More of the Festivale

The delights of the Festival of San Giovanni continued until this morning. We missed the performance by the children because it started an hour early (!!) The EUFA (European Union Football Assoc. ) 2012 game between Italy and England started at 8:30 pushing the children up an hour. The band was pushed back to the early hour of 11pm.

My friend, Olga and her friend at the soccer match.

The Komoda bar had set up a projector in the piazza and projected the game on to the wall of a building. As the evening progressed more and more people came to watch the game, have a drink and talk to friends. It was an expressive crowd made more so by the many goals Italy attempted and missed. Italy had dozens of attempts and England maybe only 3 or 4. During the half, a replay of Italy’s attempts were shown. The despair at watching these was equal to or greater than the original broadcast. The English goalie was the most valuable player. He had to withstand multiple attacks with multiple shots within an attack. He saved England from a rout. In the end it came to each team picking five players to attempt a shot. England and Italy were successful in their first attempts at the goal. Then Italy missed the shot. Great was the devastation in the piazza. MA NO!! England missed their shot, Italy scored again, England scored again and all that stood between defeat and victory was the Italian goalie.  England shot. The Italian goalie caught their last endeavor. Outrageous uproar! Children were lifted high above their father’s heads. People cheered, “Bravo” and “Viva Italia!” It was a great night to have been a part of. People made sure we had chairs, that children did not stand in our way and several tried to engage us in our limited conversation. We had a gelato, our only meal after that lunch. Next, Italy plays Germany. I am informed this will be a harder game.

With victory uppermost in their minds, some people headed up to the large piazza to listen to the band and others stayed below to rehash the victory. After enjoying the air of victory we sauntered up to the large piazza. Amazingly cars were still trying to use this road. I don’t think it is of necessity, but rather a chance to be seen. Upon reaching the piazza we were delighted (too much Jane Austin) by the sight of a dozen really old people, about my age, dancing in sync to the music. I thought my face would split from smiling. Some young girl scouts tried to jump in, but they were not in the oldies grove. They were tolerated along the edges, but basically ignored. When the polka started up we were even more amazed. There weren’t many couples, but each pair made it look easy. Backwards in heels on cobble stones!

We got home about 11:30 having walked the ten minutes from the piazza followed by the sounds of electric guitars and the accordion.

San Giovanni

The special bread for the saint's day.

Today, June 24, is the Festivale of San Giovanni. (St. John) He is the patron saint of Castelvecchio. San Francesco is the protector of Castelvecchio. The band started playing at 8:30 this morning. They walked by our house and all around Castelvecchio.

Later we went down to the piazza to see the procession of the saint. It started an hour late. No one cared. The band gave up and went to sit in the shade. The guys who were to direct traffic stayed in the middle of the street; the cars and people took no notice of them.  A woman I know a little helped me buy one of the special breads. 6 Euros, but it was to benefit the park. It is a hard round bread that is a little sweet and has anise seeds, but not too strong. The woman told me that we must eat it with salami and wine. (We took it for lunch.) Everyone was happy talking and waiting with no evidence of impatience.








Finally all the people came out of the church after mass. I thought I did not have appropriate clothes to go in the church, but this was not true. After the people came the flag, the cross, the band, the priest, his helpers, the megaphone holder and the saint.

The four stages of women: from left to right. Young, trying to look young, widower, and husband is still living.

The saint was carried on poles by four sturdy men. Hanging from the poles were four of the special breads made for this day. The priest was thanking God for the bread, the fruit, life in general and blessing everywhere he passed. Many of the women of town followed the priest and then the men behind. It is the first time I have seen women walk ahead of men in Italy. We went with the procession a little ways, but it was hot and we were invited to our neighbors’ for lunch: the important meal of the day.

Two hours and 45 minutes of eating and we are home again. Jim is snoring away. We had pasta with black truffles, then veal Milano, which is a little like chicken fried steak, as well as tomatoes with oregano, and salad. This does not do the meal justice. My meat covered my entire plate and I took home 1/2 for dinner, although maybe tomorrow’s dinner. The oregano here is completely different than in America. It is not a mint. It is a little spicy like a pepper and a little lemony.

Now we know why the dried oregano in our house, that is 15 years old at least, is still so strong. We also had lemoncello, aranciacello ( made from blood oranges of Scilly), nocca cello, which is made from nuts, fruit, coffee and gelato. Enrica made all of these liquors. She dried the oregano and made all of the meal, of course. She did not make the gelato, which was surprising. Salvatore found the truffles with his truffle dogs.


It is nice to have a long lunch and talk and eat and talk and eat. It gives credit to all the time it takes to make such a nice meal. Tonight there is a concert of the band, something for children, an accordion player and, because Italy is playing soccer against England tonight, there will be a large screen tv in the small piazza. I feel sorry for the accordion player. Even for me it is no contest. Possibly he will wait to play after the soccer game. That would actually be about on time for Italy. The soccer game will start on at 8:30 and it would be amazing if the concert, also scheduled for 8:30, started before 9:30 at the earliest. I wish you could see how little everyone cares about things starting late. It is just an excuse to talk and hang out.  Last year our first day in Italy was the festival of San Giovanno. We only saw the band and did not know about the other festivities. I thought the band was for me. It may have really been for the saint, but they were playing for me as well.

Mayor of CVS, smiling for the camera.

This is our next to next door neighbor. He is the civil policeman in town. (as opposed to the military police, of whom I think there are zero)























People are headed up the hill toward the Church of SanGiovano. It was damaged in the earthquake, but was the primary church in town and people headed back down toward San Francesca Church. The bell tower is in the distance with earthquake repairs in progress. San Giovanno is wreathed in scaffolding.

The men of the cloth walking past the gelato place with Danes in the background.







And now it is time for THE SHOES OF THE DAY!!! Imagine walking in these on cobble stones.

Another day in the life...

 Here are the flowers on our terrace and the view since the TV antenna came down. Much better!!

View across the valley to Gagliano Anterno. You can see how strong the sun is even after 7:30.

We went out walking around last night. This is just before 9pm. A respectable time to be out after dinner.

Jim and our Granita. (Italian for Lemon ice) A little lemoncello really perks it up.

This is where I was painting this morning.

Close up of step 1.

Jim in his painting spot.

My painting at the end of the time, but another day will be needed.

As you can see by looking at the real view, with Jim in it and my drawing, I did a little lying. I also did a much closer view than the one that includes him, but still lying was involved. I know this is true, because it was so hot that sweat was running down my legs, but possibly my pants were on fire.

Molto caldo or too Darn HOT

Yesterday was the hottest day ever here in CVS. It was 42c which is about 100f. We went out in the morning and worked on our paintings of looking up at CVS. We were under a tree on a bench so it was not too bad. Even so, we had to quit earlier than I would have liked from heat and exhaustion. We didn’t leave our house for the rest of the day. The sound of water trucks was constant. Today it is not so hot, but the tractors are lined up for water.

On the way to market, we pasted a construction site where they are mixing the concrete to put stones on the wall of a house that is being renovated. Things are done on a small scale with craftsman doing the work.

Further, we ran in to the street sweepers of CVS. They were happy and proud to pose for a photo.

Jim came so close to being hit by a car at the busy intersection. Cars come around a blind curve toward the most congested area in town. The driver must have been going 40mph. He was able to stop without a screech of brakes, but it was a near thing.

Apricots are now in season and it was quite the struggle of people to buy them. I can’t believe how nervous I look in these photos. I am going to try to look more relaxed in the future. I look so much like I did in the home movies of Christmas when I was 13. I am always wringing my hands without knowing it. People are nice to me and make sure I get my turn. No one ever cuts me in line.

Next I was sent into the bakery with my excellent Italian. Just outside the door, which is covered by a curtain of hanging plastic strips that make it impossible to see out into the blase of sunshine, there is a side walk of about 1.5 feet in width and then the street. I stepped out onto the sidewalk just as a car roared by. I was not in any danger, unless I had fallen off the sidewalk, but it startled me.
It is a much smaller market on Fridays than on Tuesday and it was smaller this week than last Tuesday or at any time last summer. We spent about $35.00 and here on the table you see what we purchased.

Jim stayed home, while I went back to my painting spot from yesterday and the day before that. I am now so advanced in my experience of Italy that I can go out on my own. I thought that I had not made any changes to my painting, but the photographs prove me wrong. I cannot get all the lines to go straight up and down. I used a triangle on it last night, but it was impossible. Other excitement of the morning: the mayor’s wife brought me a glass of water. She is well known for her niceness. The other morning she was cleaning up someone’s house in preparation for their arrival in CVS. When she turned on the water in the house, water started seeping up through the pavers on the street. This cannot be good. I hate to think of the beautiful cobble stones being taken up as I don’t know if they will ever be put back. They make a beautiful pattern. With the recent earthquakes in Bologna, there is less money for the repairs that were started here. Many industries such as balsamic vinegar in Bologna were destroyed. Hugh casts of it broke. Buy it now before the price goes up or make it in your basement.

The plumbers have been very busy here with all the pipes broken this winter.
Once again we have a little problem with the water. Two places are leaking, but not so much that we can’t turn on the water and use it from time to time. The inestimable Paolo is on his way sometime, but Jim has made a temporary fix.

Two people have remarked on my chubbiness. I think they mean it as a compliment. Well fed. One person compared me to one of those giant round vine bottles and today a person rubbed my stomach. Do I look like a Buddha? I asked her if she thought I was pregnant and she laughed her head off. I was not laughing so much. Possibly learning some Italian was a bad idea.

Jim has just left with the Danes for a local vineyard. I wish I was going, too, but I thought he would love it.

Artist at Work

Dropped my pastels

Drawing

 

Step one

Step Two

Artist at work

Best Mexican Food in CVS

Last night our neighbors came to dinner. Jim made as close to Mexican food as is possible here. It was amazing. First he had a chicken soup that was a little spicy with onions, zucchini, red pepper and fresh peas from Salvatore’s garden. The peas were tasty. Jim put them in at the last moment so they were sweeter than uncooked, but not mushy. 

View from Terrace

We had found some bread that is made in Italy that is about like  tortias. Jim roasted onion, zucchini, peppers and chicken. He found something like sour cream, grated some unknown cheese and made salsa with a snap of hotness. Grated soft cheese seemed to be a novelty. There was salad and grilled pineapple, also a first for our friends. The pineapple was from Puerto Rico.  Desert was our Italian ice on a slice of Enrica’s cake with Lemoncello. Wow was it good. The ice is perfect for the weather. The trick to the ice is to stir it every little bit while it is freezing so you do not have a rock of lemon ice. 

Salvatore enjoying Mexican food

How can it be so much fun to have dinner with people with whom you do not share a language? I was nervous about it, but then it was a laugh riot. I have learned how to say, “How do you say this?” “Come si chiame questo?” but “come chiame” will do fine. We were learning words in Italian and then telling our guests the English words. When I saw how much trouble they had saying things like “bottle”, I felt better about my attempts. I will never be able to roll my rrrrrs and there are some sounds that neither of us have learned the mouth shape in order to say.  “Bowl” was about impossible for the Italians. 

I finished the pastel I started yesterday morning. I can see some angles I want to change as I look at it inside the house. Then Jim and I went to a shady spot with a bench, looking back toward Castelvecchio and our house. Jim got a long way on his pastel, but it took me at least two hours just to draw the scene. I will start using pastel tomorrow. The rest of this day we have done nothing. It is so hot there is not a drop of blue in the sky. It is chilly enough in the house to want a light blanket when I am lying around doing nothing. If we had a car we would probably be going somewhere. If we had internet at our house we would be doing that. As it is we are left to our own devices. Jim is doing suduko, I am playing Angry Birds and reading Jane Austin. 

View we are currently painting. Our house is behind the light pole.

Market Day

New look at Al Kafhe'

The Tuesday market has a different set of venders than on Friday. Today it was mostly clothes and linens. The good fruit and vegetable stand is always there. Besides fruits and veggies, we got three different kinds of basil and a pepper plant. As a “present” the guy threw in a sad looking flat of lettuce. I have replanted it and pulled off the dead parts and now it doesn’t look too bad. I am sitting on the terrace listening to the traffic below and looking out over the mountains. It is so hot the sky has lost its dark blue.

Fun stat: the average Italian woman spends 27 hours a week cleaning her house. That is more that I do in two months. I have even seen them out cleaning the sidewalk in front of their houses. I asked my friend to come over for iced coffee, but she needed to get the downstairs clean by 8pm. It was about 2pm. The average Italian man spends 8 hours a day in the piazza. If you sweep your floor you can be surprised by the real color.

Bakery this morning

My friend at market

Why this obsession with cleaning? Enrica and Salvatore are coming to dinner tonight. Her house is impeccable and everything is new. It would be better not to wear your glasses in our house and everything is old. I did sweep the stairs to the street and the terrace after planting the basil etc. The stairs need to be mopped, but I have done my work for the week. I need to keep American women free to do other things. I have my priorities. I did start a painting this morning. I am going to have to paint in the shade this year. No more standing in the sun. I still feel a little sick, but am putting salt on everything and trying to drink more.

Some of the produce at the market

Yesterday we made Italian ice, which is a lot like frozen lemonade, and ate it on a thin slice of Enrica’s cake with limoncello. Pretty good. I am hoping she will bring us another cake. She handed Jim the current cake over the balcony rail.

Our house is directly above the V shape in the trees. The house on the left of us is melon colored.