When the Romans come they bring wine

Saturday morning we went to Sarnano, which is the next town over from us. I took the picture of the mountains because with the new snow they seem even more impressively CLOSE. David, Claudia and I had a morning coffee and pastries at a lovely bar they found recently, much nicer than any in San Ginesio. I discovered a savory little pastry which was delicious. Then, back to the house to get ready for a visit from Sandra, Roberto and Anna Maria, the Romans we visited about a month ago at their country home about an hour from here. So, the wine was poured about 11:30, we broke open the wild boar salami I had purchased last weekend. Claudia with a little help from me and David fixed pizzocherie, my absolutely favorite dish: buckwheat noodles, which are made in the north, with delicate cabbage, green beans, potatoes, chard and sauteed onions, when that's all cooked LOTS of parmasan cheese is added to make it all stick together. After lunch I showed the Romans my recent paintings, and gave them one I had done of the view from the back of their country home. It seemed they were pleased. THEN, a little coffee to revive us from all the wine.....and then a little dessert they brought: a lovely fresh and dried fruit struddle plus some amazing almond nougat and chocolate candy, also we broke open the bottle of Vino Cotto I had purchased over a month ago..........it's this area's drink that is like port, to be enjoyed with a little dessert. So we did! Of course we didn't have dinner..........enough food for one day.

Thanksgiving and we ate a RABBIT

Thought I would just put up some random pictures.....today when David and I went grocery shopping I took the picture of the rolled up RECYCLING BAGS, which are free. They have a pretty good system here, NO garbage trucks here---you do it yourself. The yellow bags are for GARBAGE, the blue bags are for all recyclables except glass, and the white bags are for COMPOST. And all this can be dropped off at any site near your home. They are in many conspicuous places. Also there are boxes to recycle vegetable oil, shoes and clothes too.




This is one of the most spectacular persimmon trees we've seen recently. They look so great with all the leaves off and so many fruit still on the tree. Must be the time to harvest soon.

The Italians love to point out the HAIR growing on these hams.....sort of disgusting really! And you all know about the cardoons that grow in my back yard every year, getting really tall in the summers, well here are the STALKS, eaten by Italians...not sure exactly how.

Lastly, Sandro went out into the backyard when he was visiting and harvested ALL of David and Claudia's olives....this is IT. Sure to more next year.

Perugia in a few pictures

This picture of the little shop Strangers Corner is for my dear friend Carmelleta....it's her kinda shop, with all kinds of beads and jewelry from around the world.
Then, the NIKE shop! how could I resist.
The steps were a sunny warmish place to sit and people watch even though it was cold, but since it was a Sunday, many people were out and about in the square without car traffic.
Another sunny spot, so very ItalianThis is what the house looked like when we left at 8am to take me to the bus, it had snowed during the night, but was pretty much melted by that evening according the David.

My Trip to Perugia

There I am, sitting in my room in the hotel from hell on my second day in the lovely little city of Perugia....more pictures next blog. But first: that hotel! I choose it based on it being a budget room in the center of Perugia AND I could check in at noon, something I knew would be important for me because of my feet, I just could not imagine hanging out in a strange place in cold weather and waiting until 4pm to get into a room, since I knew I would be arriving at 11am.

So...that was all fine, except for the BUSY noisy street it was on, with a motorcycle parking place right around the corner, that afternoon there seemed to be a steady mind numbing assembly of did I say noisy bikes coming UP the long incline of Via Independendenza. I was determined to find another hotel the next morning. After getting settled in I wandered out into the huge square where there were no cars and many people it seemed having an afternoon apres church enjoying the many little and some bigger elegant bars in Perugia. That's all there is here so far as I can tell, 3 bars on every block. And what is meant by a bar is: cafe, drink, hard liquor or beer and little pastries that always look better than they taste and little bread sandwiches with invariably salami or prosciutto and possiby cheese in them, NOTHING else is available, no soup, no light salads, nothing but these damnable bready little concoctions. IF you want to actually eat, then you must go to a restaurant, and that means SPENDING A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY, like at least $20 for lunch and twice that or more for dinner. Then you will have something to EAT! OK I've gotten that off my chest. I even have come up with a little theory about why Italians are so notoriously disorganized: they live on coffee, sweets and little bready things all day, they do it standing up most of the time and spending as little time as possible. They have to be jittery all the time! NEXT post, some pictures

Antonell and Sandro visit

Sandro and Antonella came yesterday to bring Claudia's electric kiln to her school. So today we headed out to Machereto and the ancient little town of Visso.
At the end of the day, coming home to San Ginesio we couldn't resist taking pictures of this fabulous sky and sunset.
Buying sheep's milk cheese that is "bio" which means organic in Italy at bargain prices.
The elegant SALUMIERIA in Visso, where we bought CINGHIALE, that is Wild Boar salami. Yummy!
Love these pine's swept by the Sibillini winds..........this is an ancient monastery visited by pilgrims since the 1200's. Up in the mountains all by itself.

This morning, a walk up to the road and back

This morning about 10 am I decided to walk up the drive, or more accurately the strada bianca, the white road, called that because of the white gravelly stones which make the road visible at night. In the first picture the house is a little speck almost right in the middle. The second picture is going back down the road, I forget that when I upload images, they are published in the opposite order, when am I going to get the hang of this blogging? Sometimes very irritating where the cursor goes too.
Kinda obvious, my shadow, as I am going back DOWN the road.
The neighbors picking olives
A short distance from the house, can see the uphill road
At the beginning, leaving the house

My Italian vocabulary, so far

Been thinking about how it's going language wise, David said it's brave of me to go to Perugia on my own, considering my poor Italian! I'm thinking I'm brave because I have no idea how my feet will hold up!

So, here is what I know to say so far:

Un cappuccino caldo, or molto caldo per favore one cappuccino hot, VERY HOT, please
or un lotte machiato caldo (mostly the drinks are NOT hot enough for me)

la chiave the key
poso pagare? May I pay?
grazie, thank you
prego, welcome
non parlo Italiano, I don't speak Italian, or mi piachere, to my displeasure I don't speak Italian
un kilo medio, a half kilo and that's for carrots, meat, etc.
andiamo, let's go
un camera, a room
allora, well then
ape, the geezer three wheeled truck in the picture which buzzes like a bee, hence APE
pizzoccherie, my favorite dish so far with buckwheat noodles, cabbage, green beans, greens, potatoes and LOTS OF parmasan cheese, parmaggiano
Well that might be about it for now....probably think of other words LATER
OH YES, caci....................persimmon

I didn't know

This man is the owner (I'm guessing) of ONE of the bars in San Ginesio....and the only one that has extra sized CUPS in order to make a cup of coffee more like what we are accustomed to in the US. His wife is always trying to practice her English when we are there. I said to David: I didn't know that Italians come in EXTRA LARGE size too.

FINALLY, I am painting...........YEAH

This is just a beginning.................but a good one. I spend all day yesterday holed up in my room, feeling really inspired by the pictures I took and the sensation I had up on the top of the Sibillinis which are a part of the Apennine Mountains. I can DO this with acrylic paint and it felt so good to be doing it. I don't want to worry too much about the outcome just yet. Claudia was so happy she is already thinking about where to exhibit.

Monday up on top of the Sibillinis

Yesterday David said he wanted to go over to Gualdo, a small town nearby to check out the new doctor they had selected and see about making an appointment for Claudia, and did I want to come along? So of course, I said YES. After that, as David is FAMOUS for he said, well let's just see where this road goes, I always wanted to check out Vecchio, or some such place. We never made it there but wound up on top of the world, it felt like that anyway. Way above the snow line and since it was a clear day we could see for miles and miles and miles, oops I mean kilometers. I'm feeling a hint of painting inspiration from these scenes......have to get started on some type of painting that will evoke the peaks and points of the Sibillinis. Still sunny today.

A jaunt to Calderola on a sunny Sunday

It is not clear at all how to load these images, but I just have to charge ahead! After an exhaustive search on the internet David found a bus route from this place, not very far from home to Florence via Perugia, Siena and it only takes 3 1/2 hours and costs 21 euros, much better than the train. So we went to Calderola this morning for an outing even though I am not up for much walking and Claudia is still coughing way too much. So we "parked" at the local bar for a coffee while David and Zoe climbed up to the top of the town and discovered several building worth seeing when we are up for it. Still it is sunny almost every day, even though the air is cool. This seems to be very unusual for Italy in November. So many people were out for the after church time on a Sunday in the square. Drinking coffee, having wine, playing hide and seek, taking pictures....Zoe leaves this evening at 8pm.

Post election day and we're all HAPPY

Well, it turns out we are all too old to GO CRAZY on election day, since it was IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT....however yesterday morning in the square all the Italians were giving us the thumbs UP and smiles and saying OBAMA to us.


Then last night we joined some American ex pats that David had met once, we all went out for pizza, my first time in Italy to actually have PIZZA, mine was Siciliana which means with anchovies and olives, and it was excellent.

Of course I am going to take pictures of the more ODD things I see, the black madonnas for instance and this is not the only one. The grim face over a doorway was from an 8th century building overlooking the Ancona harbor, and the "modern" painting on an outside wall reminded me of the great modernist Francis Bacon, and is inspiration for me. Maybe I should get some grist for my mill, some bones, some meat.

My election night meatloaf was a hit with David, and we still have enough for sandwiches....yeah.
It seems that we are all proud to be Americans again, let's really pull together and overcome the past eight years, it will be a daunting task, but we can do it, we must do it. damn I can't use exclamation points, silly computers.

Election Day

The pictures: Claudia making artichokes and pasta, now that really honestly didn't sound like it would be all that good. But then, these are ITALIAN artichokes, much more tender, you eat the peeled plant, stalk too, mixed with garlic, olive oil, herbs and parmesan, how could you go wrong?

The arm chair in the living room is Claudia's resting spot, looking into the dining area which is part of the kitchen. Then the view from my room, including the little YELLOW Fiat I will be driving. My room, and a picture of me.....haven't figured out how to use the delayed timer yet, so this is the best I could do of a self portrait in my window.

Tonight I am fixing a meatloaf dinner so that David and I can stay up all night and watch the election results. Tomorrow I'll have a picture of David going crazy with delight when we KNOW that Obama has won. So, off to drive UP the VERY STEEP driveway for the first time and go to the butcher in San Ginesio. Ciao.

Construction a Italia

The tile delivery was last Friday, that's David and the delivery guy, he has really bad teeth and long pony tail, even and earring! The area in the back was poured last week and is now curing. Looks like the perfect spot to put a ping pong table, but right now I am not sure that will ever happen.
Here is another view of the house from the front, I'm thinking that I will paint the house portrait somewhat like this view. The grassy area is a typical view around here, mostly farmer's fields, small trees, many are olive trees and of course a cute Italian farmhouse.

My computer has been really a bit touchy lately, I have to shut it down frequently but still I am glad to be able to do this in the house!

Today is a day for me to ICE my feet, especially my poor right heel, it's red and HOT...Claudia has a better understanding of my affliction and is much more sympathetic. Yesterdays heart to heart talk was cleansing and very helpful. Also, I could use my little heater last evening so I didn't feel cold when I went to bed. OK, I'm going to take more pictures around the house today since I am a bit invalided...and post again.