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 .....