August 10 & 11, 2016

It is Garlic Time in Italy. When everyone has piles of garlic at the same time, 

how does anyone make money? 

The first week we were here we went to Rocca d Mesa. We were the only people there and all the shops were closed. We went back for the market on Wednesday and it was packed with summer people. Since we come in June we qualify as residents. 

After that we had a picnic in the Sirentes. Picnics are so fun!

A lecture was going on in CVS last night. Lectures are hard when you do not speak the language so we went to have free food and music in Goriano Sicoli. We met up with our friend there. She has been spending her summers in Goriano since she was four. She took us on a tour of the town while we waited for another lecture to be over and the art exhibition to open. 

Goriano is home to a saint. Saint Gemma. She was an orphan girl who was adopted by a family in Goriano. A rich guy wanted to have his way with her and instead she locked herself up in a jail. People brought her bread, but  she gave it all to feed the poor. Every year, in May,  this drama is reenacted and young girls take baskets of bread to each house. This is where people come to get the baskets of bread to distribute.

Goriano is home to a saint. Saint Gemma. She was an orphan girl who was adopted by a family in Goriano. A rich guy wanted to have his way with her and instead she locked herself up in a jail. People brought her bread, but  she gave it all to feed the poor. Every year, in May,  this drama is reenacted and young girls take baskets of bread to each house.

 The house were St. Gemma lived in her pre-saint days has been restored. When she makes her way to her adoptive parents she carries this large candle. In the upper right corner are tools used for spinning wool while you walk.

St Gemma's house has a nice new kitchen where the village women make all that bread to had out.

The entrance to St. Gemma's house. 

 Goriano was affected more by the earthquake that some towns that were closer to the epicenter. The earthquake ran through town like the edge of a knife. This house was split in two.

After the earthquake volunteers rebuilt the school in only three months. It was also split in half. Last night there was an art show in the school Here you see the mayor, right, and the man who led the volunteer effort on the left.

Our friend, Paola's father was a painter. His painting were too big to bring to the exhibit from Rome, but here are reproductions. The frames are the tray you get when you buy a plate of cookies at the bakery for a gift. Brillent!

Artists volunteered to paint murals in the school. They are beautiful.

Typical crafts.

 

In addition there was a exhibition of fabrics made by women of the town. 

Stuff from back in the day.

Photographs gleaned from townspeople. 

Escher did his first lithograph in Goriano.

Free food!

All the festivities were by the fountain. 

My free food and other people that had to wait for me.

The band warms up as the sun goes down.

Fun With Old Flab!

If you look at life objectively, no matter how you may look or feel, you are not getting any younger. Many people are desperately trying to turn back the hands of time. They work out like dervishes, spend money on secret potions and try to find clothes that imply a young attitude without looking ridiculously like you are trying to look young (ok, of course you are, but you don’t want anyone to know). 

I have decided to embrace the concept of aging by looking for, “Fun things to do with an Old Body”. I plan to make this a regular feature of this blog and because as we know, “it takes a village”, I hope you will contribute your ideas for the greater good of all us oldsters.

My first offering is: Hanging Down Arm Flab

All you need is two flabby arms and an old ball. (you want an OLD BALL so you are not the oldest thing playing this game) 

1. a partner throws the ball to you and you pop it up using arm flab

2. keep your eye on the ball as it sails through the air

3. pop it back up with the other arm

Points are awarded for how many passes you can make without dropping the ball with additional points, up to ten, for height. Although  not yet an Olympic sport, this game has the added benefit of doing deep knee bends when you drop the ball. Juggling balls are excellent for this as they do not bounce off the terrace. 

Next time more fun with old balls!

Of course time races by when you would most like it to slow down. We will be back in Canada a week from today. We are planning our strategy to make the most of our remaining time, but this vacation thing is wearing us out. 

Garlic time of year

Yesterday after 2nd breakfast and a trip to the market, we returned to Fonteccio to do a painting of the fountain. It is a beautiful spot and very cool and shady. It was fun to paint again after being a tourist! Jim did a beautiful piece of the fresco above the fountain and I did the one below. 

Yes I know there is a drawing mistake and I will fix it!

Then we had to rest for the all night party! It honestly lasted till 5a.m. this morning. When we arrive about ten it was just getting cranked up. I understand that it was organized  by the young people of Castelvecchio. They advertised it all over the valley and there were a lot of people. All night for us was about 11p.m. but we could appreciate the party from our terrace. To sleep, we had on all the fans in the house. 

All night party at Castelvecchio. Why doesn't Karin have a drink? Because they had no ice at the bar. This made us realize that we have never seen ice for sale here. Our friends were horrified that you would go buy ice that might have bacteria in it. 

Since this was a day with not too much activity, I want to finally talk about going to bed in Italy.

After all these years it is time for an intimate discussion of the beds in our house. There are two kinds:  the singular and the matrimonial. The singular is a metal frame that fits into a head and foot board of metal that are made to look like wood. On top of that goes a five inch thick mattress. These beds are very comfortable. The mattresses have a summer side: cotton and a winter side: wool. If you are married you get to lash two of these metal beds, complete with their headboards, together with a rope. Then you put two mattresses on and behold: the marriage bed. 

There are some problems with this situation but there are also some benefits. Jim loves to tell the story of something he read. He says that it was reported that if you ask men how often they should change the sheets they said four times a year. Women on average said every two weeks. Some of us may feel that this is too long. Since each person basically has their own bed, they can change the sheets whenever they like. The only bedding that we own that is matrimonial size are the blankets. This works great for Americans, however I am sure Italian women are constantly washing all the sheets. 

Singulare:  double this for a Matrimonial.

The problem is the gap. Instead of “good night and sweet dreams” each night one must remind the other to, “mind the gap”. Even so you can find your self lying on the metal bed with your mattress pushed over the edge. If Angie was here with us, I am sure both mattresses would be pushed to the floor and she would be in the gap happily sleeping. And so, this is just another thing that Italy has given to the western world: an answer to the  problem of how often to change the sheets!

The Mountains and The Beach

It was another unsettled weather day so instead of the beach we headed toward the mountains and the Campo Imperatore. This is certainly one of the wonders of the natural world and it is only one hour away. I heard the National Geographic has declared Puglia the most beautiful place in the world, but I say Abruzzo is. However, it is nice to know we have spent time the last two summers in the two most beautiful places in the world. 

Our goal for yesterday was the town of Castelli. 

This town has been a center for ceramics for 100s of years. 

Castelli majolica is know the world over and is represented in many museums 

including the Met and the Guggenheim. The ceramics museum was destroyed in the earthquake, but reopened two years ago. It is a beautiful museum and includes photos from the old studio and the equipment the potters used. 

We went with our friend Italian Babe.

Cool and weird and old. 

An important image for Castelli potters is the Madonna feeding the baby Jesus. 

Hence it is Important to be able to make breasts as well as hands and feet. 

This is an old photo of the potter loading the wood fired kiln. 

These cylinders were used to fire plates. 

The plates go inside and are separated by little pegs that go in the holes. Very clever I say. 

And after a wonderful day in the mountains, 

dinner at a new pizza place in Goriano with Italian and Danish friends. 

One of the beauties of Castelvecchio is that you can go to the wildest place on the planet one day and the beautiful beaches of the Adriatico the next. And that is what we did yesterday. We have a new favorite beach which in sight of our old favorite beach, but has the added advantage of a life guard, trash cans, and a path that does not risk breaking your legs! We have our Danish friends to thank for this new piece of great intel. 

We stayed all day and had lots of delicious food. The water is a weird color because of a storm somewhere. The wind was quite strong coming off the ocean and the waves were thrilling.

After a day at the beach we drove to the near by city of Lanciano. It is one of the best preserved medieval  cities in Abruzzo. This was a recognizance mission, but we will be returning later this week in our continued quest to prove there is no reason to go to Roma.