Our Place In Italy & stuff
Gosh, it’s Saturday again…………..May 24.
We’ve not been early-birds around here…..but why should we be unless we have to get somewhere early or make a connection?
I’m sitting here with my little espresso at hand………no internet this morning again. (Are you getting tired of that old refrain?) I wanted to check out the weather forecast for this coming week in case we want to go to Florence (Firenze) for an overnight there. The sun is shining this morning, birds chirping and it looks like a beautiful day to come. I think we’ve had some kind of drizzle or mist at some point every day though so things could change.
I hear from home that the farm house now has a new roof…minus the captain’s walk. It is hard to picture it without it but I’m sure before I know it I’ll be used to it. Curry says the grand- kids will be with him some as their sitter is going for some college courses. They will be good to keep him company and they have so much fun over there.
Maybe later I can get through to the Residenza Proconsolo to see if they have a room next week….then a trip on the train from Fabro to Firenze.
In the meantime, I finally got a picture of the entrance to the lane lined with olive trees………our home away from home, Casa Rondini.
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Perugia
Friday, May 23
We planned on having an internet catch-up day today and making cannelini beans. Without the internet coming back on (wonder if they close down the router at night), guess it will just be the beans.I just chopped some garlic and onions, added sliced up proscuitto to some olive oil, added the soaked beans and a dash of pepper, basil,etc. and am cooking. Guess we’ll know how they turn out later. Wondering if I can throw in a handful of rocket (arugala) from the garden here just before serving.
Left for Perugia about 2pm since nothing is open from 1:30-3:30pm anyway. Had another nice trip to the capital of Umbria…More traffic here of course, but we made it through. It takes driver and navigator and sometimes a few times around the round-a-bouts. Good thing those round-a bouts.
When we got home Carolyn’s daughter was IM-lng with her and asked if we bought chocolate…Darn it I forgot Perugia was famous for chocolate. At least I ordered chocolate in my caffe while there.
I took some pictures but found my own shadow arresting as I scanned around looking for something to shoot………..maybe I should call it my self portrait.
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Siena
Thursday, May 22
Still no internet this morning. Good thing I had my bills mostly paid before I left but I need to do some other financial tracking as well as all the mail piling up. Surely nothing major has happened or I would have gotten a call. Also no way to check the weather forecasts or check train schedules or make reservations for an overnight if we want to go to a place out of our driving range.
The idea for today is to go to Siena…………..or maybe to the abbey at Mt. Oliveto I visited the other time.
Wonderful trip to Siena. I found the perfect bag for my camera and long lens, too. Since I brought all this camera stuff in a rolling laptop bag with the laptop, I really didn’t have a good way to haul it around while out of that bag. Woo….this red bag can hold my XT Rebel and the 70-200L lens. You can’t see the shape here but it can be used as a small back pack or over the shoulder bag. Carolyn got the yellow one….aren’t we Italian now with our smart, colorful bags!
We also had some sun for a change…..yaaay! And a gelato again on the way out to the car. We allowed NUVI to guide us some of the time. When we decided our route (without the toll road) was best, we just didn’t listen to all those “recalculating” messages. I may have a new painting next year called “Recalculating”.
WE HAVE INTERNET at 8pm………now to wade through 500+ emails, contact people, etc.I did the usual bank stuff, talked in a fashion on Yahoo Voice with Curry..and IM with Cyn. After our Bruschetta supper with Chianti…we went back to the internet and it was GONE…….
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Todi
Wednesday, May 21
We decided to head to Todi today. We’re hoping the internet will be back in service by tonight when we return. When we got down to the parking spaces, some of our neighbors had company who had just come from Todi and it was raining. We set out anyway in the hope it would be cleared by the time we got there……….NOT. We also could not find a parking spot except down outside the walk UP UP UP………whew this was the steepest climb so far for walking to a duomo. Everything was closed at first but finally opened up. Not much of a picture day with all the drizzle. I took some shots without the telephoto of the panoramic views and a few in the piazza….none allowed in the duomo when we go in. We had a good sandwich and beer at a bar as all others were only of the expensive hotel ristorante kind.
No internet when we returned.
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Pasta night
Tuesday …May 20
Progress on internet connection…I don’t know! I saw Bozena on the roof of the building where I think they
have Ethernet connection, placing/looking at cables. But it could be we had a storm last night. WAY in the night I vaguely remember hearing what could have been high winds and rain. It’s hard to hear that sort of thing here inside the buildings with the tile roofs and thick stucco. We have some rain collected on one terrace but it has receded on the other….a bit brisk, too, it appears so out will come the under-silks this morning.With the rain like this we may be doing laundry and making a run later for the supermarket.
Tomorrow will be one week since we arrived and still “unconnected”. My server may be over loaded….MAY, I must say PROBABLY. I should have gone no-mail on all my yahoo groups and still would have been overloaded.I hope my art dealers aren’t trying to email me with expectance of my quick reply as usual.
When we talked to Bozena she said that everyone in this area with the wireless company is having the same trouble. The IT people won’t even answer the phone as they don’t want to climb up on the clay tile roofs in the rain.It is not good for any of their business any more than it is not good for our communications with people from home.
We are fretting that we can’t share our pictures and fun time. Oh well, that’s the way it goes sometime.
The pasta night was great as expected. We all made our pasta as Bozena instructed with 100 grams flour, 1 egg and a pinch of salt and then ran it through the pasta machine (hand cranked). Then we used the ravioli crimper and used a ricotta and spinach filling.Franco served them with three different sauces…a tomato based, a sage white based, and garlic and basil. We also had bruschetta as a starter. Our dessert was some sort of tart with only 1 tablespoon flour with ice cream. Wooooo..way more food than I’m used to consuming on a regular basis.
Our upstairs neighbors from Wales, Andrew and Wendy, will be leaving in the morning. Some of the other group are going to be doing a walk across UK for two weeks. We will get new neighbors today.
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May 19
Nothing really planned for today (Monday) other than trying to find a bank for the last traveler’s checks and paying the parking ticket at a post office. Since they both close after 1 pm, we headed out. No bank we found would cash AMX or any other traveler’s checks but did find a posta for the ticket. Then we just meandered back to Citta’ della Pieve to see cathedral to see the Perugino, Alfani, di Paolo pieces there.
Then on to Montepulciano …..looked around there at the cathedral, ran into people from College Station,and had a late lunch at a cafe for a “touriste” menu that was a much better deal than some we’ve been finding. Fantastic bruschetta, ravioli with spinach and pine nuts for me, lasagne with asparagus, artichoke and shrimp for Carolyn, vino of the house ) rosso di Montipulciano and caffe. We bought a bottle of the house wine (Le Berne Rosso Di Montepulcino 2006) take back to the apartment.
Got a sudden playing of Margaritaville (my cell phone ring tone ) but didn’t answer as I didn’t recognize the area code of (+1 501)……….hope it wasn’t anything big.
Still no internet……really perturbed about that as we’d counted on having connections, at least most of the time. Will have to check with Franco and Bozena later to see if they know anything about when it will be back on.
Drizzly day today, but wonderful views……EVERYWHERE! They don’t call this the green center of Italy for nothing. We could do with a day to do laundry and internet.
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Orvieto
Orvieto duomo is absolutely stunning. That’s about all I can remember of this post from May 17th that I couldn’t upload due to the internet service being down here so long. Must have hit the wrong key when cutting and pasting it from my computer program diary just now………….light indoors from lamps in Europe is never good as they use small wattage lamps, etc. and I don’t have a lighted laptop keyboard.
Take it from me, it is a beautiful place.
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Gelato
Yesterday was spent just driving around the immediate area. There is a painting in every curve in the road or corner you turn here. While roaming to Citta della Pieve we stopped for a very late lunch at a bar in town …………………and for dessert?? you guessed it, GELATO.
Don’t you wish you were here?
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Learning new skills
This is one good reason to have internet access at your agritourisimo in Italy. http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-sbc&p=making%20italian%20coffee&type=
We we’re sure how to use the only coffee maker in the kitchen………a small stove-top expresso maker, called a Moka pot. When I got online I found this you-tube video.
it’s great to have wireless although right now this one comes and goes. Hopefully, it will be ON all the time later.
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Italy 2008… wow-wee
I’m not leaving home, I’m taking it with me. Or that’s the way it looks as I pack up my clothes, laptop, and electronic/camera stuff for a month in Italy.
So far nothing has been written in stone about what I’m taking. It’s just all laying out here on the guest room bed waiting to be closed and finalized for sure. You ask…..didn’t you say one time you’re never taking two (2) checked bags to Europe again? Well, yes, I did, several times. BUT, in thinking this over with the 50# rule for checked bags, I decided that a small bag extra would be a good idea for possible overflow coming and going. It will also come in handy for trips on a train (ask me how I know that one). Okay, okay, it’s just an excuse, but a very plausible one as big bags on trains are not a good thing.
Being there for a long time, we may want to go farther afield a time or two and stay over night so the smaller bag will work………and if not, then it is easy to loop the handles over the larger bag with wheels. The laptop bag holds the laptop, all the camera gear, toiletries and a t-shirt. Who knew how many extras you can have when you have to have all those chargers that go with the Nuvi with European maps, I-pod, phone, two cameras and lenses. Hum…gotta fit in all the vouchers and other stuff that pertains to the trip and a book or two…………..where oh where is it all going?
We leave here for the Houston airport Tuesday morning for an afternoon flight……….so there is a little time to take stuff out if needed, or heaven help me if I think of anything more to add.
Casa Rondini, here we come!
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Another Colony Painting
I finally got the pictures out of my camera last night of the work I brought home from colony. I haven’t had a spare moment to try to get through with my last canvas. Boo Hoo…with the ways things are going it will be here waiting for me when I return from Italy mid June.
This particular on is the one I mentioned being a little different from my usual paintings. In that I don’t have such a direct landscape reference. I tried my darndest to NOT have a horizon line but when I turned it around as I painted it just looked better this way and seems to still have a horizon of sorts. I have no idea where some of these come from. Our visiting artist who comes around while we’re painting to discuss our work with us, thought it suggested American Indian or western symbols. I suppose in some ways she might be right. You have to look close at images like this one on the internet to see the pencil markings and tracings running throughout some areas. AND, what could the big circle denote? I could go looking/searching but I know that many civilaztions used circles as symbols.
SO, with that said, the tentative (man, I hate being tentative) title for this 40 x 30″ acrylic on canvas is Symbol Tracings. Also, noted..maybe a tiny bit got cut off at the bottom of the image.
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Colony painting
Finally getting a chance to write and upload my first painting from the current Colony session. This one is 40 x 40″ acrylic on canvas. What other title could I give it but “Watery”??
I’m now waiting for paint to dry…you’ve heard that old saying I’m sure. Thank goodness for acrylic. Still you do have to wait a short time for the ground and tone to dry and it’s almost lunch time so I decided to take this photo and write a little.
We’re having a fine time as usual…the weather is cooperating, although a bit warm and muggy for the April sessions. That’s better than cold and tornados for sure. Maybe I shouldn’t write that as the session isn’t over yet.
I’ve got a strange one going that I will show later…or NOT.
Later.
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