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.