. As mentioned earlier, horses were my first love, before the Beatles, and before I discovered boys! We also discussed the fact that in Italy, when a spouse dies, their estate is automatically divided between the suriving spouse and the children...this is exactly how we want to do it, and Enrico had some helpful suggestions. Wendy is going to check to see how we need to handle this.
Fianlly, with everyone gone, Art helped me with the dishes…I would rather stay up after a party and wake up to a clean kitchen than to have it facing me in the morning. I guess it was about two in the morning before we got to bed. We weren’t worried about the lateness of the hour, because I’m SURE it will be raining on Sunday and we won’t be able to have the picnic with our neighbors. Luciano had told us today that if it rained on Sunday, they were planning to try for May 1st, a national holiday. We had to tell them that for us, it was Sunday or nothing, since we’ll be going back to the states on Wednesday.
Anyway, we survived the dinner, and from now on, I’m just going to cook whatever I feel like, and not worry about the menu.
APARTMENT HUNTING
THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2004 TAX DAY!
What a day! We had two appointments to see apartments that Larry and Jill may be interested in. Both are for sale, but there may also be the possibility of renting, so we decided to take a look. At ten o’clock, we stepped outside to meet our neighbor, Armando, for the first appointment. While we were waiting, I noticed that we had mail in the box, but once again, I couldn’t get the key to work. Armando had gotten his brother, the locksmith, to open it for us last week, but I guess we’ll just have to get a whole new lock assembly. Art managed to get the lock open, and asked Armando to contact his brother for a new lock.
About this time, a car pulled up, and who should it be but the sister of our neighbor, the lady who told us that the picnic was cancelled! Now it was all coming back to me…Wendy had talked to Armando about this apartment, and had told us that it was connected to our other neighbor, Mr. Farnesi, the man who lives in the blue house and had invited us to the picnic. This woman is the sister of Mr. (Adamo) Farnesi, and her name is Rosalba. Her husband is Luciano, and the apartment belongs(ed?) to his mother.
We decided to take two cars, and we rode with Armando, although we could have easily fit into Luciano’s car. We wondered where we were going, since we thought the apartment was in San Venanzo. And so it was…we could have walked to the apartment in less time than it took us to drive there! It’s in an apartment building, right next to the school, and right behind the carabinieri (police) station.
We did finally get some clarification of the sign that we had seen saying that the commune would be re-locating to the school building. Of course we thought they were just moving, but now we’ve found out that the move is only temporary, while the villa that now houses the commune is renovated. I was really happy to hear this news, because as I wrote before, the villa that houses the commune is covered with frescoes and is very beautiful. This will make this apartment a convenient, if busy, location. Additionally, it is just a short walk to the farmacia and the bakery, accessible down a set of steps.
The apartment is located on the second floor of a three floor building. The lower level of this building houses a storage area for each apartment. The apartment itself was fairly nice…a small entryway, a good sized living/dining room with a nice sized balcony and a nice view. The main bedroom was a nice size, and there is also a second room, for guests, an office, whatever. The bathroom is nice sized, but the tub is one of those very short ones…I’ve seen them in Italy before, and don’t quite understand why they are so short. There is also a balcony off the bathroom that faces the main street below, but at the level of the tall trees, so all you see is green. The kitchen is small, but there is also a balcony off the kitchen. Nothing spectacular, but not bad either. Of course we don’t know the price.
We did know that they were interested in selling this apartment, not renting it, but we have told them that our friends are only interested in renting for a year. They told us that they would need to talk with the geometra, Mauro, to determine the price. We would later hear the same thing from the owner of the other apartment…guess the geometra’s opinion is highly regarded! He must also double as the real estate agent, more or less.
After I had taken pictures of each of the rooms from various angles, we were invited for coffee at the home of Rosalba and Luciano. Of course we accepted! Once again we rode in Armando’s car, and I had a hard time not laughing out loud…he stopped at the bottom of the hill, and proceeded to tell Art something quite involved. Of course he had to use his hands, and of course he forgot to drive. A friendly toot from the car behind us got him rolling again, but the way he turned the wheel! No “hand over hand” wheel turning for Armando. He simply repositioned his hands, and it just looked so awkward when he turned a corner.
Of course I was wondering how far this ride would be…but we did make our way out of town…but only to the first house on the road to Orvieto, just a short distance out of town. We had seen this house on one of our walks, and were happy to have the opportunity to see it more closely. It’s a large house, with a smaller building in the front. We learned that once their children get married, the children and spouses would live in the larger house and Luciano and Rosalba would move to the apartment in the smaller building. For Italy, this is a normal living arrangement.
We immediately noticed the screen on the windows, and once inside, Luciano showed us that the screens would roll up like window shades. This is what we want! We asked if they were made by Dino, the man who made our door, but were told no, it was someone else, but this person also lived in San Venanzo. We’ll find out more about this person very soon! I think the park behind us my make us more susceptible to bugs, so we definitely want to use screens.
While Rosalba fixed coffee and tea, and put out some cake, Luciano showed us around the house, and all of the artwork that Rosalba had created. She paints flowers on ceramics…on small ceramic tiles that are then framed and hung, on larger tiles, on ceramic topped, iron legged tables, and even on wooden boxes. Her work was very nice, and I also enjoyed seeing the house…the rooms were quite large, and there was a huge fireplace in the living room. They are restoring this house, but I have no idea if this house has been in their family for many years…but I would think so. Italians don’t move around like Americans do. People stay in the same place for generations, and children stay at home until they marry…which can be well into their 30’s, even 40’s. In Italy, family is still the most important thing.
We found out that Rosalba teaches at a university, and according to Armando, they are quite rich! When Wendy met with them in December, they had told her that they would like to meet with us to learn English, and of course they would teach us Italian. This subject came up during the conversation…Art told them that he had studied by listening to cassettes in the car, and Rosalba laughed and said yes, that was what she had done too. She said she has taken four courses in English, but I’m not sure what constitutes a course. Since she never had anyone to practice with, what little she did learn was quickly lost…a situation we understand only too well. For me, even being around Italian all the time doesn’t help much!
I asked Rosalba about the old pictures of San Venanzo that her brother had told us about, and she disappeared into the other room.. When she came back, we saw that she had removed a picture from the wall…it was a photograph of the town, taken from the area of their house, and dated 1940. It was amazing how little has changed! I told her that once I learned more Italian, I would like to study about the history of the city, and especially about the medieval castle that once stood there. All that remains of it now are the tower, and assorted walls throughout the city. Parts of the ruins are behind our house…the cistern, a set of steep stairs, and of course, the garden.
As we chatted, it was amazing to me that we were able to understand one another, more or less. Of course we often use the wrong word, or the wrong tense, but everyone is happy to help us…a fact that we both appreciate. I keep forgetting that “to know” a person is a different verb than “to know” a fact. And in Italian, you “make” everything! You make a walk, and make a shower, but you “take” coffee.
The nicest compliment we got was when I had asked Rosalba if we were the only Americans/English speaking people in San Venanzo. She told us that previously there had been an American couple, but they had moved back to the states, and that the Irishman, Jerry, who we had met when we first arrived, was a deacon with the church and was attending school in Assisi. So, of course everyone knows who we are, as the only Americans, the only English speakers in town. There must be other foreigners here because just yesterday we received another notice from the commune telling us about their new information secretary for foreigners. Anyway, Rosalba said no, you aren’t “the Americans”, you are “San Venanzites”…that this is OUR town too, and that everyone is like one family. What a nice thing to say!
On the SlowTrav message board, many people have raised the question about really “fitting in” when you live in Italy This has never been a big concern for me. It’s not that I’m anti-social, but I have never been the one who knew all the neighborhood gossip, or even knew all my neighbors. I would smile and wave, say hello while on a walk, but for some reason, I was never very involved with my neighbors before, so if I’m not now, it won’t be a big change. Everyone we have met has been very nice…helpful, friendly, and interested. What more could you ask for? We haven’t lived here for generations like most of these people, and will never have the history and the memories that they do. For us to be warmly welcomed into someone’s home is more than enough!
Okay, enough philosophizing! We said our goodbyes and told Luciano and Rosalba that we would be in touch with them once we had heard from our friends. And once Mauro returns from vacation to tell them what price they should ask! Armando drove us home, taking the scenic route so that he could show us once again how well located the apartment was. We’ve been here for six months, and have seen the main areas…there’s just not a lot to see, so why he thought we needed the locations pointed out to us is a mystery.
At noon we walked down to the gas station, to meet the man who had told Art he also had an apartment for sale. We asked at the gas station, and were told he lived across the street. After waiting a few minutes, he drove up, and took us to his home, the apartment upstairs. The apartment in question is the one on the ground floor, and although he didn’t have a key for it, he did show us the floor plan. He too is interested in selling, and told us that one of the garage spaces could be easily converted into a living room. We thanked him for his time after telling him that our friends were only interested in renting. This man also told us that he would have to speak with Mauro to find out what the price should be!
After downloading the pictures of the first apartment to my computer, I tried to email them to Larry and Jill. They have started school in Cortona, and are only free in the afternoon…how well we remember that schedule! Anyway, for whatever reason, I could NOT get the pictures to attach…I had zipped them into a folder, but that didn’t work. I knew that I had taken the pictures at the lowest quality because they would be emailed, but apparently the folder was still too big. Then I tried dividing the folder into two zipped folders, but it still didn’t work….I hate being so computer illiterate, but I only know what I know! Maybe I’ll try to resize the photos to see what happens.
In order to accomplish something concrete for the day, we decided to put up the trellis for the jasmine vine in the back yard. Fabio is supposed to come tomorrow to install the two lights we bought, so then all we’ll need are the stones to be laid. Of course I’ll still have to add the smaller ground cover plants and the rest of the mulch, but all the main stuff is finished! The trellis went up fairly easily, for Italy. In Italy, nothing is ever simple. A job that should take 15 minutes can stretch into an hour or more, depending on what difficulties you run into. Art had a hard time drilling into some of the places, but eventually we got enough anchors into the wall, and I attached the trellis to them using green wire.
I had started a meat sauce for tonight’s lasagna. I had planned to make this for our dinner with Enrico/Wilma/Gino/Gino's wife on Saturday, but many people seem to think it’s a bad idea to cook Italian for Italians, so I’ve changed the menu. Although we will still have spaghetti, we will also have barbequed ribs…I’m hoping this is a good choice for people who are big fans of cowboys/Indians/the old west. We’ll see. Anyway, I had bought some fresh pasta, and decided that I might as well make the lasagna for us. Last time I had used a recipe from the Carla Capalbo cookbook, but it was pretty runny. This time I decided to use a recipe from The Joy of Cooking, although I did make a few changes (Why would it call for white wine instead of red? I substituted red) The sauce simmered while we started hanging the trellis, and once Art didn’t need for me to hold the trellis in place, I assembled the lasagna and put it in the oven.
As we count down the days until we leave for the states, I am starting to think of all the things I still need to do. We need to get our plane tickets for Prague. That whole trip is turning out to be a lot more work than I had anticipated. I had hoped to buy a hotel/air package, for simplicity, and to save money. The one brochure the travel agent had only listed hotels that were more expensive than we want, and generally they only offer 3 day packages. When I started to search for hotels on my own, I discovered several things…#1, there are several different areas in Prague, and although I know we’d like to be in the centro, I’m not sure whether one is any better than another. #2, the hotels are much more expensive than we had anticipated. We had originally wanted to stay for 6 nights, but now I’m wondering if that’s such a good ideal. And #3, when I contacted our Prague guide to ask her to book us a hotel, she answered by saying she was in the hospital having surgery…I think for a ruptured appendix! So I spent all last night on the internet, searching for good rates in a good location, and when I found those two, there was never any availability! GRRR!!!!
I also need to remember to pick up the picture I had re-framed at the place across the street from Gran Casa. I really liked this frame shop, and we had stopped in on Tuesday just to see if it might have been ready early, but it wasn’t. I don’t want to forget it, then be gone for four weeks and have them think I’m never coming back! I had my Yellow Submarine pins framed vertically rather than horizontally, to fit a space in the guest room, and I had to take the backing board home with me and position the pins myself…not a fun job! I hope I like the finished product!
And BTW, the lasagna was delicious! And, it wasn’t runny…in fact, I would say it was as close to perfect as it could be. Because we had been smelling the lasagna as it baked, by the time it was ready, we were both famished! Maybe that’s what made it taste so good!
This morning Fabio and his two helpers arrived as promised and began working on the lights. I wish I had taken a picture of the 3-4 foot long bit they had to use to drill through the outside wall in order to run the electricity for the outside lights. As it turned out, we were very lucky that Fabio had picked this day to install our lights…we would end up using their drill when they were finished with it!
While the lights were being installed, Art and I went to work hanging a picture and some shelves in our bedroom. Because of the problems we had encountered when we hung the mirror over the dresser, we were both nervous about this project. I had already told Art that he was NOT ALLOWED to blame me if the wall crumbled away under his drill bit. I reminded him that it was the wall, NOT me. The hook for the picture went up easily. Then we positioned the two shelves that would go below and beside it. So far so good. The first shelf went pretty good…the holes drilled fairly easily, and it was as close to level as one could hope for under the circumstances. All that was left was the smaller shelf. And of course, the wall just crumbled away, making a bigger and bigger hole! Art had bought some plaster/spackling compound for just such problems, and we knew we would need it to finish this job. This was when he decided to borrow the electrician's drill...not only had our battery opereated one run out of juice, the wall was just too difficult for the "home" version...what needed was an industrial strength drill AND an industrial strength bit! What a difference the right tools make!
Since it was now obvious that we would be doing some touch-up painting in our bedroom, I went ahead and peeled away the plaster that had bubbled up a few weeks ago. While Art set the anchors for the shelf into place, I smoothed the plaster over the other spot. A quick smoothing with a plastic ruler was all that was needed…these walls are so rough anyway; a really smooth section would stick out like a sore thumb.
As I’m blogging, Art is re-working the speaker wires…the speakers in the kitchen seem to have a wire crossed, or the positive and negative wires touching somewhere…what a fun project. He hid all the wires behind the baseboard and door moldings, so now he had to take everything apart again.
Oh, and I've booked a room in Prague, using Venere.it. We have to wait for final confirmation, so keep your fingers crossed!
MULCH AND GUESTS
MONDAY, APRIL 12,2004
Okay, where to begin? The garden is a work in progress. We put down the six bags of the mulch that Judith recommended to us on the SlowTrav message board. Interestingly enough, it turned out to be the same stuff we had bought previously to use for drainage in the bottom of a pot without a drain hole. This mulch is clay pellets, so I assume they will absorb and hold some moisture. The look is also exactly what I wanted. In deciding what to do with the patio, Art and I had been at odds.
In the first place, I really didn’t see any need to re-do the patio at all. Art absolutely HATED the patio and couldn’t wait to get rid of it. Since he goes along with so many of my ideas, I have to give in to his every once in a while. So…we had to decide what type of stone or blocks we would use. Our stop at the local hardware store was interesting…they told us for such a small area, we should just go to the factory in Corciano. We have an area that is three meters square, and want to stay within the concrete “framework” that is already there. The material we were looking at was large concrete squares with various designs and colors. For this, I really didn’t see the point of change, especially when the patio will be filled with a table, chairs, and potted plants…really, how much of it will show?
We mentioned to Wendy that we were looking for some new patio stones, and she said she could take us to a few places…the company she works for, a real estate company, also builds houses, so they have contacts with various suppliers. The first place we looked only had terra cotta stones the size of bricks…quite a labor intensive project, and, as it turned out, quite expensive. The second place we looked at had natural stones, in odd shapes, and when we discovered that the cost was only about €20 more that square concrete blocks, we were sold. For our small area, the stones cost €69. And they said they would deliver them at no charge if we weren’t in a hurry, whenever they happened to have another delivery nearby….good deal!
Okay, now we figure we need some sand, and then Art starts kicking around the idea of having the stones mortared in. Ever since he saw the stones that Gioberto laid in front of our house and garage, Art has wanted something similar in the back yard. His chance had finally arrived! Originally, I wanted to use small stones in between the larger stones. When they re-did the tiles over the bathroom area, they put down lots of gravel to help with the drainage. This gravel strip is about three feet wide, and runs the width of the yard, along the edge of the tile. The patio will butt right up to this gravel, and I thought it might be nice to have this “natural” look. Of course I knew sand would need to go under the stones, but thought we could put small gravel in between the stones. The consensus is that Art’s idea of mortar is better, and since Art had mentioned the idea to Armando, our neighbor, and Armando had promptly produced a neighbor who could do the work, that seems to be what will happen.
The nice thing about the mulch we bought is that the color will coordinate with the stones for the patio, and I will still have the look of gravel in the yard. This product, called Laterite, was invented in Scandinavia somewhere, and is used primarily by plumbers, I guess for drainage. We bought ours at the same plumbing supply house where we got the small sink for the garage. I would think that it might be cheaper to buy it there, but of course I don’t know for sure. A large bag cost €3…certainly not expensive, especially when you consider that it will last for more than one season. Judith told us she had just finished a three year test of this mulch alongside “traditional” mulch, and that the Laterite had won, hands down. Good enough for me!
Art took up the patio stones the other day, and is thinking of re-using them along the walkway in between our yard and Armando’s apartment building. For some reason he was talking about mortaring these down also, but I’m certainly not in favor of us paying for this project…I thought it would be nice to use them as stepping stones, but that’s all I’m willing to do. We’ll see what happens with that project.
Yesterday we both worked on the patio area, digging out more of the dirt…we need a nice base of sand for the stones, and although we don’t really know how deep we need to go, we’ve at least made a start. Of course, as expected, we dug out many, many rocks. Drainage should never be a problem in our yard, based upon what I’ve seen so far. For the sand, Art THINKS Mr. Rellini, Mauro’s father, said that we could use their sand, then just pay them for what we use. We need to verify this, but it would sure be convenient.
On Thursday we had company for lunch! Patrick and Marilda, who live in Cetona, about an hour away, had recently found SlowTrav, and also our blog, and had contacted us, since we seemed to have many things in common. Patrick is English, but had lived and worked in the U.S. for about twenty years. Marilda is originally from Brazil, but has lived in Italy before, and most recently in the states. They’ve been retired and living in Italy for about a year and a half. They have children and grandchildren back in the states, just like we do, and just like our kids, their kids don’t get it either!
We had a nice visit, showed them the house, took a walk through San Venanzo, and promised to visit them in Cetona for Easter. Marilda speaks fluent Italian, but Patrick is still struggling like we are, so it was nice for all of us to be able to express ourselves without straining! Speaking Italian is such a tiring process…thinking about every word, conjugating verbs in your head, thinking of the sentence in English, then trying to figure out how to turn the words around to be correct in Italian, well, it just wears you out! Additionally, I just realized that in English, you have many, many more options. You can express your feelings much more precisely…Italian must have fewer words…the word for “hear” and “feel” is the same word, if that gives you any idea.
We had also been contacted by another American couple who had also found us through the SlowTrav website. Larry and Jill are both around 40, and they have just moved to Italy to live for a year! They just quit their jobs, sold most of their stuff, and headed to Italy. And people say that we’re brave! Wow! What we can’t figure out is how they are going to be able to leave when their year is up!
They arrived just a week ago, and for now are staying in an agriturismo, but are looking for an apartment to rent long term. They have begun the long and difficult residency process in Perugia, and are going to start Italian classes soon. Since they had been following our blog, they wanted to see the house in person, so they arrived on Saturday afternoon, and we gave them the standard house tour and city tour. We really liked them, and when the afternoon turned to evening, we asked if they would like to go to Ternana’s for dinner. Because of the blog, they knew about our love of Ternana’s, and eagerly accepted.
We walked down to the centro storico in Marsciano, because we think this is such an overlooked gem. Although San Venanzo is “our” town, we go through Marsciano almost every day, and do much of our business there, so it feels like “our” town too. The centro storico is rather hidden away, and since the renovations have been completed, it really looks wonderful. You could easily imagine yourself back in medieval times while standing in these streets.
And then….Ternana’s! The place was really busy; in fact, we had been surprised that almost every business was open on Saturday afternoon/evening. We had thought most places would be closed because it was the day before Easter, but that must have been the reason they WERE open. In the usual Italian style, people were gathered everywhere, talking and visiting.
We recommended Marco’s pizza as the best there was, and each of us ordered a different one. I think I’m safe in saying that Larry and Jill weren’t disappointed…there wasn’t a crumb left on anyone’s plate. Marco stopped by the table to ask if we had liked the bottle of local wine he had recommended. Since it was the same wine we buy at the local cantina, we had known we would like it, and we told him yes, it was very nice. As we sat there and talked with Larry and Jill, the time just flew by. I looked around and noticed that the place had emptied out, and that it was getting late. I was sure Marco and his family wanted to close up and begin their Easter holiday. Rita had told us that she was going to the sea for three days. Since Ternana’s is closed on Tuesday, and since most places are closed on Easter Monday, I think this meant the whole family would take a mini-vacation. When you own a business like this, vacations are hard to come by!
As we gathered up to leave, Marco calculated the bill. I told him that Larry and Jill had just moved to Italy, and would stay for a year. Rita helped me with my grammar, and Pino told me the correct word to use. Somehow we mentioned that they were looking for an apartment to rent, and immediately Pino said that he knew of something…would we like for him to call right then? Sure, why not?! Unfortunately, the person who owned or knew about the apartment wasn’t home, but we’ll check back with Pino later. We asked Marco to take a picture of the four of us, and then I took one with the other three with Marco and Marushka. Then Larry started thinking about an idea…I know he’s a photographer, but he must also be a writer, and he said maybe he could write an article about Ternana’s for a Seattle magazine. Wouldn’t THAT be cool! Larry took a few pictures of Rita and Pino alongside Marco standing in front of the wood-burning oven. (All these photos are on the blog posted before this one, which means they are AFTER this blog.)
And today, I received an email from Jill saying, in effect, are we crazy, but we’re thinking about selling our condo so we can buy something here! Well, they may be crazy, but if they are, who are we to criticize!? Italy just has that effect on many people…we’re the proof of that!
Today we were supposed to go on a picnic with our neighbor, but it was cancelled because of the rain. Mr. Farnesi’s sister was just getting into her car as we walked to his house, and she told us that the picnic would be held the following Sunday, IF it was a sunny day. The picnic will be outside, near a small river, surrounded by trees If the weather was still bad, it would be postponed until the following Sunday, and so on. We are hopeful that next Sunday is sunny, because we won’t be here for the next four Sundays after that! The bad news is that we now have a large container of chocolate chip cookies!
Yesterday we drove to Cetona, which is just across the border in Tuscany. It’s larger than San Venanzo, and quite a charming city. The designer Valentino has a large villa there. Patrick and Marilda’s friends were opening a new ceramics shop, and were holding an open house on Easter Sunday, complete with food. Patrick and Marilda have a small apartment right in the centro, and a small, detached apartment for guests or renters.
The ceramics shop had some BEAUTIFUL stuff…many different styles and designs. The food was overwhelming too…hard boiled eggs, prosciutto, breads, crostatas, chocolates, and later, they would have porchetta as well! They could have fed the whole town AND all their guests! We took a walk through the town…not only is the town charming, there are some GREAT views! I took a few pictures, but as usual, a photograph just cannot do justice to the scenery. As we talked about this and that, we somehow started talking about taxes, and discovered that we are allowed to deduct the interest we pay on our mortgage here! Boy, will that be nice!
GARDENING
APRIL 6, 2004
We started planting the garden yesterday. My back is VERY aware of this fact. It’s been 5 years or so since I put in a new garden, and although I love doing it, working in this soil is certainly back-breaking. We’ve unearthed enough rocks and pottery shards to fill a dumpster, and Art has had to chop away a several large tree roots so we could plant things where we wanted to. At least they were roots for the two trees that will (eventually) be cut down.
It was because of Art’s persistence and impatience that we got someone to come to our house to give us an estimate as quickly as they did. Sometimes I wonder about him. He actually seemed surprised that we wouldn’t have the estimate the next day. Or even the day after that. Doesn’t he realize this is Italy, where no one is in a hurry to do anything? Anyway, he did call the garden center and they told him the estimate would be ready the next week. When we still hadn’t heard anything by Thursday, he decided we would just go to the garden center to see if we could at least get some information.
We found Antonella, the girl who had come to do the estimate, and she told us that although the design (her part), was ready, the estimate itself…the names of the plants, their variety, their cost, and their quantities…was not. This was someone else’s job, and wouldn’t be ready until Monday. Okay, how about some ideas for the two large planters out front? She suggested a tall taxus and a jasmine. I don’t like taxus, and picked a dwarf Alberta Spruce instead. Already I’m beginning to regret that decision….the taxus would have been much taller and more cylindrical, as opposed to the spruce which is still quite short, and is cone shaped. Oh well, if I hate it in a year or two, I’ll take out the spruce and plant a taxus.
So then it was supposed to rain the whole weekend, but it never happened. I was wishing I could have had the design so I could have spent the weekend planting. Oh well…Monday would be here soon enough. And then Monday came, and STILL no estimate! Finally, in the afternoon, Art couldn’t stand it anymore and called the garden center. And they told him yes, it was ready, and that they had emailed it to us on Saturday. Damn! I could have been planting after all! What happened to the email, we don’t know, but they promised to send it again. That was fine, but there was certainly no need for us to wait for it…we just headed to the garden center to begin buying.
Once we arrived at the garden center, Art went across the street to the office/flower shop part to get the design and estimate. When he returned with only the estimate, I pointed out to him that without the design, we had no way of knowing what plant went where, or which plants to buy first. I had to explain that we needed to plant the larger plants that would be in the back of the garden first. So, back he went, only to return empty handed. Antonella was off today, and we couldn’t get the design. WHAT?!? Okay, now I was impatient and MAD!!! What kind of a way was this to run a business? I wanted to buy stuff, and they were keeping me from doing that! I asked to see the boss, and was told he was across the street. Back over to the office, we waited fro him to finish up with another customer, then explained that we needed to know WHERE to plant the things we were about to buy! OH! Okay…now he calls for a young man, who I think may have been the one to do the estimating part.
At first this young man told us that we couldn’t have the design. After some confusion on both our parts, we realized that he was saying that we couldn’t just take the design and leave…they didn’t want to be spending their time only to have people buy the plants somewhere else. Of course we understood that, and had to tell him, no, we want to start NOW, what are the first plants we need? And slowly, we gathered the beginnings of our garden, and I even recognized a few of the plants! A red twig dogwood! I know that one! And ajuga! And viburnum! The rest were completely new to me…as I said in a previous blog, a shade garden is always a challenge, and under the specific conditions of San Venanzo (humid winters and volcanic soil), I had no idea what to plant.
I was pleased to see that we did have a nice variety of bloom times, and also some color. Of course the red and yellow twig dogwoods will provide some color in the winter, but we also have one plant that will bloom in January/February, and several others that are evergreen.
Once we got home, the planting began….after we dug the holes, which proved to be no easy task. Because of all the trees, the age of the house, and the volcanic soil, we had to deal with rocks galore, tree roots, and assorted things buried in the dirt. I found an entire pot that had apparently been sunk in the ground with the plant still in it, and once the plant died, the pot was never unearthed. I also killed two more scorpions, and two other things that might have also been scorpions, but I’m not sure. They were smaller than the scorpions, and red in color…they just didn’t look like something that you wanted to have around, so I squashed them.
We were glad that we had bought some garden tools, especially the one that looks like a hoe but has a really sharp edge on it. Art used this to cut the majority of the tree roots. Apparently we didn’t ship our tree saw from the states (who knew?), so we had to use what we had here. We worked until dark, digging, amending the soil, planting and watering. When we finished it was so dark I couldn’t even see what we had done! And we were both exhausted. We fixed a quick dinner, soaked in a hot tub….I’m glad I insisted on a house with a bathtub!...and went to bed. We knew we would be up and at it the next morning.
Tuesday morning found us at the garden center once again, ready to buy most of the remaining plants. Because we want to put in a new patio, some of the smaller plants will have to wait, but we wanted to get as many of the larger plants in since we will be going back to the states in a few weeks. Since we won’t return to Italy until May 22nd, we didn’t want to wait that long to start planting. By then it may be getting hot, and we would like for the plants to be at least partially established before the hot weather hits.
Elvio, our electrician stopped by, and we asked him about the lights for the outside, specifically for the patio area. We weren’t sure where we could put lights, and with the new patio in mind, we needed to know what our options were. We think we’re going to put in one light on a pole by the back door, and then one wall mounted lamp on the side of the house. Art wanted more/bigger lights, but I just don’t think it’s necessary. First of all, the hotel has lights by their pool, and I’m sure those lights will be on in the summer. It gives us just enough light to see on our patio. And we can always use candles, but really, how often are we going to be outside after dark when we need a lot of light? I think I finally convinced Art, or else he just gave in. Since I know I’m right, I don’t feel guilty.
Today we worked from about two in the afternoon till maybe seven this evening…not as many roots today, but still lots of rocks, and lots of bending and stooping, Our backs are even more sore today than they were yesterday, and why I can’t think to take an aspirin it beyond me. I’m just not a pill taking person, and since I’ve retired, I have a hard time remembering to take my vitamin and calcium pill in the morning. I used to take these before I went to work, but now, with no routine to follow, I’m lost. Anyway, after several hours, it finally dawned on me…hey! Some Tylenol might help!
The good news is that we have all the big stuff planted! And tomorrow we’re going to look at OBI for some outside lights, then meet with Wendy to look at patio stones. The garden center gave us an estimate for the patio too, so this will give us something to compare. We also want to get a grill for the yard, but we’re not sure what type. The garden center gave us an estimate for a grill that uses gas, but I don’t think those get hot enough. We’re still gathering info on grills. The advantage with gas is the immediate readiness, and the fact that you don’t have to have charcoal, or worry about disposing of ashes. With the other type of grill we could use either charcoal or wood, meaning that we could have a fire outside…not that it would provide heat, but it WOULD look nice!
Next I need to find out about mulch…do they have it in Italy? What are my choices? And can I get everything finished before our lunch guests arrive on Thursday?
GARDENING AND NEW FRIENDS
Saturday, April 03, 2004
As usual, another week has flown by. It seems as if we are doing nothing, and everything. We continue to move forward, little by little, and it’s really starting to look and feel like home. A lot has happened in the past week. We were contacted by two couples who had read our blog.…one is a couple who live not far from us, in Tuscany. He is English, but lived in the states for the past 20 or so years, and his wife is from Brazil. They too sold everything and moved to Italy, leaving children and grandchildren behind. They’ve been here about 1 ½ years, and we hope to get together with them soon.
The other couple is just about ready to move to Italy, and amazingly, they are from Louisville! They are moving to Verona, which is a wonderful town in the northern part of Italy. It’s much larger than San Venanzo, and has much to offer. We plan to meet with this couple when we are in Louisville in May. Louisville doesn’t have a very large, or at least a very noticeable, Italian community. There are lots of people with German ancestry in the area, and Louisville has really become a melting pot within the last twenty years or so. Many refugees from Vietnam settled here back in the 70’s and more recently Louisville has seen immigrants from Africa, Cuba, Iran, Romania, and I’m sure many other countries. I guess Louisville has a generous and welcoming community of people who sponsor immigrants. My heart always went out to these immigrants who had left everything they knew and loved to come to a strange country. Most immigrants don’t speak English, can’t work in their chosen profession, and have left most of their extended family behind. And now, here I am, in Italy, facing many of the same challenges!
We also bought a small bookcase that we put in the hall, just outside the blue bathroom. On the top are various “things” I’ve collected over the years, plus a few things from my mom. Leaning against the wall, To the left of the bookcase is a picture of my mom. My parents met when my dad was stationed at Fort Knox, and then my dad was sent to Italy. While he was here, he had this drawing made from a photograph…isn’t it interesting that it ends up in Italy?
We were supposed to get the garden plan and estimate some time last week, but when we stopped in on Wednesday, Antonella told us that it wouldn’t be ready until Monday. We did see her plan, and apparently now it’s just waiting for the numbers guy to figure the cost. I was just itching to work in the garden, so we stopped in to see what suggestions she had for the two large planters by the front door. We have a large round planter and also a large rectangular planter, and want to create a bit more privacy for the front door.
At first Antonella suggested a taxus for the large round planter. We knew that we wanted something tall and narrow for this space, but I really don’t like taxus, so we decided on a dwarf Alberta Spruce. For the rectangular planter we had bought a trellis, and wanted something that would climb and fill in, and we went with her suggestion for a jasmine…I have no experience with jasmine, so I figured I might as well give it a try. It will flower in the spring, then give us foliage as a privacy screen. I added some pansies for now, but later will plant petunias around the base. The "before" pictures are ready, but not the "after", so those will have to wait til tomorrow.
We had the two large planters that had originally been by the front door. They were both very plain, and gray, since they were concrete. I decided that one of them could be put to good use next to the back door, and we put a viburnum in pot. I hope it gets enough sun to survive, but not so much that it grows too fast. I’m not sure what I’ll put in the other large planter, but once the back yard is finished, I’m sure I’ll find a use for it.
We also bought a few plastic pots for the basil plants I bought at the grocery store last week. I love to make my own pesto, and am hoping against hope that there is enough sun for them to grow. For now, I’ll stick with just two, and see what happens. We stopped in the hotel the other day to see if anyone there knew about the trees being cut down in the park behind us. We thought that since the hotel’s pool area overlooks this park, they might know. We were hoping that since they are a business, they might have some influence to get the park cleaned up a bit…once the dead tress are taken out, I would love to see the gardens restored. Unfortunately, the manager didn’t know much…he did say that they had been promising to do this job for some time. Apparently it’s not the commune who will do this work, but the forestale people, and since we are in the same district as Orvieto and Todi, the consensus is that San Venanzo gets the short end of the stick, being the smaller, less important town.
While we were at the hotel, The Villa Valentini, we did see several really interesting and beautiful mosaic pictures in the reception area. Using different types of stone, the artist had created pictures of typical Umbrian buildings…they were really nice!
One other thing we have learned is that we have to obtain permission to cut down any trees in our yard. Of course we don’t understand exactly why. Maybe it has something to do with the park behind us, or maybe it’s just to help preserve the character of the city. Mauro didn’t seem to think that we would get permission to cut down the two trees we would like to, but our neighbor Armando had told us that we should be able to cut down one tree because it’s dying, and the other tree because it’s too close to the house and the roots could harm the foundation. We’ll just have to wait and see.
We went to the monthly artesian market in Marsciano. Starting last month, this market will be held on the first weekend of each month. Last month it was still pretty cold, and rainy too, and they weren’t many vendors. We expect that each month will see more and more vendors as the weather improves and tourists begin to arrive. This month a Feriale Verde, or Green Fair, was also being held, meaning that lots and lots of plants and flowers would be for sale. Perfect timing! I bought some impatiens for the planters next to the bench by the front door, and saw some really interesting chrysanthemum-type flowers of all different colors. I bought one of the peach colored ones, and would have bought more, but no one was selling pots! The vendor from whom I bought the flowers told me that he will be there on Monday at the regular market, and that then there will also be vendors selling pots. I definitely want to get some more of those…they were so interesting. Pictures of those later.
We saw tons of interesting plants…orchids as tall as me, Bird of Paradise to die for, so many new things and different colors. Of course it was reassuring to see many of the plants I do know. I saw petunias, but not “The Wave”. I bought two types of larger begonias for the pots with the impatiens. Although I have no idea what they are, the girl at the stand said they would grow in the shade. That was good enough for me. As anyone who gardens knows, shade is always a challenge.
We also found a few other really interesting places. One place was selling rooks that had been painted to look like animals…frogs, ladybugs, cats curled up, etc. When we stopped to look more closely, we saw that the woman was from Peidicolle…where we had stayed when we were house hunting! We told here that we had stayed at the house of the American, Judy, and of course she knew who we meant. We also found a really cool store selling things from around the world…lots of cool stuff from Africa, India, Central and South America, AND they had chocolate! We bought some chocolate/nut spread, and also a few gifts! I know where I’m taking my sister when she comes to visit!
We wandered up into the centro storico (historical center) which has just been redone. The grand palazzo that once was home to the most important family in town was bought by the city of Marsciano and has been renovated to be used as the new city hall. The area really looks wonderful.
As we rounded a corner, I saw the same mosaic pictures we had seen in the hotel! As we stopped to look, the vendor said “I know you! You live in San Venanzo…I’ve seen you out walking!” As the only Americans in San Venanzo, I’m sure we stick out like sore thumbs, but it was still surprising that this man knew us, since he lives down the road in Rotecastello. Since Rotecastello is so small, I guess they come into San Venanzo for their daily supplies. We would later find out that Rotecastello has only 20 residents! We’ve driven past it several times, but haven’t stopped in yet…since the artist and his wife invited us for coffee, hopefully we’ll change that soon. The artist, Francesco Rossi, told us that he and his son make these mosaics. They make pictures, mirrors, tables, trays…lots of beautiful things. His website, www.arteemosaico.cjb.net, has an English version, although whoever did the translation was not as good as they should have been. Maybe he just used Babelfish…you know how weird those translations can be! Anyway, it was nice to meet a “neighbor”. And he gave us a nice price on a mosaic picture. Oh, I did ask…he did make the ones we saw at the hotel! I would really like to have another of his works…he had a great scene of a house, but instead of being framed, this one was made on a curved terracotta roof tile. I think one of these would look great in our bedroom…the thing about mosaics is that the further away you are, the better they look. We put the one we bought today by the back door, and I really think that you’re too close to see it clearly…I’ll have to think about another location.
Although rain had been forecast for the entire weekend, it never happened today. I wouldn’t mind the rain for the things I’ve just planted, but for the market it would have been a disaster. We went fairly early in the afternoon, and there weren’t many people there. Later on the crowd picked up, and Sunday will be busier still, if the rain holds off again.
We stopped in Ternana’s for a slice of pizza, and Rita shared her crostata recipe with me. I’m going to try that, as well as make a test batch of chocolate chip cookies for the Easter Monday lunch we’ve been invited to. Not only are the ovens in Italy much smaller, I don’t really like the way they heat. Maybe it’s less insulation, but the placement of the rack is EXTREMELY important. I’ve scorched the bottom of a few things because of this, and I’m still learning how this oven behaves. Since I plan to take the cookies as my contribution, I need to check the timing, temperature and rack placement. Thank goodness I brought a Fahrenheit/centigrade oven thermometer!
|
Spina Bifida
