A Normal Day????

A storm is blowing in, and I don't feel safe dodging lightning. I've disconnected the internet, but thought I'd use the time to write. Hopefully the storm will move on and I can post......

This is jumping around a bit in chronology, but because of several reasons - mainly that I can't figure out how to download the photos off my camera without downloading every one of them (again) - I am going to tell you about a kinda, sorta normal day around here. This doesn't include what would happen if we ventured into Florence or went grocery shopping or had guests in the apartment. Just the normal day....

We get up around 5:30 or, if we're lazy, 8:00. First - we let the animals out. There are cianghiali (wild boars) on this mountain, and we have to keep the animals in so they don't get "tusked" to death.

Il Porcellino - the famous wild boar in the old market of Florence - rub his nose and they say you will return to Florence

Next stop is usually the espresso machine to make those very important stiff cups of coffee.

Then we feed Bafinna, the kitty. She's growing and has to eat more than Kora (who has packed on a few pounds since we were last here).

Sometimes I take my coffee outside and sit under the pergola in the fresh morning air. Here lately, the temps have been in the high 50's / low 60's, so it's been quite nice looking out over the olive trees and Arno Valley below us.

David watches the news to see how things ended up over your way - when we go to bed around 10 or 11 pm, you are having mid-afternoon.

Breakfast is the next big event - usually cereal, but I've enjoyed their hearty Toscane bread and that marmelatta a couple of mornings. We assess our food situation at breakfast. There's a strong tradition of fresh food in Italy, so we go to the market a lot more here. And that means planning -
'cuz if we have to get in the car and head for the village, we want to go when the traffic is light and the crowds are thin. It's not that I don't like interfacing with the Italians, but I don't want to be in their way at the end of the day when they're hungry and tired and trying to get through the register line so they can get on home for dinner . . . . and I'm holding things up because I forgot to weigh my produce and put the price stickers on the bags. Doh!!

OK - now see! I sometimes wonder if I'm meant to blog - about the time I was writing the above, the storm really broke loose. I went to look out the front door and saw the clouds rolling onto the terrace - I couldn't see anything beyond the olive trees right against the terrace. The wind was whipping all the plants and trees around . . . and about that time - POW!!!! Out goes the power - the computer - the phone - tutti!! So I've spent the past hour or so praying that I could get the computers to come back up.

And praise God, they have. I had to mop up a little around the kitchen window and laundry room door, but everything is going again - even the phone.

David says it sounds like another round is coming and this time, I think I'll go ahead and shut the computers all the way down. I don't want to let my only contact with you all get fried :) When Gabriele gets home tomorrow, I hope he'll have time to show me how to download my photos on this Mac system with the Italian keyboard and all the commands on the toolbars and text for the internet screens, etc in Italian!

I still need to tell you about the trips to Pisa and Lucca and Florence with the guests. I don't think we have too many normal days around here .....

Under the Pergola

We are settling into the slower pace of life here......and I like it!!!!

Thought I'd send a few images....

Bafinna sleeping under the table

Fair warning - David without a shirt again :)

A più tardi...

Trains, Buses and Cars

In preparation for our incoming guests I'd cleaned the kitchen and bath, stripped the sheets and dusted the furniture of their apartment. All that part of cleaning I don't mind so much ..... but I was about to begin the part that stops me cold in my own home - the vacuum cleaner. I just don't like them because they're noisy, awkward and always get hung up at the most inconvenient moment.

I'd lugged the little apartment vac up the steps to the sleeping loft only to discover that it wasn't sucking up any dirt. I realized the canister was full, so thinking that might be the problem, I finally remembered how to get the canister separated from its main body part. (It's amazing how much you can forget in 3 years.) I was carrying it to the front door when my finger hit the release button and no telling how many weeks of vacuum cleaner ick dumped on my legs, feet and the floor. As I watched the clouds of dust start to coat the newly dusted furniture, I set up a howl. David said he thought I'd cut my arm off! He helped me get the aspire polvare (vacuum cleaner) operational, and the cleaning proceeded until fresh flowers were on the table and the gate was opened.

Four o'clock came and went .... 5:00 .... 6:00. As it approached 7 pm I was starting to feel nervous. Where were our guests? Suddenly the phone rang ..... some man speaking Italian way too fast for my slow Southern ears .... but I recognized the name of our family and verified that he'd reached the right number. A sweet English-speaking voice came on the line. Our guests had arrived by bus and were in the middle of Bagno a Ripoli pondering how to get to their accommodations for the week. By the way, they were so late because their train from Venice had been detained.

Since this house is located on a mountain and is pretty isolated, a car is strongly suggested to potential guests. I asked the lady (let's call her "Holly") where she was .... I could hear voices in the background .... and Holly said that she and her 12-year old son were at some café on Via Roma. I wasn't sure where she was, so the man came back on the line speaking Italian at 100 mph. I said, "Piano, piano . . . non parlo l'italiano molto bene. Capito?" ("Slowly, slowly . . . I don't speak Italian very well. Do you understand me?"). He answered, "Sì.." and started up again, this time at the snail's pace of about 85 mph.

Holly came back on the line, and I asked her what she was wearing. Since we had to buy groceries anyway, I told her to stand on the sidewalk and we'd be there shortly. We hopped in the car and drove down the mountain looking for a woman in a black dress with pink polka dots standing on the sidewalk with her son and luggage. We are driving the European version of the Toyota Yaris - it's supposed to seat four people - and it does - but not much more will fit. Only the carry-ons would fit in the "trunk", so Holly and "Zack" (that's what we'll call him) held the heavy roll-ons in their laps as we headed for the local supermarket.

How we managed to fit everyone, their luggage AND groceries in the car, I don't know ..... but we did. We were on the way to getting our tired, hungry guests home, when all of a sudden .... on the main street of Bagno a Ripoli .... our car went dead. David turned the key over and over, but the car refused to crank. It's only three years old (this car was brand new the last time we were in Italy) and should be mechanically sound, but there we were - three of us popping out of the car and trying to help David roll down the hill into an open parking spot on the via Roma - traffic buzzing past us as if we weren't there.

It took a while to figure out how to get the hood open (the manual being in Italian), but looking at the engine when we managed to pop the hood did not fix the car. We were stuck .... and I realized with a panic that we didn't know who to call. Gabriele (our Italian family's son) had left for the city that morning .... and he'd told me that he wouldn't be home until the next day.

I happened to look up and see Gabriele zooming past us in his father's Smart car on the way up the mountain. I shouted "Gabriele!!!!" and started running down the middle of the street, waving my arms and screaming like a banshee. Everyone in Bagno a Ripoli saw me ..... but he didn't.

So we trudged down to the cafè and humbly asked to use the phone one more time. I called three times before Gabriele answered, and asked him to come rescue us. David had been waiting at the car, and when we returned he said, "I hope you told him to bring the BMW when he comes."

Of course I hadn't.

However Gabriele knew what our problem was because he'd been aware that the car was almost out of gas when he and David had been running all those errands. Long story short, he and David took off with the groceries .... so the cold stuff wouldn't go bad ..... to get the BMW and extra benzina (gas), while we waited on the sidewalk in the heat of the waning day. They're saying that this is the hottest summer in 150 years in Florence ......... I do believe it.

After what seemed like four hours (but was probably only one) the men-folk returned with a 2-liter bottle of the precious benzina, and we made our way up the mountain to the Casa del Colle .... with a short stop at the gas station to feed our thirsty Toyota.

Praise the Lamb of the living God for telling Gabriele to go home that night (even though he may not have been aware of that prompting) and for getting all of us off the sidewalks of Bagno a Ripoli.

Marmelatta Man

Ciao!!

We arrived in Italy on our 31st wedding anniversary ... and were just too stanco (tired) to celebrate properly.

After catching the 6 am shuttle to Atlanta on the 13th, flying Atlanta to Boston, then Boston to Dublin, then Dublin to Milan, catching a train from Milan to Florence and a bus from Santa Maria Novella station - well, we weren't "feelin' the love" too much.

Our bus route had changed during the past three years, and standing in the broiling sun for almost an hour at the bus stop with all our luggage strained our marital bliss to the choking point. Fiorenza had offered to pick us up at the station, but I'd insisted that we could make it to the nearest bus stop if she would pick us up there. Of course, that was before I knew the route had changed!

Seeing Fiorenza's smiling face at the bus stop made it all worth it .... and arriving at the casa (house) was a joyful moment ..... Antonio, Kora (the big dog) and new kitty, Bafinna, greeted us with all the warmth we've come to love about this wonderful family and place in Italy. When their son Gabriele came home after his exam, the circle was complete. Unfortunately sweet Micia, the cat we loved so much - especially when she brought us those mousey treats in the middle of the night - died the week before we arrived. We miss her gentle presence, but Bafinna is entertaining us with all the energy that new kittens possess.

Thursday and Friday are blurry - David and Antonio worked on this and that, Fiorenza helped me review my duties and brought me up to date on changes, Gabriele and David ran errands .... we tried to help as much as we could ..... and stayed out of the way whenever we couldn't ..... as they prepared for their vacation trip.

Among the acres of olive and fruit trees here - the apricots are coming in. Fiorenze had picked a big bucket-full, and after the marmelatta (jam) was cooked, David helped fill the jars. I hope he remembers how much he enjoys helping in the kitchen when he returns home :) Actually David is quite a good cook, so I'm glad he's adding to his repertoire.

Saturday was D-day (Departure Day) for Antonio and Fiorenza. Our guests from the Netherlands also departed for their trip to Cinque Terre - and I went into high gear to prepare for our incoming guests from America. That's another story - so until I have time to tell all that -

Ciao!

from the Untourists

p.s. David is a bit miffed at me for the photo without a shirt, but I can't Photoshop him a shirt - I have a great photo of him . but he still doesn't have a shirt on......