Post Italy

Ok, I know I said good by for the summer all poignant and tearful, but hey, life goes on. (did you catch all the song titles?)

Our trip home went as good as it could. In Dublin we actually went through U.S. customs so there was no waiting in NYC. Last year it took two hours in NY. This was much better, although it was creepy when they showed us pictures taken of our luggage in Rome and asked if it was ours. No doubt he looked at pictures taken of us to be sure we were we.

Just a note for you gals: get a non-underwire bra unless you wanted to be body searched, in public, at the airport. Every woman I saw got searched. That was one happy dude, no really it was a woman who did it.

We made all our flights, found our friends house, and caught the mega bus. We were first in line and got to sit in the panorama seats. The dog is good, the house is good, the garden is wild and unrestrained.

But, I want to talk about how we were able to ease back into American culture by staying with our friend, and maybe yours, Fran Solin. I did not take any pictures of Fran, but I took pictures of her chandelier and her bathroom and I think you will see why. She lives in what was an old Italian neighborhood. At her front door I was amazed at how Italian it looked.

This could be in any home in Italy

Fran's bathroom

Our bathroom, prior to cleaning.

Note the roses painted on the tiles. I am pretty sure each was hand painted on top of the glaze.

Now you have seen the only pictures I deemed worthy to take on the whole, entire trip from CVS to Northfield, VT. 

I think I will do one last post of my garden so don't give up yet.
ciao

Arrivadercia

Last t-shirts

I have seen some incomprehensible T-shirts on people at the beach this week, but it is too hard to get photos of them in suito. I did read my neighbor’s t-shirt to him and he had no idea what I was saying or what the t-shirt said. A beach favorite was “Hero Athletics” Here are my last three market t-shits.

Two confusing children’s t-shirts. One that Jessie commented that she hopes there is an album out by the name, “Virus”. 

Shoes have gotten more casual this month. Lots of sandals and no opportunity for sneaky shoe pictures. More next year I am sure.

Other random last good memories. Piazza night at Antico Sapori.

Today was a sad day. We got up at six, always the start to a sad day, and drove Jessie to the airport. We hated to see her leave. This nine days have been some of the most fun of my whole life. How happy it is when a daughter becomes a friend. The entire trip was uneventful and we were home before noon.

Typical terrible airport photos. I am happy to report that Jessie is home safe. 

I slept most of the rest of the day. We had an amazing rainstorm, pre-ported to be the most rain ever. I was sort of asleep and the occasional rips of thunder would sort of wake me up. Finally there was a thunder crash that literally shook the windows. That was enough to make me go out on the terrace. Rain comes on fast and hard here. It was screaming down from the left toward the right. Hail was jumping up off the little plastic roof over our little balcony like popcorn escaped from a pan. Instantly the street was a river with stones, branches and trash rolling down the street. Underneath the pounding of the rain was the ripple of thunder, constant, around the valley. Soon the water crested over the sidewalks and poured off the sides of the bridge. By now the rain was driving down from right to left. The trees did not know which way to blow. We kept retreating further back from the edge of the deck. Like a dying symphony the rained slowed to a sprinkle. We were able to get out and get a few things taken care of before the thunder and lightening started up again. The second storm found somewhere else to fall.

The day ended with dinner with Gagliano Danes, Irishman and Italian. Well it was an amazing meal. The whole Italian experience with three hours of eating. It was supposed to be “green night”. A time when you make your friends happy they are leaving. You behave badly toward them and give them poor food. This was red light night. STOP and stay in Italy. Now we are home. Two more nights in beautiful, poignant Castelvecchio where tomorrow is National Picnic Day!!



Final thoughts on the summer

This was a great summer for me. It was so nice to have company, Lise and Ned, Katie, and Jessie. We love it here so much and sharing it with our friends and family made it even more special. Now we can discuss CVS in Vermont with people who understand the wonder of this place. 

Our friends here continue to grow more dear to us. It is hard to say good-by, but I feel more confident that we will return. Part of the magic is returning. We have had so many gifts of wine, food, friendship and love from people here. We get honked at in greeting several times a day. Buon giornos ring out from everyone on the piazza. We are introduced at events and called to from the stage. We had an art show on the piazza which was a dream of mine. People all wonder why are we leaving so soon. Much better than thank goodness they are finally leaving. Castelvecchio may be even more beautiful next year when some of the restoration is finished. I didn’t put so much pressure on myself to produce more work and tried some oil painting along with the pastels. I found new places to paint and tried again on old places that I felt had not worked out. It’s been great. If only there wasn’t the miserable traveling to do. Our bags are packed, but we are not ready to go.

Next year: more upcoming trends in fashion, amazing places and food that will make you jealous, and more insights into the meaning of life, although feel free to skip those. Maybe my mystery book will have a chapter unveiled!!!
Until then ciao, vediamo la prossima estate. Grazie mille per la lettura.

Summer is too fast

Last days

Two more beach days giving Jessie a total of four and us a total of five. Each day has been different. The next to last day there were small waves that made it hard to float without an unexpected face full of water. The next day it was so smooth you could have woken up in Croatia. Ears under water you can here the rickety, clacking of the stones rolling up and down with the tide. Experiment of the day was, “how far away could we hear Jim clap two stones together underwater?”  Answer: it was the same no matter how far away we got. Now I understand the silent running submarine thing in old WW2 movies. Sound carries well underwater.

 Not long before we had to leave on our last day, a man arrived on the beach with a saxophone and started playing along to a mellow, jazz, CD. The water, the stones, the soft music all provided a romantic mode which started to be acted on by a couple near us, first I heard that low, but a little rough male Italian voice and then....but you don’t want to hear about that. Did you know that when women don’t wear their tops on the beach they look more like men? The tan is the thing. One woman was spread out on her back like she was crucified, with her arms turned up to get those all important underarms tanned. She also had her bum resting on a bright, orange, towel to get, I am not sure what, tanned. Like clockwork she changed from upside to downside. Her boyfriend’s visor was bigger than his swimming suit and everything in the world was bigger than her swim suit, especially since she was only wearing 1/2 of it.

Our only consolation was the end of the day gelato. Without that we would probably still be at the beach.

Nights in CVS were rocking. Jessie said we have lost all credibility about the great music in CVS. I say that it is more about the experience. Our next to last night together we went down to see something near the piazza that had a large and expensive brochure produced in explanation of the event. Jessie and I followed the candles, all marked with the emblem of a sheep, up the winding streets from the piazza. At the top was a ceramic sheep covered by felted white and black sheep wool. The designs, done in black wool, were evocative of old Abruzzi patterns. These artists are part of a start up program to provide jobs for people in the arts using old Abruzzi crafts. I think it is an awesome idea and hope to find a way to support it. The karaoke was less inspiring so we went home.

Sheep by day

Candle lit sheep trail

Sheep by night

Kareoke

 

On Jessie’s last night here we had dinner with CVS Danes, always an excellent time and great food. Jim’s maybe all time favorite food in Italy was walnuts in honey and a very expensive, old balsamic vinegar. It was amazing on cheese and Danish rye bread. Finally, there was some good music advertised: three Jazz guitarists. We started off for the piazza, but ran into our next door neighbors who invited us in for snacks. We stayed so long that we missed the music, but it was so much fun. Jim was so tired he went home but Jessie and I stayed. We looked at Enrica and Salvatore’s wedding photos and, amazingly, considering how much Dane food we had had we ate some gelato.

When Jessie and I got home, only 20 feet away, we discovered we were locked out. Jim was asleep and had left the door ajar, but it had gotten closed somehow. Luckily the Danes were still awake and they have a key. So we finally got in.

Just a simple day in Italy

Sunday was a simple day. First to Rainno for the Sunday market. I am sorry to say that more and more things are open on Sunday. When I was growing up the expansion of shopping opportunity to Sunday changed it from a totally family day to one where it was lucky if there was a family lunch after church. Here families usually go out for lunch or have an extended lunch at home. Most restaurants only have one set of customers per table. None of this eat and run.

We had a pizza lunch at home and then a little nap. There was a Caravaggio show advertised at Badia Moresse, home of the other guy who abdicated from being pope. Pope Celestine. We had just missed the start of the tour and a woman told us to wait for someone to come and watch a video in the meantime. We watched it one and a half times and then started out on our own. Jim and I had had a tour before and it really is not that illuminating in Italian. We found the show and learned a new word. “Olto” which means after Caravaggio. So it was not a show of Caravaggio, but one of his followers. No one else was particularly happy, but I found many things to admire. The eyes were so lipid with perfect highlights. The painters used light and shadow to direct your eye exactly where they wanted. That was Caravaggio’s big contribution to art: using strong contrast to create drama and intensity and focus the viewers eye. Dutch painters went to Italy to study his methods and you see the same ideas in Rembrandt’s paintings. All very exciting to me.

 Overlook of the valley below Rainno.

Jim and his car.

Inside Badia Moresse.

Biker guy and chick.

Outside Badia Moresse

After dinner it was time for the “celebration of the elders”. First there was a poetry contest celebrating miners, the difficulty of their work and how wives and mothers waited for boys that never returned. It was interesting and I am always interested to try to understand the language. Others in our group did not feel this way. Next was a karaoke type performance by one of our neighbors. I had promised I would come, but again others were restless. I kept saying just 2 more songs, because I felt we should show we were there. Just as we were about to stand up he called out, “ciao, Jeneane, Jim and Jessie”. Then we could not leave. Food was served. I was convince it was gelato, because I thought I heard that word, but it was a pasta and garbonzo bean soup. The little old ladies beside me gave me my own spoon and insisted I try it. Ok first bite I was worried it was the cut up sheep lungs, heart and liver, but on the second bite I saw the garbonzo beans and felt better. By the third bite of the soup they were all sharing it was starting to grow on me, but by then I had to give in to the wishes of others and leave. Personally I would stay all night. I find it all fascinating. In Italy everything makes me happy. My smile muscles have strengthened so it no longer hurts.

Saturday 11 Augusto

Yesterday I posted a picture of Jessie standing under a balcony in a rain storm. Minutes  d if she wanted to come in. Then she saw us and had to ask us as well. (think old hitchhiking trick) They had us sit down and made us coffee. They were from Rome and spoke English quite well. I asked them about themselves and the woman said she taught botany at Rome University and also researched plants. She brought out a box of proofs for her new book. They were about 2.5 x 1.5 feet. She specifically studies Iris in Italy and has three that she discovered that carry her name. The husband is a railway tunnel engineer. He worked on a train tunnel in Romania for six years that was basically 100 km. Long. On a small street at the end of the road, in a tiny town we met some amazingly interesting and nice people.

Here it is again for people with short memories or are not reading this daily.

Today we woke up and it was raining. By the time we had had second breakfast the skies were clearing and it looked like an interesting and perfect day to set off for Rocca Calascio. (We also went there with Ned and Lise) (we will probably go there with anyone who comes to see us) We could not see Conette Grande, but it was beautiful with the sky changing all around us. The flowers that grow out of the rocks were in bloom. “Bethlehem star”. They have all withered up around here. We had lunch at the camp ground, yes camp ground at San Stefano. We ate there last year and it is amazing food mostly locally sourced. The guy next to us wolfed done a plate of spaghetti with black truffles and immediately ordered a second plate. It is just that good.

Some of you may know Jess as "goat girl". 

On the way up to Rocca Calascio.

 Most photographed scene in Abruzzo. Just google it and see.

Amidst the ruins.

I posted a picture like this before, but now the little purple flowers are blooming on the castel walls.

Jim checks out fortification possibilities in case of the zombie apocalypse.

Jessie and Jeneane on top of the world. Grande Sasso  behind us. 

Jeneane gets serious about rock climbing at 2000 meters. 

San Steffano

With the rain it seems the microscopic mosquitos are back. I have twelve bites on one arm alone. This is a 300x full scale resolution of a mosquito. Notice the poppy seed size body and transparent wings. If the mosquito has already bit you, the body will be a little larger and darker and leave a bloody smear should you actually hit it. The mosquito is so small it has to bite you over and over to find some blood. This results in a large and itchy bite. Technically bites, but they all resolve into one. If you get a new bite on your arm it seems to make you entire array of bites resume itching.

In the evening there was an event in Gagliano where many little buildings are open and different vendors are selling their own products. It was a lot of fun to walk around. They had little candle lit lanterns every where and it would have been really fun to be there after dark. Not us...too tired.


This is a picture of our second door neighbor in traditional costume and two women from the 21st century.

Sulmona and Pecentro

Interneting

Shopping in Sulmona

Streets of Sulmona

Tiny sign for place we had lunch, Pencentro. It was about six inches wide. Unless you know, you can't go.

Replete

Water comes from the fountain.

Tiny little bottles from 1800's. To sneak into church?

Each street has its own ceramic symbol for all the addresses.

Old symbols

Waiting out a pouring rain. This led to a great story. More later.

Finally we get to see the castle.

Why am I always behind?

Cute guy to guard your door.