My small watercolors

These are the little watercolors I have been doing since I became too tired to do serious pastels.

Gagliano Aterno

CVS

CVS

CVS

This is our new 30 liter electric hot water heater!! Exciting way to spend money.

Jim's new paintings

Gagliano Aterno

 These are Jim's paintings from the course I taught. I am thinking of doing it next fall Sept. 7 - 14. Anyone from the USA would stay with me at no charge, split the cost of a car and food, and pay 200E for the class.  I only have 3 beds so make your plans quick!!

CVS

Gagliano Aterno

CVS

View from Gagliano Aterno

CVS

Gagliano Aterno

Castel di Ieri

CVS

Gagliano Aterno

Forgot name, but great swimming place.

August 27 & 28

Finally rain.

Jim painting

After the rain on Sunday night we have had two beautiful days. The temperature is creeping back up and it will be over 30 the rest of the week. Anything under 30 is great. The sky has been so blue and we were TEMPTED to wear long sleeve shirts in the morning. Other people are wearing sweaters and this morning I saw one woman in polar fleece zipped up to her chin. 

We started a funny little project of painting a fake surround around the doors. Lots of people have them. Since we weren’t planning on painting our house any time soon, we thought painting the bottom of the balcony and a border around the doors might make it look like the scruffy color is intentional. It did not do any good, probably no one even notices and if they do they are not fooled. I am pretty sure no one who walked by had ever seen a woman on a ladder with the man holding it. So at least that was a score.

After that we did absolutely nothing. We were able to sit on our terrace, because it was not too hot. When we first got here the sun shone in about two feet. Now it shines in about ten. Time has certainly passed. We were getting quite Italian in our dinner habits: eating at nine, but now that the sun is setting at 7:30 we find ourselves going back to our old midwestern ways. Early darkness is another reason to have the internet at our house.

A cause for quite a bit of excitement was the acquisition of an electric hot water heater. It looked so great in our bathroom. Really jazzed up the place. We got it from some friends who had bought a bigger one. It turned out the tank was cracked inside so we have had no hot water since Friday. Tomorrow we are getting a new one that is 30 liters instead of 10. Our gas hot water heater did not pass inspection. If we ever plan to heat the house we will need a new one, but for now, with as little hot water as we use, an electric one is fine. This will make it much easy for people to use our house, if anyone ever does, when we are not here. All one will have to do is turn on the one breaker switch and the water under the sink. Good to go.

Local vendor.

Today we went to market and I took some pictures of clothing venders. The t-shirts here are amazing. If there is writing on them, and almost all have writing, it is in English. Some examples: I am glamour. Glamour very. Find your voice own. American gangster. Words that make no sense in front of the word, “jeans”. Lots of shirts about California. Sometimes I read people’s shirts to them and they don’t have a clue what I am doing. Personally, I do not want to wear a shirt with a woman’s picture on it who is way more glam than me, but lots of women do.

Suddenly there are formals for sale

Material, table clothes and pillows

Would you like to try these on?

The usual

Castelvecchio has cleared out and Gagliano is empty. The Romans are gone. They came, they saw, they annoyed. I was the only person in the pizza store today. She told me it was because it was so cold. Usually I wait 20 - 30 minutes. While at the market, I got a phone call for a shopping opportunity. Some friends were going to the COOP. That has been one of our favorite groceries stores since we came to Italy. No longer. This COOP is at the end of a mall.

At least there were Alphas at the mall

Maple syrup from Canada 8E.

This says it all.

The only entrance, besides emergency, is at the opposite end of the mall. You have to walk through the entire thing, about the size of the Berlin Mall. I was in culture shock. It was so loud, so vacuous, so filled with expensive things that no one needs. It was, gasp, so American! Only worse. The tarting up of little girls is endemic and boys all wear action hero shirts. Even little boys can do the strut. Even in Castelvecchio I wish I could see kids being more like kids, especially the girls. America is way ahead in girls being tough and playing sports. 

Last pastel this summer.

I’ve said this before, but I have to say it again, “Danes are coming for dinner, so I have to go.”

August 24 and 26

Gagliano Aterno

 Here are some of my watercolors.

Castelvecchio Subequo

Gole San V.

It was our last day of class and it was hotter than ever. We did well in the morning, but by afternoon people were fading. We set up our art show in the courtyard. We used string with clips to hold the work up. It was a good idea, easy to put up and to take down. I was surprised how many people came to the reception. I expected no one. Jim made antipasto and so did another person and someone brought wine. At eight, the ten of us went for pizza. It was still so hot. Even though we ate outside and the sun had gone down there was not even a breeze. Dinner service in Italy works this way. Each table is only used once per evening. Everyone stays for ever. You won’t get a bill unless you ask, because that would be too rude of them and imply they want you to leave. We had a table of ten, but the two other tables each had about 25. There were two waitresses. There is no tipping. Besides waiting tables, they were stocking the fridge with drinks. Anyway it is all over. I am so tired. It must be the heat. After the art show on Sunday I will be on vacation. As soon as I finish the one pastel I have started I am going to only do watercolor. I am too tired from carrying so much stuff around.

Sunday Aug 26
I worked on my pastel this morning and I feel like I ruined it. I should have waited another day. I should have taken time to reorganize my pastels after someone else used them and I should have worn my sunglasses. It is impossible for me to paint here without them. Besides the sun, there is a lot of reflected light. With my painting in the shade, every time I look up at the bright scene, my eyes hurt.

When I first arrived at the piazza, it was deserted. Once church let out, ten people max, the piazza was full. I am pretty sure that none of the ten people actually stayed for coffee. I was up on my steps feeling fairly anonymous. 

By afternoon it was cloudy and it poured down rain. The street was a river from side to side. Now the big worry is the art show. Will it or will it not be happening? I called the woman and tried my three, new, Italian, words, “inside, outside and happening”. There was no communication. I now know that it is from 6 - 8pm in the historical center piazza. A friend was going to pick me up. She came by about one hour ago in her car to ask what time. I think people would rather drive by than call. She is the one that got me into this, but now she has her grandchild with her. She and another woman were coming, but now I do not know what is going on. I called her with my new time info and told her husband that she should pick me up at 5:30. I feel more confident about that communication. It is probably hard for people to understand me while I am hyperventilating. It is still thundering all over the valley. Jim said not to worry, it was just explosions. Haha.

Sky at 4:30.

This is a problem for me. Yes, I would like to pay for my trips here. That would be awesome, but it is stressful as can be. Speaking in person is difficult, but on the phone it is even harder. Still I am not giving up. You knew I wouldn’t.

The story continues. The person never came back to get us. It is now totally beautiful out and the air is cool. So where is she? We talked about this so many times. I have to admit I was looking forward to people seeing my paintings. Some of my best ones are of Castel di Irie. It is the cutest town ever. Is the lesson don’t plan things or don’t worry?

Shoes of the day. Quite the contrast.

Piazza at 2pm. Contrast this to 11pm pics you have seen.

August 25, 2006

Six years ago Annie died. Six years. Every time I look at her picture I say, “this is not possible”, but all the evidence says it is. She has not come by for a visit, there are no new pictures of her. She did not show up at Jessie’s graduation. Last night I was at a party in a castle and I was thinking how much fun we would have had with a flashlight exploring all the dark rooms. Would we find the princess or the evil king? I think about her walking up to the piazza for gelato. I don’t think she would walk up there with out some incentive. On concert nights with lights and smoke I sometimes think I see her dancing near the stage. But the smoke clears and she has disappeared. I wonder if anyone here has ever seen a person with Down syndrome. But still I think she would have been a star. When she took Spanish in 7th grade she used to answer the phone, “grazis”. I wish I could hear her say boun griono, but I never will. Never. Never. Never. What a word that is. The more you say it, the longer it gets.

On the day Annie was born

Having fun in Johnson.

First home in Montpelier.

Having a great time with my dad. I miss him too.

Beloved sisters.

Raindrops

It has been a full day of art classes. We started in the morning in Gagliano. We had a very beautiful spot in front of one of my student’s house. There is a little park with pine trees and it smells just like New Mexico. The church in Gagliano has a tunnel under it. You can see it in the pictures of people painting. I have so few students it is hard for me to keep myself out of their hair. I am not a watercolorist, but I have been doing some so I don’t bother people to much.

I have a black sharp pointed pen that I use to draw with. I don’t bother with pencil, because then I would spend too much time fussing. Any mistakes I make just have to be there. Then I use the watercolor on top. When the pen gets wet, it turns a very nice purple. Much nicer than I can make with my watercolors. The entire line does not disappear, but I get a nice purple edge. It has been fun and I am happy with how it has gone.

My watercolor this morning

My watercolor this afternoon

In the afternoon we went to Gole di San Venanzio. From CVS there is a steep road that leads down to Rainao. At the bottom of the steep part is Gole di San Venanzio. From Rainao one has to turn back and follow the river bottom. Finally we have our near by swimming place. Well, we would still need a car. It is like a Vermont stream. Completely cold and refreshing. The monastery and church are built over the river like a bridge. In the cliffs are caves where monks could go meditate alone. It was beautiful. We left as raindrops started falling. The sun was shinning from one part of the sky and the raindrops, which are huge, looked like shooting stars. No rainbow was the only disappointment and that it was not raining in CVS. Gole di San Venanzio was a perfect place to spend a wicked hot day. (gole means throat)

I can’t believe tomorrow is the last day of my class. We will be painting all day, have a little show of our work for the families and then go out for pizza. We had class for six days plus an evening. That seems long to me when I am used to five day classes or weekends, but it turned out really well. I think people are happy. Two of the students have done more paintings this week than in their entire lives. That has to make you happy. It has been so weird for me not to be painting and to not have anything to write in my book.