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APRIL 2007
April 1
Very early morning fog clears, and we're walking up to church without coats...it's that warm. I've had an hour or so earlier to paint, and the magenta cape with a little bird is finally coming into its own.
There is a little procession between the two churches, and a sharing of olive branches (Italy shares olive branches instead of palms on Palm Sunday...should we be calling it olive Sunday?) in a little square before the Duomo, for the duomo is bathed in gauze and scaffolding. Next year we'll probably be having mass in the Duomo...
Dino wears his red and blue costume, and stands on the altar with his pals. After mass, I'm particularly thrilled that Mauro agrees that we'll not have a giro...We have enough reservations for the Pasquetta pranzo, and at this point who cares how many people come? Yes, we're all very tired of this Festarolo business, and there are only five weeks to go until the end of my (our) year....
At home I spend at least another hour on the painting, and it will sit in the kitchen for a few days until it's dry enough to be put on the wall. I also work on the three young girls, and that painting is almost done as well. One by one I'm finishing all my projects in time for the May festa. I will have plenty of things to exhibit. If the weather is good the next few days I'll get going on the ceramics dipping. Yes, it's back to that old nightmare.
After pranzo we take a walk to Mai Elin's garden. She is not at home, nor is she in the garden. But Stefano has done a good job so far, and a lot of cement has been poured for the walls, so if he continues to work for her this next week she might be able to have a Pasquetta party there after all.
Back at home it is quite warm, so I feed roses, do some clipping and weeding, and notice that there are some beautiful roses already in flower: the Paul Lede and Snowball are the first, and the tree peony is ready to flower.
Dino moves Felice's bench down to the front path, and Augusta, Maria and Giuseppa sit there while Sofi sniffs around and Dino readies the ground for the tufa feet and stone step. The women leave for home before we're through, but the benches look great. And the location is a wonderful place for the neighbors to sit and enjoy the view and the afternoon light.
I paint a little more and the put the paints away for the day. Perhaps in the next few days I'll begin to paint the dishes for our Provence trip. Later, during a phone conversation with Kate and Merritt, I ask her what kind of painting she wants to do when they're here for a month.
"Im doing pastels right now, but I'd like to do ceramics," she muses. I respond with a "Boh!" telling her she has no idea what challenges lay ahead of her. "Have you ever read my journals where I've talked about my smalto disasters?" I ask her. Well, I suppose it's a good idea for her to find out for herself...She can take a few lessons in Terni while she's here. That might even be fun for her.
It's a cool night, and I look forward to turning in, and to another busy week ahead.
April 2
Another headache rages, and I'm in bed almost all day. But Dino is very busy, beginning the day at the Tenaglie house burning olive branches. He forgets his boots, so he comes home really wet. While he's there, Pietro tells him he usually wears boots to cut grass, and always burns in the afternoon. How silly Dino feels, but he's a stranieri, so he's not expected to know...
He also signs up Pietro and Mara's house, a beautiful villa style stone building of 120sq. meters per floor...360 in all. It needs a little work to make it comfortable, including taking down some non-load bearing walls, thereby making the rooms larger. There is also land, the same wonderful view, a large cantina and some garden equipment and the possibility of a terrace on one of the upper floors. Oh, did I forget? There are also olive trees. It's on the site at €275.000, so take a look.
The roof is just about finished, so by tomorrow the workers will move inside the house and begin more demolition. Kate and Merritt like the idea of reusing windows and frames as "in-caso" armadios, possible because the walls are so thick. It also frees up floor space, which is a good thing.
Today is beautiful, and I'm so sorry to be sick...I really love being outside on these lovely spring days. Sofi, however, loves to be by my side, and no matter how long I'm in bed she'll stay in her little bed, just watching. She is a treasure of a dog.
Dino takes Mai Elin and her son to Narni Scalo to the gravel pit where we bought our gravel years ago. He warned her that if she does not show up to be sure that she is getting the correct gravel, the wrong gravel could be delivered.
So off they drive, and Dino brings a small bucketful of ours, to make sure they pick the correct gravel. They arrive and two men in the office remember him, as well as the costly mistake they made four years ago when we ordered our second batch of gravel, the mistake theirs and a second batch of gravel delivered at their cost.
That done, Dino and May Elin pick up black nursery cloth. This cloth must be laid under the gravel to allow drainage and prevent weeds. So they think they are all set, until tomorrow...
April 3
I'm feeling better, so we drive South to Orsolini to order more bathroom tiles. Once we're through we drive to another supplier to see if we can find better prices. This specifying takes loads of time, but we're good at it.
We stop at Mai's Mugnano garden after pranzo and talk with Stefano, who is doing a miraculous job. But the gravel will not arrive until later this afternoon...
We drive to the house in Tenaglie and meet with Tani. The roof is beautiful and some of the window openings are being changed as we asked. But when climbing to the upper floor we meet the oldest brother for the first time, and he makes me nervous.
I don't know what it is, but he tells Tani the measurement should be larger than we've asked, and it takes us to confirm the measurement for him to realize that he's cut the hole too large. He's full of self-assurance, and very different from any of the others on the team. He must be a handful to manage.
It's a gloomy afternoon, so Dino decides not to burn any of the remaining olive branches lying in the field. We drive to Sippiciano instead so that Dino can get a hair cut.
He's thinking of getting a crew cut. I agree, if that will make him happy. He comes out of Daniele's a few minutes later with his hair close cropped on top, but the cut does not look much different. He's happy, so I'm happy.
Back in Mugnano, you guessed it. The wrong gravel has been delivered. We notice it sitting in a big pile across from the fountain, and walk over to Mai Elin's to talk with her about it. After a call to Stefano, we learn that he'll call the yard and the truck driver to get it worked out. The gravel is too big to walk on. So it's probably another fiasco for the gravel pit...
We stop at Stein and Helga's and Stein has painted all the tall poles on the terrace a dark graphite color. It's amazing what a little paint can do. Inside we stop for tea, and Stein presents me with a Durer book from their Florence trip. I see many things to paint and so appreciate his generous gift.
It's raining again, so we drive home for a few hours before going to Livio's for a Festarolo meeting. It's still raining, so we drive up, and meet a young man who books entertainment, and pick a group for Sunday of the festa weekend that will be a lot of fun. There will be a manifesto (poster) printed, and we're close to being finished with determining the events of the weekend.
This Monday will be our final meal to serve as members of the Festarolo committee, a pasquetta pranzo, and the count is now more than fifty. It won't be too difficult, and then the festa weekend will be our finale...for at least five years...
I've painting on my mind, and Dino wants me to not overdo it, but I have things to paint for our Provence trip, things to paint for the May festa. It's been agreed that there will be a mostra artignale for the Mugnano artisans, and I am one. So we'll meet with the Barberini sisters to make sure they will let us use their downstairs room and cortile, and I think I'll be ready with plenty to show and to sell.
But the subject of San Vincenzo comes up, and it is only then that Gigliola mentions that there is a painting in the sacristy of the Duomo of San Vincenzo...
"What is the painting?" I ask her. "Is he in the clouds, and is Mugnano below?"
"Yes, I think so...." she tells me, and it is then that I figure that my painting will hang in our house after all...It is the same painting....We'll be able to get into the sacristy this week to look at it, and I'm wondering what it will look like...
Life is funny. We never thought that there would be a large painting hidden in the Duomo. The little painting on wood that we have copied from was obviously copied from the original. And now we wonder if the original is better crafted than the copy. It will be so interesting to see it....
April 4 I'm making a dessert for Easter pranzo, to be held at Panis and Helen's, and am thinking of Pashka, the traditional domed Russian cheesecake. But after a fitful search on the internet realize the dessert is a real pain to make.
I don't know what is more difficult; the recipe or surfing on the internet. Are you as frustrated as I am trying to find recipes? It really takes work to find a good recipe, and the ads that are thrust upon us in the meantime are really annoying.
That's pretty funny, considering my paychecks and consulting checks came from advertising and pr companies for so many years...Life surely has a way of biting us in the backside when we're not looking...
Dino is at the house in Tenaglie, and I've reminded him to talk with Tani about the downstairs beam to be covered. He'll also meet with the geometra about Kate's studio and about the rebuilding of the fireplaces. I'm staying home to paint.
"How would you like to take a drive to Perugia?" Dino phones and of course we'll go. We need to find special beams to cover a steel beam and Tani tells us we can find them in Perugia.
He thinks they're not discernable as "fakes", but are hollowed out, so that one long one may work in the piano terra. The paint is wet on two of my paintings, so I might as well stop for the day.
Sofi and I happily pile into the car and we take a long route to Perugia; then have pranzo along a little lake. Afterward the stores are open, and the store with the beams is an amazing store, full of "do it yourself" things for the home. That phrase is known as " fa da te" here in Italy. That's another phrase to make you sound like a local...
We drive back through Todi, and stop at the Tenaglie house, and determine that the beam won't work. So we don't know what we will do to cover the steel beam. In the meantime, there are other decisions to be made.
We're up in the new master bathroom, deciding how thick the new wall will be (very thick) and how high up the "in caso" medicine cabinet and mirror will be hung. Now that we have a thick wall, I ask them to insert a prayer niche on the bedroom side. It' s those little details that really make a difference.
Out in the garden the peonies are in bloom, and there are two sets of peony bushes, both looking like tree peonies. So we clip a bunch, and here they are, sitting in our kitchen. It's another reason for Kate and Merritt to move...they are that gorgeous.
A second pile of gravel meets us in the village, and we can't help stopping at Mai Elin's garden to see how the work is progressing. Stefano is doing a masterful job with his crew, and by tomorrow the cement will be dry and they can lay the nursery cloth and then the gravel. By the end of the week she'll be able to party...what a wonderful Easter present for her!
Stein's guests from Poland have arrived, and we stop just for a minute to say hello and have a glass of prosecco. We'll see them on Friday night, but love seeing the house full of light and laughter and energy. Stein seems to have a halo around his head...He's just like that. With big hugs we drive home...
We have measurements to finish of the master bath to get ready for a meeting tomorrow morning with the geometra and Tani. Dino works away, asking me my opinion as he snaps his tape and draws the coordinates out on his graph paper. He's really good at it.
It's time to draw up the second kitchen for the ground floor apartment and we should be ready to order that this week. I have a good idea of what it should look like...very simple and rustic with no overhead cabinets but two large "in caso" armadios, built into the thick stone walls.
Time for bed. With the foggy weather, I still can't dip any ceramics in smalto. Unless the weather clears in the next few days, we'll miss our deadline of having ceremonial plates for our Provence vacation....
April 5
We're both up really early for a meeting at the Tenaglie house, but the weather is still not cooperating. We'll visit Elena later this morning and see if she can fire the plates next week...
After a stop for capuccias and a hello to Italo the fish- monger, we arrive at the house and talk about the master bathroom. We leave and drive to Orsolini to work on the bathroom orders, and before we know it it's time for them to close for pranzo. So we leave and have a quick plate of pasta in Soriano at a rest stop and drive home.
The clouds have disappeared and it's a beautiful afternoon, so we're going to get the ceramics going again. Dino stirs the smalto and I dip the four plates for Provence, only to realize that there is a lot of sand that is sitting on the plates, mixed in with the smalto.
The plates are almost ruined, for they won't cook. So Dino wants to wash them off and let them sit in the sun. Tomorrow I'll smalto them again, and perhaps we can save them.
But we have to sift the smalto, so Dino takes out two lengths of wood and sits the sifter on top, pouring pitcher by pitcher of the smalto through the sifter and into another container. Once that's done, we clean up the sifter and then pour the sifted liquid back throught the sifter again into a cleaned out larger container.
The sediment is thrown away and we drop the densitometer back in the smalto. Dino thinks the reading is fine, so I sponge off and dip sixteen little Mugnano plates, for the mostra during our festa weekend, a larger plate for a stema for Stein, and two plates for the girls. Tomorrow I'll re-smalto the four plates for Provence.
It's a painting kind of day, and Dino decides to return to Orsolini to order the remaining bathroom items from them. While he's gone, I finish one small painting, work on a second small painting, and add lots of magenta to the large cape painting. Since the large cape painting will take three days to dry to the next step, which I hope will be the last, I hang it on the back kitchen wall where we can look at it and discern what needs to be changed.
Tomorrow I'll have a painting workshop, and will take some time to see if Marco has a book that I can look at to find a subject for the painting to be done in Provence. I think I want a painting to hang in the kitchen, possibly even a large still life of fruit in a bowl on a table. That might be fun to do.
In advance, I'll need to mock up the painting and draw it out on the canvas, so that when I'm in San Remy I can concentrate on painting.
Dino returns with news that he's ordered all the rest of the bathroom fittings, now all we have to order are the towel bars and the kitchen on the first floor. It looks as though next week we'll have to get that done...
Mai Elin's garden is finished, and Dino and I give her a call. We want to see the garden and decide to walk there anyway. We call her and she is already at the garden. So we walk on down, and the garden is behind the borgo.
All the gravel has been used; the larger gravel on the long path leading to it and the smaller gravel on the two level areas. It is a lovely job, and we're all thrilled to be a part of this adventure. Now all she needs is a gate and a Private! sign when she's not in town.
April 6
It's Good Friday, and tonight we'll attend the solemn procession in Orte instead of the one in Mugnano. We know that the procession is a somewhat frightening one, with hundreds of men dressed in hooded costumes in the black of night. We have read and heard about this dramatic reinactment of the first Holy Friday, and tonight we'll see it, probably for the first and last time.
But this morning we drive to the Tenaglie house, and then need to buy new geraniums for the parcheggio. The azaleas sitting now on the steps have blossomed and now are languishing, so it's time to replace them. When the weather is hot, geraniums are the only plants that will survive the stifling temperatures. So we might as well buy them now.
Facing us is the daunting realization that with all the fun we've made of Grande Fratello (Big Brother) in Alviano Scalo these past months, we did not remember when we realized that he existed in his perch in Alviano Scalo, the direct route to Tenaglie from our house. In the mail is a green envelope. That means a speeding ticket...so when did we realize there was a speed trap there?
It is possible that our entire fee for restoring the Tenaglie house will go to pay these speeding tickets, for they are €150 each! What a catastrophe! This ticket is for December 10th. Perhaps a glance at past journals may lend some help, or we can wait with dread for the mail each day, wondering, wondering....
I tell Dino that I think the solution is to talk with Italo, the fish monger, who lives in Alviano Scalo. Perhaps he knows someone. I remember that my brother knew a judge in Boston and when he was in his twenties paid the judge with a case of scotch to nix any speeding tickets. With the Italian love of skirting laws, there must be a way.
Dino tells me that when he drove to Orsolini yesterday that he stopped at the used car lot in Soriano and found a Panda for €500. It was not worth considering, but the owner of the lot thinks he will have one next week.
With more speeding tickets due to come in, it will be some time before his Panda dream becomes a reality. In a search of our archives, with all the writing I do of our days, I did not document the first time we discovered the speed trap. It is now up to the mails to let us know...
Today is a beautiful day just the same, and we'll be going to the house, slowly, slowly through Alviano Scalo...After drinking our capuccias (cappuccinos) at Sisters Bar, we learn that there is only one "grande fratello" (big brother) speed trap on the road to Tenaglie.
There are two machines, but the town has only paid for one, so they rotate the one they have back and forth. We still have plenty to worry about, but there is no ticket in today's mail.
We talk with Tani about putting in a structure above the front door, similar to ones we've seen all around lower Umbria, made of wood on the bottom and old coping tiles on top. They are beautiful architectual details, and have a practical side as well. For in incliment weather, they are a protection from rain. He'll get a quote from a supplier in Spoleto on Tuesday, when he picks up some other items for the project.
"While you're at it," we tell him, "price an old beam big enough to cover the steel beam on Piano Terra". He'll carve it out to enable it to surround the beam. Tani thinks the prices where he's going are very reasonable. Magari. Speriamo....and all that.
A little while later in Viterbo at Michellini, our favorite vivaio, we pick up three blue clematis to grow over the gardener's cottage and two cascading rosemarino to replace two that are either dead or quasi-morto.
We've wanted to replace the viburnum balls on either side of the front door. They have not grown in uniformly and look straggly. So we want an option. After looking a larger box (expensive in the size we'll need), box trees with balls on top and other evergreens, as we are getting in the car notice viburnum trees with plain trunks and an ample round form of branches and leaves and white flowers on top. That's what we consider the best option, and if we still think so, we'll pick them up soon.
We began our visit with our friends at Michellini with Sofi meeting a new two-month old female Jack Russell Terrier, Lucrezia, and the puppy is quite animated. Sofi is gentle with her but wants to play. Lucrezia will have none of that, and wants to get her own way. They are fun to watch for a few minutes, but we're intent on figuring out which wisteria we'll want to buy.
Every bit of advice has been to purchase wisteria when they are in bloom. We want pale blue wisteria, and none are in bloom, just those boring pinky-purple ones. I forget which kind Sarah advised us to get, but think she has advised us to get Macrobyotis, and those don't look very blue...
We'll go home to research what we want and pick them up next week, too.
. We stop in Bagnaia and have tremezzini (little half sandwiches with the crusts cut off) sitting outside in the square. Then Dino takes me to my painting workshop, where I work for four hours on the angel wings, and end the session not much further along than I began.
Marco tells me to take the painting home and work on it over the weekend, especially the feathers on the angel wings. He thinks I can finish it before the May festa, but that means I'll be working on it at home, too.
While I'm there I research what painting I will do in Provence, and come up with a few options. Next week (this will be a busy week, I am sure), we will have the photo enlarged to the same size as the canvas and draw it out with carbon paper. So that when we arrive in San Remy I have only to begin to paint. I'm thinking of something to put in the kitchen, but hope it will have a little Provencal flair.
We come home and change and tell Sofi she needs to guard the house, then drive off to pick up Helga and Stein and his house guests and lead them to Orte to the Holy Friday procession.
The procession is an elaborate pageant, inky black night, burning torches, men dressed in black, grey, red, blue and white and white costumes complete with head masks with holes cut out for eyes.
The procession takes more than an hour, with more than four hundred men holding torches or huge crucifixes, It ends in front of the Duomo with a funeral bier containing a body wrapped in muslin, which is obviously Christ. But Stein thinks the structure looks as though it's Louie XIV and we chortle about it.
With all the pagentry and exquisite detail taken by the men of Orte, and the women dressed in black mourning garb standing at the end of the procession, there is no real finale, no crucifixion, merely the men and then the women filing out in single file beside the Duomo.
It's been an interesting sight, just the same. But next year we'll drive to Bagnaia, where we are told there will be a major procession but also a reinactment of a crucifixion.
Now you may wonder why we want to witness such a horrible thing. I have no idea. Earlier tonight Stein told us that some years after Christ died, Arabs overtook Jerusalem and Christians were no longer able to reinact the Easter events each year. So in towns and villages outside Jerusalem, Christians reinacted the Holy Weekend of Easter, and that is how the tradition began, and how it exists today.
"Why do we have to witness such a horrible thing?" Dino asks. And I answer, "So we will never forget it, never forget what it means."
April 7
Today begins with fog, but clears and is warm and beautiful. Where have I been? It took until today for me to notice the Rosa Banksea starting to bloom, the cherry tree in full flower and at least one of the six peonies ready to flower.
I must smalto the four plates for the Provence trip, and Dino helps me to turn the tub on an angle, for we are running out of smalto and I don't really want to buy more.
That done, I organize my painting supplies and stand in the loggia in front of the turntable. I paint the four plates and four napkin rings with our names on them. So at least that is done. I see Stein's large plate waiting for his stemma, and perhaps I will paint that just to have it done. All that's left are the sixteen or so little Mugnano plates for festa weekend.
Tonight we walk up to mass, and Helga and Stein are already inside waiting in our pew. The lights of the church are on, and Don Mauro is early. Helga and I discuss the fact that the lights should be extinguished. We wonder what to expect, especially after last night's strange procession in Orte.
The mass begins and yes, the lights are turned off, but first the parishoners are told to each take a candle and walk outside. Once there, Don Mauro leads us back in and one by one the candles are lit and the mass procedes.
After mass, we walk down the hill with Stein and Helga, and say goodnight and "Auguroni" (very big good wishes) to each other then walk home and turn in.
April 8
On this Easter morning we don't have to get up to go to church, instead I make a cake for this afternoon and we drive to Tenaglie. Giancarlo is at home with his family, so we pick some peonies from the garden and take them to them in a bucket.
The sun is out and they are grilling their pranzo, all sitting outside to enjoy the day. We spend some time with them, speaking about the house, and tell them that when it is finished that they'll be invited to visit.
They are somewhat sheepish and somewhat sad, remembering so many years spent in that house. But they agree that it will be a good idea, and we bid them a c'e veddiamo (we'll see you soon) and walk back to the house and pick some peonies for Helen and for us.
We meet up with Frank and Candace and lead them to Panis and Helen's, where many people have already gathered outside. For the next few hours we have a chance to speak with Monique, here from Paris, and her friend from the U S, Susan, who is kind enough to speak with me about painting. She is an accomplished painter, and has painted all her life.
It is a wonderful gathering, very relaxed, with a lamb cooked on a spit. Sofi is the only dog, and rambles around and seems to enjoy herself. Just as we are about to leave the skies cloud up and it begins to rain, as though it is a cue to "leave on a high note". We bid Helen and Panis goodbye and tell Frank and Candace we'll see them on Friday.
At home I'm ready to paint, and paint a dozen Mugnano plates for the May festa, before it's time to go to bed. They will be taken to Elena on Tuesday morning, and that's one more thing I won't have to do when we return from our trip.
April 9
Today is lovely, not at all what pasquetta has been for the past several years in Italy. Since our committee is putting on the pranzo, we're thankful the day will be warm, and hoping we can eat fuori (0utside).
There are almost sixty people at the pranzo, and although Dino and I lobby for eating outside, the others want to set up inside. So we do both. Amazingly, almost everyone wants to eat inside. Is it because they like the look of the new interior, or they are afraid the weather might change? We set up two tables outside, and several of the men here without spouses congregate at one table, and we at the International Table congregate at the other. Dino has brought our two big umbrellas, so it is comfortable, although the sun is bright.
At our table are: Helga from Norway, Annika and Torb from Sweden, Mai Elin and Caer and Christopher from Norway and Dino and me from America. We are a jolly group, and Dino and I bounce back and forth between courses to eat with our friends.
These meals in Italy are meant to take a long time, so we have to stage each course. The food is really remarkable, from the same caterer from Viterbo, and we receive many, many complements on the food and the event. There is plenty of food, plenty to drink, and what's most fun is that the neighbors crowd around inside chattering, chattering and loving the chance to get together.
Several of the guests talk about our "ultima cena" (last supper) and commiserate with us. But we tell them that this has been a wonderful experience, one that has made all the difference in our integration into the fabric of Mugnano life.
It is made even clearer in a converstation with Catherine and Kees, who are moving to Puglia and looking for a community in which to settle. They have sold their Giove house, and we agree that they may feel better renting at first, until they are sure that the community is one in which they will want to participate in.
Today, Kees (known in Italy as Giovanni) sits with the men at the outside table and loves the cameraderie, the laughter. We hope that they find a place to love, as we do our little Mugnano.
At our table, I am quick to tell Mai Elin in private that she must change her name...subito. Yesterday, Loredana told us that her name means "little pig". After a big laugh, she is all ready with her new name, Maria Elena. She was named after a grandmother and an aunt, so today we begin to address her in that way.
After the pranzo has finished, we clean up and pick up Sofi and walk down to Maria Elena's garden, where they wait for us with Annika and Torb to have some spumante and wind down.
After several hours alone in the kitchen, Sofi is thrilled to be outside with us. So we let her lead us down to the garden, and are sorry that our friends will leave early tomorrow morning. The garden is a wonderful spot to gather in. We agree that we will spend many hours there reading and gabbing.
At home I paint the last remaining plates, and Dino will take them all to Elena tomorrow morning. I have work to do on the angel wings of the San Vincenzo painting, but a pedicure will get in the way mid morning. I have competi (homework) to work on the wings, but may not spend much time on them. My workshop is in the afternoon.
The days are beginning to move at a very rapid pace, and before we know it it will be Friday and we'll be gone. So I'm taking my time, but wanting to get more painting in, especially to finish the cape painting.
We go to bed early, feeling good after a gratifying day with our neighbors. But just before I walk upstairs with Sofi in my arms, I sign our U S tax return, for it is that time again. We really have until June as expats, but might as well write the check and get the bad news over with...
April 10
It's another beautiful day, with a pedicure to signal it's sandal time...But I have the date wrong and that will be tomorrow, so today we drive to Daniele's in Sipicciano for a hair do.
He's almost an hour late, and there is a woman standing in front of his shop when we arrive, so I don't finish until after eleven.
With the San Vincenzo painting hanging in the kitchen as a reminder, I think I am going to spend a little precious time working on the angel wings, but there is no time. This was to be my competiti, but we have been buzzing every day and night, with no time to paint, and the time I did have was given to painting the ceramics for the trip and the festa.
We reach Marco's around 2PM, and he's very simpathetic about my homework, or lack of it. For the next four hours I'm alone in the studio with him. It is a gift, without the usual cacciarata (chattering of gossip), just the smooth sound of jazz played on Marco's cd player and the chirping of birds outside.
I'm able to make good headway on the painting's angel wings, concentrating on feathers and the thinnest of brush strokes. Once that's done, I spend the rest of the time painting the hill near Mugnano and the walk up the hill toward the tower and the Orsini palazzo.
We leave the painting to dry for ten days, and when I return I'll draw the gold lines of the sun's rays. Now we drive to the art store to pick up the correct pencil and some more paints, as well as tracing paper for Stein's stemma. I'll paint that upon our return from Provence.
Back at home Sofi has been patiently waiting, and can't get enough of us. We're home for the evening, or at least we hope so, depending on who wins the Festarolo lottery. If you recall, the lottery is won based on a national pulling of numbers on Tuesday evenings at 8PM.
Two sheets of numbers were sold during Monday's pranzo...Roma and Napoli. So if the Roma number picked tonight is 8 and the Napoli number is 42, for example, the people who purchased those numbers will win. This time we're giving away two prosciuttos again.
I'd like to go to bed early, but have to wait until we hear from Mauro. He probably wants us to go with him to present the prosciuttos to the winning participants. I'm secretly hoping they're all either in the borgo or out of town so that we won't have to go.
When we were in the printing store getting a blowup of a photo I will paint in Provence, Dino notices a note pinned on the side of the counter advertising a Fiat Punto for €300! He calls and calls but there is no answer. For that price, he's willing to put up with some problems. If it's meant to be, it will...
While I jot down some notes Dino works away in the kitchen on drawing up the plumbing specifications for each bathroom and kitchen in the Tenaglie house. The plumber will arrive on site tomorrow and needs to have the specifications finished for the work to begin.
April 11
The weather is lovely today, with just a little fog in the morning. We're able to spray a few roses and Dino's able to do some more planning for the plumbing portion of the Tenaglie house. We now have specifications for each item to be installed in the house. We are hoping that it is coming together nicely. There don't seem to be any hurdles that we cannot handle.
After I have a pedicure in Orte by my dear friend, Giusy, we drive to the house to meet with the muratores, and Arshi is back on the job again. It is good to see his smiling face, and Tani seems to be happy his brother is back, too. We make some decisions on the spot, and it appears we arrived at the perfect time to decide how high the "cakerack" in the bedroom will be, and how high it will be located.
There is a question whether we should take out the back wall of the bedroom right above the stairs and rebuild it, but we decide to leave it, and make it thicker inside the bedroom, instead. Now the wall is only 8cm thick.
The shower wall is up in the bathroom, and we decide not to go all the way to the ceiling on the bathroom wall. Just in time, again. Nothing compares to being on site during a construction project, for so many details need to be decided, no matter how thorough the drawings are.
Kate will be happy to know that the little anteroom outside the master bath is wider than we first thought. It's a good place for a desk, or for a wardrobe, depending on how much clothes they have.
Back at home for a few hours, we rework the electrical and plumbing for the top floor, and return this afternoon to meet with the plumber for the first time on site. We'll also drive to Amelia to our favorite framer, and leave two pieces that we'll pick up after we return. They will be ready for the festa mostra.
The day is very warm, and while Dino works in the kitchen on the restoration drawings, Sofi and I are outside spraying roses and clipping those nasty worms that curl the leaves and wreak havoc with our precious roses. I do notice that the Madame Gregory Staechlin rose will blossom for the first time...while we're gone. More white peonies are in bloom, and rose by rose the plants are getting ready to show their first and healthiest blooms.
I realize that this is an important time to work in the garden, for when we are gone it does not make sense to have Angie, the house and dog sitter, spray roses and fiddle with them they way I do.
Tia and I agree that when we return from a trip there is always work in the garden due to our inability to monitor everything while we're gone. I'm not going to worry about it.
This year, I'm taking a lassez faire attitude about the garden. We still have not put down the extra nursery cloth, and the lavender plants are growing so rapidly that soon it will be too late to do so before they bloom.
We drive back to the Tenaglie house after pranzo and leave new drawings for the hydraulico, who is to arrive later, and find Tani jackhammering through the kitchen wall. He finds black soot on the back of some stones...was there a fire in the back of the house some years ago?
We'll return tomorrow, for there's not much to do here right now, and drive on to Amelia to our favorite framer. She'll make frames while we're gone for the ceramic demilune and also a drawing of a monk that I've completed and will offer at the mostra in May.
But the news of the day is all about Panda. Panda is Dino's "new" automobile, a 1986 Panda with 140,000km on it. He makes a deposit on it and will pick it up on the 23rd when we return. He's very happy, so I am happy, too.
He found the car at a used car lot near the Amelia wall, and the owner is a former motorcycle racer and restorer and collector of antique racing cars. He and his son own the lot, and he is one of those characters one would hope to meet on an Italian visit. We'll get to know him better, and hopefully for good reasons.
His reaction to Dino's asking about the condition about the car: "It runs really well, but as for the body you can see for yourself". That means there is a ding in each door, and the seatcovers are pretty seedy. The color is a kind of gunmetal grey, and it's probably the best investment we'll ever make in Italy. (I suppose that doesn't say much for us, does it?)
We drive to Sgrina to design the kitchen for piano terra, and before we are through Dino calls the Pro Loco in Bomarzo to find out if the tickets for the Palio are ready. They are not, but Ivo tells Dino he'll save seven tickets for us. Bravo. Now if he'll remember we'll be fine.
Tomorrow we'll drive early to Chiusi to Margheriti Brothers, the enormous nursery, to see what wisteria choices they have to offer. I am wondering if there is such a thing as blue wisteria after all.
April 12
We're up and out very early, driving to Chiusi to Margeriti Brothers vivai to find our blue wisteria. It is very cold, 4 degrees, and everything is being watered overhead as we drive in a golf cart with an employee to find what we are looking for. She is not happy, putting her coat over her head and taking out a long specimen with no flowers.
She found the Macrobotrys and also the Issai, but could not confirm that they had any that were blue in color. "Come back mid-May" she told us. That's when they will be in flower." So we thank her and leave. When we return from San Remy later this month we'll begin our search again.
We visit the house, make some decisions that help the muratores, and also agree that driving to the house sometimes twice a day really makes a difference.
Our plates are not ready at Elena's, so Dino will pick them up first thing tomorrow on his way back from the supermarket. We drive back home and work in the garden, pulling out the passion vine in front of the serra and replacing it with a beautiful clematis. Now I have wanted a clematis for a long time, and now we have four of them. The other three will be planted in the pergola in front of the gardener's cottage.
The frustration over the wisteria continues, and Sarah Hammond responds to my feeble request last night that Geisha is the blue one. On the internet I find that some nurseries show a lavender Geisha, and also a very blue Issai.
As we have been counseled before, we'll wait a few weeks more and then see what the Issai looks like at Michellini and also perhaps take another visit to Margeriti Brothers, who have much larger specimens. It is all so confusing.
We spend a few hours on the plumbing and electrical plans for the upper floor of the house, and tomorrow afternoon we'll meet with the geometra and also the electrician. We think we are in good shape to leave for a week, with the geometra stepping in and a call to the muratore each day. There is always something....
I have to remember to draw out the design for my "Cezanne" painting and copy it onto the canvas with carbon paper before we leave. I'd like to be ready to paint as soon as we arrive, but will wait until I meet with Pascale to make sure that I am getting started correctly. I'll be sure to call her tomorrow before we leave.
April 13
Italians think that Friday the 13th is nothing to be worried about. It is the 17th that they are superstitious about.
The day begins with clouds, and things are frenetic. Dino shops first thing, our ceramics are still cooling at Elena's, and the rest of the last minute cleanup takes our attention.
This afternoon we return to Tenaglie for a meeting with the geometra, the electrician, the plumber and the muratore brothers. We are finally able to take a photo of all of them all.
Annika arrives for two hours until Angie arrives, and she is somewhat out of touch, thinking we can sit and chat...So we tell her to relax while we buzz around and then we're ready....
For the next eight days, we travel to Provence, and since this journal is all about our Italian days, I won't cover it, except to say that we love Provence, love San Remy, and look forward to returning there every year.
April 21
We love travelling on the sea, especially in a boat big enough to let us gently fall asleep. The sea is calm, and although a headache remains, I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. We don't dock until 3PM in Rome and Roy has scheduled a massage for me in the ship's tiny salon at ten. I go to sleep dreaming about it...
April 22
I sleep in, and Dino has breakfast on deck, then joins Frank and Candace. He returns to guide me to the salon for the best massage I've ever had, and afterward I'm feeling so much better. We return to the room and loll around the ship until noon, when we meet our friends for our farewell pranzo, this time with a little pasta to welcome us back to Italia.
The boat docks early, and we're home before Angie expects us. She is beautifully tanned, and tells us it's been hot as Hades this week, so she and Sofi have been cooling off inside during the day. Sofi is so dear, she welcomes me home and I have so missed her.
We get high marks from Angie for Sofi's trimmed body and her good manners. Well if loving a dog is what does it, then so be it. I think she was born a lovely dog, no credit to us.
We take a short jaunt to see Don and Mary, for we think they leave for home tomorrow, but they'll be here until Wedensday. As usual, they have presents for us, and very thoughtful ones, at that. It's always Christmas when Don and Mary come around. So no use complaining...
We take a short look at the Tenaglie house and it looks fine. Tomorrow early we'll return to go over things with the geometra and the team. We've taken a photo of a fireplace to give them for guidance, for the one they've built is not suitable.
Back at home we say thanks and goodbye to our dear friend, Angie, and settle in for a quiet night. Dino drives to Bomarzo to pick up the Palio tickets, and other than that we're just happy to be home. The garden looks really luscious, if a garden can look luscious, but the three clematis just have to be returned. They're dark purple instead of blue. Dino tells me Michellini will gladly take them back. Good thing.
I've painting on my mind, and for these next two weeks I'll paint every spare minute. The new vetrina is in, and will probably be delivered tomorrow when I'm at my painting workshop. So perhaps we'll try to stage the dining room to get ready for the two large pieces, which we'll then have to paint.
We spend some time in front of the TV, for the two final candidates have been chosen for the French presidency, and now we're interested in what goes on in France. I can't say I think the woman makes a lot of sense, although she does want lots of good social programs for the people. But who will pay for them? It appears Sarcozy will win, and that may be fine. We'll have to see. Politicians always have good ideas. It is in the doing that things seem to fall apart.
April 23
It's another beautiful day and we're up and out early. Sofi spent half of the night in our bed, and is having real adjustment problems. It makes me so sad to see her hiding and hunkering down, especially since we know she has a wonderful time with her dog sitter and she has much more exercise than we do when we're here. In a call with Angie, she does not know why either. Hopefully she'll rebound tomorrow...poor sweet girl.
Don walks by to see us when we're getting out of the car in Tenaglie, and we'll see him tomorrow night with Mary. Now we enter the house and since there is no handrail between the first and second floors, Dino takes the walk up the plank alone.
He returns and tells me that there has been a great deal of progress. But in the meantime the geometra has arrived and we discuss the fireplace design. Tani is not particularly happy that we don't care for his design, so he'll rework it just as we map out for him. We also have a photo that we want him to follow. So we'll have the beautiful and characteristic fireplace we've designed, and we'll be there each day to make those little on the spot decisions that are needed on every job.
We drive to Montecastrilli, and wait for the young man who waits on us each year. Yes, we buy three "giganti" tomato plants, plus three other tomato plants that should have large and sweet fruit. The pomodori plants in the greenhouse are looking so puny. It will be at least a month before they're ready to be planted in the ground...
It's on to Amelia, and Tia meets me in the parking lot of the used car lot where Dino is buying his Panda 750S. Tomorrow he'll bring the final paperwork and will be able to drive it away. Later in the day, while I'm at my painting workshop, he finds a new right-hand mirror for €19 and is really happy. The car only has a left rearview mirror.
We rush home for a speedy standup pranzo, then drive to my workshop and Dino drops me off. He returns home and Sasha arrives with the vetrina, in two pieces. It is a huge piece of furniture, and is beautifully crafted. Now we'll have to stain and paint it, so Dino wants us to drive to Bonucci in Viterbo to buy the correct paint.
We also need to pick out a couple of colors of paint to stain a piece of wood for the shutters. Once we pick out the paint, the shutters will be painted and installed. No, our house has not been painted yet, but we were able to get an excellent price on new shutters, so we decided to move ahead with them anyway.
In class I work solely on San Vincenzo, and we take the painting home after class. I'll work on it all this next week and hope to finish it in class next Monday. The following weekend it will be exhibited at the mostra during our village festa.
Marco has an exhibition in Viterbo the following week, and ahs asked me to enter something that I have done from scratch, without copying anything. That means one of the cape paintings, so I'll decide in a week or so which one. These will be my first two mostras, and they'll be in succeeding weekends. The second will continue for a week. I think I am happy about it. Come no?
We drive to Viterbo after Dino picks me up, looking for paint samples for our shutters, which Ovidio probably has sitting in Amelia. I've begun to think of a darker color for the shutters than the previous pale blue-grey.
The person at the paint store tells us that the color fades after a year or two. We've agreed on a lucido finish, instead of the satinato I'd prefer, for its wearability. So we'll be mindful of that when we choose the color.
We've seen so many beautiful colors in Provence, and now are wondering if the color of the house should be a closer match for the tufa wall. That decision will come later. But now we'll test three colors, and will know more from that.
April 24
We begin the day in Attigliano, paying for the insurance for the Panda. Alessandro talks to us about the nests growing under the eaves of a nearby building, and when we tell him about Franco shooting the pidgeons in their back garden with an air gun, he tells us that in Italy the pidgeon is a protected species!
Well, in the cities and towns they are protected, but if one is in the country he can do away with them. That probably has something to do with the spirit of hunting, which is very popular in Italy. How strange!
With his insurance ready, we drive on to Amelia to give a copy of Dino's Permesso to Domenico Caripoti, who is selling him the panda.
Don Salter comes by to say hello when we get out of the car, and then we're in the house. The fireplace is now back in the design we originally conjured up, and Dino goes over the electrical plan for the Piano 2, making a couple of additions. We move the position of the Piano Uno chandelier, and leave knowing that things are proceeding nicely.
Sofi and I drive home and Dino stops to do some errands. After a cool salad, it's too hot to work in the garden, but we need to plant the new roses, which have been sitting in the loggia. In the meantime, I sew a tablecloth with material from our trip and Dino works on the computer.
The weather cools and the afternoon wind picks up. We plant two of the roses, and the third will be planted tomorrow morning.
It's time to drive to Guardea to meet Don and Mary for pizza, so a sad Sofi sits on the sofa with her little animals and we tell her we won't be long. In Guardea, we eat at a little pizzeria and the woman who waits on us is a joy to behold.
Her purple blouse offsets a coppery colored halo covering her brown hair, her lips outlined into a kind of bow. It all seems to work, for her joyous expression upon seeing Don again makes us all feel at home.
Her use of the word, "perfetto", so perfectly clipped after we order our simple pizzas, makes me wonder if she is really Italian after all. Knowing that we are stranieri, she chooses her words carefully. This is very unlike most Italians, who seem to speed up their conversation when coming across people who regularly speak other languages.
We miss seeing our good friends, and they'll leave tomorrow, but will be back in June. Then I'll have more use of a car and Mary and I will go off on our own then for a visit. That will be fun.
The night is beautiful and cool. But after we're in bed Sofi cries out. She must know something...We put her in bed just as the fireworks begin in Bomarzo. We have a clear "shot" of them from our bed, which faces West, toward the town. After the commotion settles down, we're off to dreamland...all three of us.
April 25
It's a national holiday today, Liberation Day, and in our town, Bomarzo, they're celebrating the Feast of San Anselmo as well, although the actual feast day was yesterday. We're going to the Palio this afternoon, and it is always silly and a lot of fun.
But first we have work to do in the garden, and painting for me will have to wait...
Roses are thriving, despite my inattention. Spectacular for the first time are the Madame Gregory Staechlin roses climbing on the wall between the lavender garden and the far property. Each generous rose appears to be wearing a "coat" of a darker color, the affect quite amazing.
The nespola (loquat) tree outside our bedroom is already taller than the house, and the Madame Alfred Carriere roses loom long to get out of the tree's shade's reach. Above the gardener's cottage they spread, and I feel sorry for them.
So I ask Dino to cut a few branches and he gets a little carried away, creating a large pocket that makes the roses happy but makes the tree look a little naked. The tree is so enormous that I can't really worry about it. I would like to lose it one day, and replace it with a room that I can use as a studio. That will take a long time. So we'll enjoy its shade in the hot summer months until then.
We measure again for the pergola, and will find a way to move forward with that this summer, even if we don't paint the house, once we find the correct wisteria. It must be blue, or it will be white. Tomorrow we'll take the clematis back to Michellini to exchange for white ones, for their "blue" is really dark purple. No thanks. We'll look over their "Issai" wisteria, which they say is blue. My research tells me that there are several versions of Issai, only one is blue.
Candida calls and tells us she'll come by herself to the Palio, for Frank is at home in a conference call. Stein arrives for his first Palio experience, and we drive on up the hill, parking above the street for the Monster Park. Cars are everywhere, and it is a lovely day. So walking uphill is fun, if we take our time.
Candace arrives and we stop in the shade to watch the procession. Again I'm amazed at the Italian teenagers, wearing tights and very silly hats and acting oh so macho. It's a real privilege to be a part of a corteo or procession of one's town. And the boys take it seriously, especially those who have drums to beat.
Stein is amazed at the costumes, and wants an excuse to wear one. "We'll be in costume in a procession one day, and I'll take your hand and we'll look straight ahead, in full dress..." he tells me. Wonder what he thinks Dino will be doing. I don't think Dino is as enamored with the costume thing...
Perhaps that's because he's done it twice in Orte, and was not so happy about it. The people from Orte take their processions very seriously, and would not let Dino wear his glasses. So he told me later that he finished the whole thing in a kind of a fog. He did look elegant, just the same.
We have our tickets, and once the procession has finished we walk to the arena built just for Bomarzo's palio each year. Once inside, we find Tia and Helen and a friend and then sit in our assigned seats, near Laura and Andrea and Salvatore and Serena and Mauro and a few others from Mugnano.
Tia and Helen want to bet on the horse that will win. There are five contradas in Bomarzo and each contrada has a horse and a rider. Since the colors of the Borgo rione (neighborhood, or contrada) are the same as Mugnano's (blue and red), we pick that one, but have no interest in betting.
Before the race, the participants of the procession file into the center of the arena, around which is the horse track. Beyond the horse track are the three sets of bleachers, and then there is standing room for those who don't want to pay. There is plenty of room for everyone to see, whether they have a ticket or not.
There is a set of bleachers also inside the arena on the grass, which is quickly filled up with costumed revelers, all happy to be done with their long walk uphill.
There are flag-throwers from Orte, quite accomplished, and we think also flag-throwers from each contrada in Bomarzo. They perform for us while the horses get ready and then about a dozen Carabinieri ride in on beautiful chestnut horses, single file, and stop at the viewing stand where the mayor and other dignitaries hold court.
After some deft maneuvering with their swords, they turn in single file and trot around the course until they reach the starting line of the race. The lead carabinieri holds his sword out and hollers and then they all take off in full gallop, their arms outstretched, their swords straight ahead...
But what's this? The leader gallops across our field of vision and where's his sword? He's holding out a white-gloved index finger but has dropped his sword. It takes him most of the course to retrieve his sword, which is run across the arena by a young carabinieri who knows he must deliver the sword subito to its owner. That done, the Carabinieri trot off the course and soon the announcements of the arrival of the horses and riders begins. Again, the Carabinieri are fodder for jokes...
There is a drawing of straws, and Francesco, our Vigili Urbani from Mugnano, takes the envelope, after holding it up like Johnny Carson's "Karnac" and hands it to the starter, who reads out which horse will start on the inside, which horse next, and so on.
Our horse, an Appaloosa (beautiful grey), and rider are called out fourth. But it takes about ten minutes for the first four horses to line up correctly. The fifth horse is spiritoso, and his rider holds him back until the other horses are somewhat in order. And then...BANG!
Our horse falls behind, or at least we think that is what's going on. Dino can't see a thing, for he's determined to capture the race on his still camera. We think it can take all two minutes or so.
What's this? Our horse noses its way inside and on a turn slides like butter into first place, where he stays for the rest of the race. It's a very exciting two minutes or so, and for the first time in recent memory, all horses finish. Later, when Dino plays the race back, I can hear myself screaming, "Go, go, go!" when I should be screaming, "Vai, vai, vai!"
We walk out of the arena downhill, and as we reach the bend just below the street that turns up to the Borgo, we turn around to see the winning contrada members parading down the hill with the winning horse. Dino is out front and takes another photo or so.
April 26
It's another sunny day, and we're wondering if we'll have any rain this spring. We water, including the pomodori in the serra, and they are really puny. This may be a very small harvest.
Dino takes his car to Alessandro to have it checked out and a few minor things done, and Sofi and I follow him. It's fun to drive, after all this time. But the car will take some time, so Dino leaves it and we drive on to Tenaglie, where the door to the bathroom is cut and more of the window openings are finished.
After a trip to the bank and back, we look for Lorenzo, the fabro, but he is not in his shop. So we'll have to see if we can see him tomorrow, to get him started on some of the projects, at least on the pergola.
We drive to a discount tile yard that we've discovered, and find tiles to replace the ones in the guest bedroom. We hoped we could save the floor, but after trenching for electricity, we are unable to find the same tiles. So we find nicer ones, for a very good price. And the muratore will pick them up in his truck.
We stop at a new bar and pizzeria in Bomarzo, but the pizza is really terrible. It is only much later that I find out that the pizza was not made to order. So we'll give them another chance.
Dino takes me home and Stein picks him up. They drive to Viterbo to get Stein's permesso, only to find out that there is a new law after the 11th of April that states that any European can just show their passport at their Comune and can pick up an Italian identity card.
Sofi and I stay at home and paint, and I'm able to finish most of San Vincenzo's cape while sitting on a stool under a garden umbrella, while Sofi searches for lizards, her favorite pastime.
Dino comes home and we drive off to Vitriolo, where there is a wonderful yard making handmade tiles. I remember that Shelly took us there a number of years ago. Today we find tiles for the fireplace and detail tiles for upstairs.
Dino is not sure about a measurement, so he'll return tomorrow with Panda and this will be his first test in his "new" car, to see how it does transporting heavy things. Well, we have not ordered all that much. But it is a good test just the same.
We're home for the night, and Dino is impressed with San Vinenzo's cape. I am noticing a number of things that need fixing, so if I can finish his gown before Monday, we can work on the finishing touches and then the painting will be ready for the Mugnano mostra during festa weekend. That will give me five days to spare!
April 27
It's Stein's birthday. I'm going to refer to him from now on as Pietro, as the translation of his name into Italian is Pietro Cittabella. What a wonderful name for a wonderful man! Tonight I'm fixing abacchio brodetato for Pietro and Duccio (whose birthday was yesterday) and Dino. We'll have a little festa. Why not?
Today I'm sending Dino out on errands, for I want to make a lemon torte and cook the abacchio, but I really need to paint.
And paint I do, almost finishing the painting, although I'd like to make changes. I hang it up on the back kitchen wall and now that I take a good look at it I want us to keep it! It has taken me six months to paint, and the Duomo has the original painting after all, so perhaps we shall.
Duccio and Pietro arrive, and they get along famously. So before we know it the evening is through, and I'm realizing I don't have the stamina I used to. I look forward to more painting, and to the house project in Tenaglie, and spring and our family coming in June and...everything!
April 28
We're up early, for Mario is here to cut the grass with his noisy weed wacker, and it's a beautiful day. We have an early appointment at the kitchen supplier's office to finalize the second kitchen in the Tenaglie house, and we'll present it to the clients on Sunday by email and telephone.
On Sunday May 6th, the center of Viterbo (a city of about 23,000 people!!) is being evacuated to remove a WWII bomb from the Santa Lucia neighborhood. It's a reason for the Viterbese to come to Mugnano to our festa, or is it?
That reminds me. Last night, Duccio told us that Viterbo, Civitavecchia and Orvieto all are named "old city". The Italian language has experienced many changes over time, so it is not impossible to imagine. So what is Mugnano named? I believe it has to do with the Maeonaize (I am not kidding. The people of Maeonia were called this.) and where they settled. I'll have to get back to you on that...
We visit the Tenaglie house and drop off some beautiful mattone for a fireplace detail and notice the large beam that will be used as a mantel. It has been pressure steamed and cleaned up. It will be one of the focal points of a beautiful fireplace, we are sure.
This afternoon we travel to Terni to pick up birthday presents for the nipotini and to look for a new stove for us. It's a long story, but the old one will be used in our loggia/summer kitchen. We find the model we want in a shop in Terni, and our friends in Giove will be able to locate it and obtain it for us at an excellent price. It certainly pays to have good relationships with vendors.
There is a chill in the air, but flowers are blooming, and Mario has done a masterful job weed wacking. So we'll be ready for the festa next weekend. We also pick up a new little greenhouse support for the lettuce and tender plants on the way home.
This support is the same support we have used each year and purchase from LIDL. It will be planted on top of the raised planter in front of the serra, and this next week we'll begin our spring/summer planting. But the little pomodori seeds are really looking meager.
Mario will return in ten days or so to pluck up the fave and ready the ground for the pomodori. He'll also put up the stakes, or at least work with Dino to do that. But we won't have more than about eight plants. All the rest are at least a month away from planting.
We've picked up my two framed pieces from the framing bottega, with complements from the framer for the quality of my work. He and his wife are very kind people, and charge so little that Dino thinks that the man does all the work and his wife doesn't pay him. What's up with that?
It is so inexpensive to frame things in Italy, compared to the U S. The two pieces we picked up cost €10 each, less than one third of what the price would be in the U S. We're having them make a mirror for our client, one that will face a medicine chest to be buried in the wall above the Piano Terra bathroom sink. It will be beautiful, we are sure.
April 29
For motorcycle riders this is a magic village, for the rough strada bianca on Aqua Puzza and the surrounding hilly terrain is perfect for an adventurous ride. It seems that on Sunday mornings at 6:30 or so, at least one motorcyclist arrives to terrorize the village.
I lay here in bed imagining all kinds of things that locals could do to thwart these insensitive thrillmakers. I'm reminded of dear friend Catharine Hooper in Mill Valley, who'd take a long stick with her on her walks on Mount Tam, holding it out across a path when bikers careened down the hilly mountain. Here, it would have to be something far more solid.
I give up after about fifteen minutes, for the culprit is gone, leaving all of us somewhat awake and cranky. It's foggy outside, but the weather promises to clear. On an internet search about the weather this week, it appears that toward the end of the week we will have mostly cloudy weather. What does that mean for our festa weekend?
It's too early to worry, and there is much to paint to get ready for the mostra. So I sleep in for about an hour and then it's time to get up to get ready for church and our "ultima giro". I'm feeling a celebration is not far behind.
This has been a wondeful and yet very taxing year for our committee, and we look forward to five years before Dino's turn comes up. He thinks that perhaps he'll be too old, at seventy, for such machinations. Magari. Let's hope there are some younger people ready to get involved.
After mass, there is good and bad news. Mauro and Livio did a giro a week or so ago, so we don't have to take several hours for that. But the bad news is that the manifesto is finished and it does not include anything about the artiginale mostra.
Let's say we're both a little miffed, and after some discussion I just want to be out of all of it. I walk slowly home, and Dino stays to see what he can figure out. The morning is warm and lovely, and I don't want to get too close to this possibly messy situation.
Dino arrives home and there is some momentum. Franco and Giuseppa and Livio will join me as artisans, and we are not sure where. Perhaps our mostra will be in the ex-scuola when the porchetta is given out on Saturday night.
But Mauro arrives some time later with a solution. We will have our mostra in the courtyard of the Orsini Palazzo, and although there will be another mostra inside with people from outside Mugnano, we will hold court, so to speak, as people come in.
At this point I really don't care. Dino surmises that the reason for the mixup was that we still do not understand many nuances of the Italian language, and also, we were not here for the last two weeks, when many of the decisions were made.
It's not really important after all, for I'll continue to paint, and the better my art becomes, the less I want to part with any of it.
Sofi and I take a snooze after pranzo, and later I do a little painting. It's good not to be rushed. And in the next few days I should decide which piece or pieces will be entered into the mostra in Viterbo.
The sky clouds over and we have a very slight shower, but otherwise today is another beautiful day. We end the evening with windows open and silence all around, except for a few birds.
April 30
On this last day of the month, we wake to fog, but know that we'll have sun before long. Dino is out doing his morning watering of plants that are not on the irrigation system, then takes off in Panda for his trek to Tenaglie. He'll have a meeting with the fabro to organize the beginning of the construction of the pergola in the back yard of the property.
When he returns, he'll take Pietro to the Comune in Bomarzo to get Pietro's identity card. This month the law changed, and any European can now use his passport to get an Italian identity card, without going through the Permesso di Sojourno complications. I think that means a lot less work for the government, and better cooperation with other members of the European community.
I have plenty to paint, but with the new change in plans for this weekend, I'll not be showing everything, so there's no need to rush. This afternoon I'll take San Vincenzo to Marco's to work on final changes before it is finished.
After a quick pranzo, Dino takes San Vincenzo and me to Marco's, and Marco really likes the painting. What's not to like? He does not want to change the sunstrokes, or the size of the angel's head, but otherwise agrees to help me make a few other changes. Before our time is up, we're all satisfied that the painting looks very good. It looks so good that he wants to include it in his mostra in Viterbo, one that will continue for a week.
I think each person in class gets to submit something, and he agrees to take San Vincenzo. But he also wants to show my chalk drawing of three capes. Both Dino and I are surprised, but happy that he likes that piece enough that he'd like to have it in his show. He tells us that it's a truly original piece, so that's enough for us.
His mostra begins on the 12th of May for one week. We're to be there for the afternoon of the 15th. Each of us takes part of a day to attend. I have no idea what that means, other than we'll be there to answer questions. Let's hope that on the 15th there are no questions...
We arrive home in time to walk up to the borgo for the tree raising. We call Pietro but there is no answer on his phone. He and his guest are out, and perhaps we'll see them soon.
We take Sofi and arrive to see Pietro and his friend also waiting. So for the next hour or so we all wait for the men lugging the tree, the tree of life, the annual tree raising of Mugnano.
Each year on the evening of April 30, for perhaps hundreds of years, the men of Mugnano and their friends have cut down a tree at least 20 meters in length from the Mugnano bosco and carried it up Aqua Puzzo and Via Mameli to the curve in the road below Palazzo Orsini, where it is lifted up and stands until the next tree is raised the following April 30th.
I remind Dino to tell Francesco that there should be the Mugnano bandiera flying from a top branch, and this is both good and bad news. It's good news because it's important that the flag is flying. And it's bad news because they have forgotten and before the tree is hoisted in its final resting place, Antonio has to run off to find a proper bandiera.
Both Dino and I think at the same time that next year I'll sew one. Perhaps by that time it will have a stemma on it of the village. But the finish of that project is probably a long way off. Let's settle for the bandiera in the proper colors for a start...
Stein (Pietro) and his guest Ingrid stand with Sofi and me to watch the antics of the locals, pulling three heavy iron ladders, with heavy ropes stretched out from the tall tree as though it's a May pole. This tree is more than twenty meters in length. But before the men take the turn below the borgo, about eight children from Mugnano run down and are given a little tree of their own to pull up. It's great fun.
It takes more than two hours for the entire process to be complete, and as the men stop to catch their breath at various places on Via Mameli, we're reminded that these men have carried on this tradition all their lives with the same men. Tradition is a wonderful thing, and Pietro remarks that there is nothing contrived about this effort tonight.
There is nothing false, no elegant ceremony, just a simple act of love and tradition. Afterward, we are sure there will be a lot of wine and a lot of grappa drunk, for tomorrow is a national holiday, the workers' holiday, and there'll be plenty of time to rest.
Here are a few photos taken by Dino before the battery in his camera shuts down for the night...
May 1
We think we're being lazy bums by sleeping in, and then the phone rings at 8:30 and it's Angie, here to pick up some things she left last week. It's a beautiful morning, so we bound out of bed and share coffee and fresh strawberries with her before she leaves for her next assignment north of Florence.
We spend some time in the garden, planting three new clematis plants in front of the garden shed, and drive up to the Tenaglie house to look things over.
Pietro and Ingrid come by for a visit later and we toast eachother with a cold bottle of prosecco. Tonight is cool, very cool, so we have a fire in the fireplace. Will this be our last fire of the season?
This is surely strange weather for early May. Wonder what that means for this next weekend. Perhaps there won't be much to accomplish during our final weekend of the Festarolo year after all...
May 2
We leave the house in a light drizzle, and drive up through Giove and into Amelia to see if the man Dino purchased the Panda from has another set of keys. No, but it's easy to locate another set from Fiat.
It's still overcast, so makes no sense to pick up the castagno (chestnut) ladder in Fornole. So we drive home and I fix zucca risotto, which is very tasty on this gloomy day. We even have a fire in the fireplace. How strange this late in May! Even Pepe agrees, when I walk into his garage to give him a kiss to thank him for his gift yesterday.
"I'm sorry about my beard," he tells me. "I'll shave it off tonight!" I tell him that if he's comfortable, he shouldn't worry. He's such a kind man.
We drive to the house after pranzo. This morning's rain has stopped and the sky begins to clear. The ramp over the stairway has returned, so I can maneuver upstairs to monitor the restoration's progress, which is remarkable. Arshi has returned to the site and is cleaning up the guest bedroom floor, for it has been trenched and pipes have been put down. Soon new tiles will be laid over all the repair work.
In the master bathroom we're told everything will be closed up tomorrow, so take a careful look around to make sure that all the small details have been taken care of.
We spend some time talking about the stair landing, and want to make sure there is enough room for Merritt so that he won't have to lower his head when he steps down from the landing. The clearance looks fine at this viewing. So we're ready to leave.
We drive on to Fornole and pick up the ladder. We have a plan for it, one we can't reveal until the end of the project...
Back at home, it's cold and overcast. So I check on the internet for the forecast, and it appears that we will have rain on Saturday...There goes the mostra and our plans for dancing outside have been all but dashed...
May 3
Rain continued for most of last night, and this morning the air is very humid and the sky overhead is heavy with a thick cloud cover. If it rains this weekend, there will not be much of a festa, nor will there be a mostra of the artiginale of Mugnano in Palazzo Orsini's open courtyard. What to do?
Mauro and Livio have worked it out; if it rains, our mostra will be held in the ex-scuola. Va bene. I really don't care if we have it or not, I just want to paint.
This morning we have capuccinos at Fedora's bar, deplete the bank account from the bank for the festarolo committee, drive to the Tenaglie house and look things over. Everything looks good, and on Monday the pressure steam cleaning of the internal roof tiles and beams will begin.
We drive to a different tile yard and pick up handmade tiles for a special secret project, drive on to Viterbo for one more paint sample for our shutters and to the lamp shop to pick up a sample applique (sconce) for the dressing room.
An intermittent rain continues, so I stay home and paint while Dino walks up to mass with his confraternity garb. Tonight is the first of the Tredium, or three masses said in honor of San Liberato's celebration this weekend. Valerio is the second confraternity member to serve with Dino.
Just after the mass begins, with Don Renzo officiating, a loud pop, like a gunshot, reverberates around the little church, followed by a strange silence. Don Renzo hesitates and then returns to the mass.
Later, Dino tells me that one of the lights on one of the chandeliers popped, followed by a gasp from the women when it occurred as if they were all lifted up in unison to meet the little bulb.
Back at home, we sit at the kitchen table and begin to work the puzzle that is the configuration of the tiles for the master bathroom. I am mindful that the client wants some complication in the design, and likes tiles set on the diagonal, so begin to map out the design for the floor.
The bathroom tiles will not be set for a week or more, so in the meantime we will draw elevations for each of the walls and each floor. We both look forward to supervising the laying of the tiles, and wonder....what have we missed?
May 4
Rain, rain, rain all night, rain all morning. It's useless to be upset about it, but when will it end? The rain is a strong rain this morning, and we hear a solitary bird near the window, who seems to like it. Wonder if he smells like a wet dog?
We drive to Orvieto in the rain to help Candace hang a light, stopping at a café for cappuccino with a new friend. But I'm losing my short-term memory so rapidly that this journal takes on added significance.
What did we do this afternoon? Some days I just don't remember. Not to worry, I'm told, until I completely zone out the way our first Brinkley did, staring at light fixtures for hours.
At Candace's, Dino begins a small light project, one that he'll finish next week. With Franco left already for SF to sell his building, she's alone for a week or so. So she'll probably join us in Mugnano for part of this festa weekend.
We drive on to Tenaglie, and have some concerns about the hydraulico (plumber), for he works fast and doesn't seem to pay attention to his drawings. In one instance, he began to spray paint a huge number 11 on the south stone wall, near where a radiator will be located. We catch him after he paints his first "1", and then he shows us that the spray paint can be easily rubbed off. We think we'll have to watch him.
All else seems to be moving fine, with two stair landings set and the baseboard for the cement underlayment of the stairs almost ready to be poured. This is very exciting. "But how can they climb the stairs when it's drying?" I ask Dino. They'll have to climb the outside scaffolding and enter through the windows". Fine.
Speaking of windows, the shutters have arrived and on Monday Dino will check them out to approve them before they are accepted. They're being housed at the house the muratores are renting in Guardea until it's time to install them. Things seem to be moving swiftly along, with three weeks to go until their penalty phase begins.
But we have already asked them to do more things, so we're sure the date will be a bit flexible. That's fine, as long as our clients can move into a house that is finished, at least on the top two living floors.
The pavement for the Piano Prima needs to be laid soon, so we drive to the supplier after a short plate of pasta at a nearby favorite restaurant. We think most of the things we have ordered from Orsolini are at their warehouse, so we'll find out in a day or so if the things we'll need next will be ready to be trucked over. It all sounds so pragmatic and simple.
We drive home under a partially clear sky, hoping that on tomorrow and Sunday we'll have weather clear enough for our activities. I'd really like to have our mostra in the ex-scuola whether it rains or not, instead of in the Orsini courtyard, but we won't know until tomorrow. For now, Dino has packed up all the ceramics we will show, and tomorrow will move them as well as the paintings up to the borgo. Can it be that this festa is finally here?
May 5
Today is the first day of our festa, and in less than forty-eight hours our work will be OVER! At eight o'clock the gun blasts sound off to notify the village that we're ready to celebrate. Wish the skies were in agreement.
I'm hoping our mostra will be moved to the ex-scuola. With showers expected both this morning and afternoon I'm worried about the paintings being damaged. Dino is confident that we'll have our mostra in the school building.
We drive off in the early morning rain for capuccinos at Fedora's bar, then on to Viterbo Sud to look at handmade Sicilian tiles. We find some that will be perfect for the main kitchen, and while the owner and I chat, Dino calculates what we'll need and we place an order.
Now the owner tells us that the tiles will be ready for delivery in approximately 15 to 20 days. That makes me laugh... silently. We won't be surprised if it takes more than 45 days, if at all. Wonder why I don't believe him? We've also pushed him to deliver the tiles at the same time as the clawfoot tub.
That is a good idea. Since the tub is already in his magazzino and he wants to be paid, he'll do all he can to rush the tile order, so that he won't have to make two separate deliveries to Tenaglie. Let's hope he doesn't have the last laugh.
While I write this it's after 2:00 P M, and thunder crashes overhead. Dino has walked up to the borgo to see what is going on with the mostra. Why would anyone want to walk around a wet borgo to view...anything?
We've decided to put our artwork in the ex-scuola, and when we drive up there we are completely alone. We set up on a long wall, and it takes more than an hour for Giuseppa's daughter and grand daughter to arrive to set up her lovely crewelwork and embroideries.
Livio arrives and decides to show his baskets alongside us, so there are now three local artisans in the mostra. Rain pours down and the porchetta truck drives up right outside the building, so at least that will bring traffic.
During the next few hours there are plenty of people, and as Dino comments, it's a good thing for me to have a mostra, even for the experience. The idea warms on me, and by the time the D J arrives to set up outside on the landing, I'm actually enjoying myself.
With free porchetta sandwiches for everyone, there are plenty of people, including Lore and Alberto, who we have not seen for a long time.
As the band sets up, Mauro and Dino agree that there will be no dancing inside; it will be outside. The rain has stopped, and the music maestro does a very good job getting people interested in the music.
There are about a dozen children running around and dancing, but it is Andrea Perini who takes our breath away. He is a Charlie Chaplinesque figure, moving around with smooth strides and original footwork, happy to be dancing by himself, but comfortable with his friends. He is a boy to watch.
People continue to arrive, and there are many comments about the mostra. Giuseppa's daughter and we decide to put our things away until tomorrow afternoon. Livio keeps his beautifully crafted baskets on his table, not worried about them.
The evening builds to a crescendo with a group gathered outside around the stage that take turns at the microphone, performing karaoke-type singing. For two hours they continue to sing, and Dino lets me steal away around midnight to go back home to be with little Sofi. With fireworks in nearby Chia going off, she will surely be frantic.
Back at home Sofi greets me with kisses, then is ready to eat her dinner and go upstairs with me to wait for Dino to come home. The moon is big and yellow and almost full, and as I get into bed I realize how very tired I am and how much I am looking forward to this festarolo year coming to a close tomorrow.
May 6
It's hard to believe it's here. Yes, the real Festa of San Liberato for 2007. Guns crack through the silence of the early foggy hours, and with Sofi shaking it's time to get up.
We think the overcast weather might mean there will be no band, but I can hear its music begin to play just above our house on Via Antica, just when we are sure it will not.
The silly music breaks through the fog and sun begins to appear. With the parade of the band over, we walk up to the caduti monument for the first ceremony of the war dead, and then it's time for the mass.
We are sure the mass will be held inside, but just as Don Luca arrives he tells his confraternity fellows that there is not room enough for all the people for mass. He picks up the end of one of the wooden benches and looks to the others for them to follow his lead outside.
What to do? In less than five minutes, the real bust of a very black San Liberato and the entire contents of the main part of the church have been moved outside.
We're ready to begin and the sun is with us!
With more than sixteen members of the confraternity, including Dino holding up the San Liberato banner, mass takes place with Don Cirio and Don Luca and the coro from Bomarzo.
At the end of the mass I wonder if there is anyone to take the Accion Cattolica banner in the procession. I walk inside an almost empty church and see no banner around. Inside the sacristy I see Serena, who takes out the banner and I start to return outside.
"We'll share the banner," Serena tells me. "I'll take it one way and you can take it on the return." So it is that I walk a few steps from her in the midst of one line, and when she turns the banner over to me we change positions for the walk back.
It's a great thrill for me to carry the banner, but there is no thrill like the first time I held the pole of the banner in my hands that winter morning a few years ago, standing in the midst of the women in the procession, staring silently and seriously ahead.
The mostra is held again in the school, and I am more relaxed this time, speaking now and then about the work, but mostly just being there, witnessing it all. The entertainment arrives, and agrees that they can work in the midst of the mostra in the center of the two big rooms, if it rains.
This group is like a modest circus act, with a clown, a juggler, a face painter, two people on stilts, and the entertainment begins with music and cymbals and the clown blowing long colored balloons for the children, shaping them into flowers and dogs and swords with handles.
Children are mezmerized by the face painter, and at least ten children run around with colored designs on their cheeks and foreheads. Rain continues off and on, and the clown performs magic tricks, while bringing a few people into his act. As the weather clears they all move out into the streets of the village, meandering through every alleyway and through each street and passageway, playing tunes and dancing and singing.
The group is a big hit, and we're relieved that we could finish this part of the weekend on a high note. Now all that's done is to make the cena (dinner) for the Bomarzo coro tomorrow night.
After cleaning up the hall, we close up and Dino moves my pieces back home, except for two, which will be taken to Marco's tomorrow for my next mostra. Let's keep the momentum building!
I must admit I am very tired. So tired in fact that I go to bed early, and wake up with...another headache.
May 7
With the morning fog I'm haunted by another migraine looming overhead. I just know it's coming, and by the time we arrive at Marco's for an art workshop it's in full swing. Of course it must have to do with the pressure of this weekend's mostra and the slowing down afterward. So what can I learn from this?
This morning Dino drives to Tenaglie, then takes Pietro to the Comune to get his Italian identity card. Pietro must be feeling more and more like an Italian.
The house is shaping up nicely, with sandblasting due to begin today. After the mess created, they'll be ready to install most of the windows.
We bring the painting of San Vincenzo and also the framed pastel of the Three Capes, for the mostra in Viterbo to Marco. We will meet Marco at the mostra site on Friday to help him hang the show. I'll let you know more when I do.
Sofi and I go up to bed at 6PM, and Dino walks up to the ex-scuola to help put on the dinner for the Bomarzo Coro without me. This is the last activity of the festarolo, and I am sorry to miss it. My headache rages and I am unable to attend.
But when Dino comes home he returns with tales of gaiety, spontaneous singing by the coro and then a walk up into the village to serenade the residents. I'm especially sorry to miss their singing of Il Pensiero, the haunting melody from Nabucco. What fun!
May 8
We're greeted by a little fog but lots of sun, so we get up and feed the hydrangeas and tiny tomato plants. Let's forget about the headache. After fourteen hours of rest, I'm tired of it all and want to have fun.
We work on the Tenaglie project, mapping out tile designs for the bathrooms and kitchen. While I continue, Dino calls ENEL to order gas for the client, then drives to Vitorchiano to contest a speeding ticket, one that he proves he paid three years ago.
Vitochiano is like a lot of small towns in Italy, making money on the follies of others by setting up speed traps and cameras for unsuspecting drivers.
Now, in addition to tickets received months later in the mail, is a form that the offender can fill out if he wants to prove that he was not the person driving when the offense took place. For some time, the giving of points toward speeding tickets was suspended, but now there is a way around it.
After pranzo we drive to Tenaglie, to talk with a client who has a little house to sell, and to meet Franco at the house to measure for window sills. The project is moving along rapidly now, and the stairs should be poured tomorrow.
We spend some time downstairs, amazed at the size of the main beam holding up the house. It is really gigantic, and with the floor dug up and lowered, the size of the main room on the ground floor, previously known as the cantina, will look much larger.
The back wall is really covered in a kind of slimy substance, and the muratore just wants to paint it. I want to expose the stone beneath it, instead. There's no use covering up a mess when for about the same cost we can have one of those beautiful exposed Umbrian stone walls.
We stop on the way home for a gelato in Alviano scalo, then come home to relax.
May 9
It's a beautiful day, and Sofi and I enjoy the weather at home, while Dino and Pandadina (the little car's new name) go out for a whirlwind of activity: revisiting a house listed for sale and taking new pictures in the sun, buying paint and delivering it to Ovidio in Amelia so that he can paint our shutters, helping Candace put up lights in Orvieto, checking out the house in Tenaglie.
"I'm enjoying this car!" Dino remarked yesterday when we were driving out of the village in the Panda. The car has been a great investment, and we'll have it forever. It is really a solid little vehicle, and even Sofi likes it, hopping from the front to the back seat during our jaunts.
So a flu creeps up and before noon I've now come down with it. After pranzo I return to bed for most of the afternoon, while Dino drives off to Amelia and Tenaglie and returns pronouncing the new stairs in excellent shape.
Now I know nothing about forming a cement staircase, but Dino tells me that most muratores make them completely of cement, and they are quite heavy. Tani instead uses those hollow bricks for the form, so the final look is the same, but the structure is much lighter, creating less stress on the frame of the building. Good job.
I'm taking a syrup called Lintos for the flu, and Dino suggests that we both also take Vitamin C. Let's hope this flu is a short-lived one. Sofi stays by my side just the same, and this afternoon is even treated to a snooze on the bed. Tonight she's back in her little wicker bed, and we're all in bed hoping for a quick recovery.
May 10
I spend most of the day in bed again, with Sofi by my side. The flu refuses to go away. Dino races around and spends time at the house, this time watching Luciano on his tractor mowing the field around the olive trees.
May 11
I'm determined to get up and am feeling better, so we drive on to Tenaglie, where I'm simply amazed by the progress. The ground floor of the house looks as though it has been taken over by Pigpen in the Peanuts comic strips...
The door to the room facing the street as one walks down the path to the house is open and clouds of dust waft up and forward, indicating that sand blasting has commenced on the ground floor. A terrible droning noise from the machine stops and we think we'll be able to see inside.
At a break in the action, Arshi appears wearing a greyish paper suit covering his body and his head, as well as a mask. He invites us to see the extraordinary result of the blasting of the beams and ceiling. The largest beam is so enormous that I am sure it can hold up the house all by itself. Several inches of fine sand temporarily cover the floor.
We are not sure of the composition of the beam, but it appears to be a chestnut or other hard wood, and the color after sandblasting is fairly light. Dino thinks the beams are all castagno (chestnut).
I am itching to move forward on the kitchen design, but nothing can be done until they dig down into the bowels of the house to lower the floor. When finished, the floor will be at least 30cm lower than it is now and there will be plenty of ceiling height.
Upstairs, with the sandblasting of the Piano Segundo ceiling finished, the beams and old tiles are really beautiful, the height of the ceiling and open window spaces bringing the blue skies in and the glorious views a part of the feeling of being at one with the earth and sky.
Uri is working on the fascia of the fireplace, and it will angle back and be covered by intonico. Right now the wooden bracing is anchoring it while the intonico dries, and the whole fireplace is coming together just as we had hoped.
We hear a voice from the path and it is Paolo, one of the brothers who formerly owned the house and now a good friend. We take him through as though it's his first time here, and can tell the visit is one of sadness mixed with many happy memories. We introduce him to the workers and tell them that Paolo was even born here. The young men clearly appreciate being in on the story of the house.
When we ask Paolo about the fire that took place, evidenced by dark staining on wood in the ceiling and at the back of the house, he can remember none of that, but tells us that under the stairs supplies were hid for the Marshallo during WWII.
It is now that we learn that this family was a family of partisans; with images of the danger they faced hiding supplies and perhaps a person or two during the war race across my subconscious and I see the house in a new light. When the construction has been finished and the new owners here in June, we'll be sure there'll be a visit with all of them and more stories to enter into the memory book.
May 12
Today is the inauguration of my second mostra, this one in Viterbo, and this particular mostra will continue for at least ten days. Yesterday, Dino drove to Viterbo to help Marco "hang" the show, and Marco has picked "Three Capes" to be hung on the wall at the end of the red carpet, the best place in the house. I am honored.
After a visit to Tenaglie and then to Candace's in Orvieto to put up a light for her, we return home to do a little gardening and then get ready for the show.
Pietro arrives and he and Dino escort me to Viterbo, where we park and walk to the deconsecrated church where the mostra will be held. It's after 6PM, and already the location is full of people.
The location is well lit, and Marco walks out to greet me, telling me I look as though I've arrived from Hollywood. I'm wearing sunglasses and a long white tuxedo shirt over black linen pants but of course I'm thrilled by the attention.
My name appears in the middle of a group of names, and it is difficult to imagine that my work is really here at all. What may be more difficult to imagine, is that my work holds up among all the other work, although I've only been painting in oil for eight months. Yes, I admit I am happy and honored to be here.
Tiziano Gasperoni arrives almost right away, followed some time later by his parents. San Vincenzo receives a great deal of attention by friends as well as strangers, as do the capes.
Candace arrives after Dino finds her lost somewhere nearby, and after the visit we drive to Mugnano where Stein hosts us for eggs and smoked Norwegian Salmon under candle light, Sofi at our feet and prosecco in our hands, celebrating another special day.
May 13
I can tell the fog will break, at least during mass, so we walk up to find the sun streaming through and a beautiful day ahead.
But when we reach the little church we are alone in the piazza, bathed in a warm morning light. In just a minute or two, Franca walks across the pavement toward us, telling us that she has opened the church this morning in Livio and Gigliola's absence, and that the church is a mess.
Rondine (swallows) have entered the church and begun to build a nest for the arrival of their babies. This is not good news, for their messy droppings are evident on the altar cloth, on the floor. One of them swoops down and then remains mostly near the sunlight approaching from all sides of the little cupola, where a nest is evidently being built.
What to do? Now if you have been reading the journal lately, you will remember that it is against the law to interrupt or kill rondine. As Don Cirio speaks his sermon many of us in the congregation watch the sole bird, swooping and then resting far above the priest's head. The priest ignores the activity, concentrating solely on his mission for the morning and his sermon, which we of course cannot understand.
After mass, we encounter Enzo Gasperoni, a former forest ranger, and ask him his solution. "A carabino (rifle) shot will do the trick," he tells us in Italian. But it does not make sense. In the way of the Church, it is against doctrine to end a life, and shooting inside the cupola will also probably break a window, allowing more birds to enter...this time from the top. It will also break the law... What to do?
The priest has nothing to say, other than earlier, when Lore and I asked him, he confirmed that this weekend is probably Don Luca's seventh anniversary as a priest. Lore tells us that on such occasions it is normal to clap for the priest at the end of the mass.
I've been thinking of Don Luca, because I've told Dino that it's important to know what things of importance are needed for the soon to be restored Duomo in Mugnano. I've agreed to ask Mauro what he has found out, but Mauro and Laura have probably joined Livio and Gigliola in Montefiascone, so the encounter will take a little longer before we decide what to do with the Festaroli money we've collected.
Back at home, I repot a few tomato plants, ones that are ready for the ground, and add new soil. I'm hoping Mario will come this week and work with Dino to prepare the soil, including taking out the fava plants and building the framework for the tomatoes.
Inside the serra the tiny pomodori plants are really puny. I will mix up some special solution purchased last November and see if it will kick-start them. Otherwise, we'll have a very small crop, and much of it will not be ready for eating until late August or early September.
But I'm not going to worry about any of it. My thoughts instead turn to the wisteria we are to plant, and this week I'll convince Dino to take me to Chiusi to see if we can find blue wisteria after all.
As Dino watches a Formula 1 race, his favorite Spring and Summer activity, I sit upstairs and write, feeling very tired and that another headache can't be far off. Sigh.
After a short nap, Duccio and Giovanna come to take us for a drive, a kind-of dress rehearsal for tomorrow. Duccio hates crowds, so he tells us that tomorrow morning he'll be home "making the beds", while the rest of us scamper off to witness the Barabbata right outside Marta.
Well, the locals don't call it that, they call it the Passeggiata, which also means "the walk", or the stroll, which also signifies the daily activity that takes place at around 5PM in every locale in Italy, where people walk and gossip and talk about each other.
It is a clear and warm day, and Duccio drives us all while Dino plays navigator for a change. The church, which is the location of the end of the procession, is decorated with fresh laurel and big apples and vegetables. It's quite a remarkable site, as is the view from this high position on the hill above the town.
After a look inside, we drive to Gradoli, where we visit an exposition. I'm still looking for the right "bee" design for Kate's iron bee that Lorenzo will fashion. Yes, it is here. The bee is the symbol of the Barberini family, just as the fleur de lis is the symbol of the Farnese.
Within the display are a few mockups of designs for painted plates that were never completed. Evidently the Farnese and Barberini families were to have a grand banquet together and special commemorative plates were to be made and painted just for the event.
But the families quarrelled, and the event never took place. Never to get along again, the designs were never implemented. But I do find examples of the bee, and Dino takes a photo. It's not the perfect rendition of a bee after all, but I do now have a lead...Tonight I'll do an internet search for the Barberini bee...
With a stop at the "Re di Gelato" king of gelato at Capodimonte and a stroll among the vendors selling trinkets at the side of Lake Bolsena, we drive home and say a c'e vediamo to our friends, (until tomorrow).
May 14
We're up early, and the sun is bright. After checking on Pietro and his guest and picking up Giovanna in Bomarzo, we drive on to a country road outside Marta, near the shore of Lake Bolsena, and look for the perfect parking space. Now we'll wait.... Here's the story....
Each May 14th, regardless of the day of the week, there is a celebration of the fertility of the earth here. Some call it a peculiarity between the sacred and the profane, but as Giovanna tells it with a shake of her head, "No matter!"
Pietro and his friend drive right behind us to reach the outskirts of the town of Marta, with a grand view of Lake Bolsena. With Giovanna's expert counsel we position ourselves near the front of the church, at a place where we can see the entire procession that winds its way up a steep hill to the church. Well, it runs in a straight line but it sounds more poetic to "wind", so work with me here. Thanks.
After waiting more than an hour in a combination of sun and shade, throngs of people begin to arrive and the procession begins with men on horseback coming up the road and taking off their hats right as they reach us. Looking past us toward the front of the church, they hold their hats in their upswept hands, John Wayne style and yell, "Viva Maria!"
Everyone around us claps and then they're followed by huge oxen that don't want to move, especially up a steep hill on a hot day. They bring the first float, and as the animals groan Sofi starts to shake in Dino's arms and it only gets worse for the poor dog. She spends most of the next hour in the shade by my feet or walking with Dino around the church as people arrive and arrive and arrive...
There must be one hundred floats, and it takes until almost noon for them to all find themselves in the square in front of, or behind the church. In Italian fashion, the event just ends, with more people streaming up the hill to jam theirselves into the church.
We know better and when there is a small clearing we walk down the hill to our air-conditioned cars and drive on to Purgatorio, the restaurant on the shore of Lake Bolsena where we wait for Duccio to make his entrance and let Sofi meander around.
What follows is one of the best pranzos we've had in recent memory, with corregone (the special lake fish of Bolsena) served both as an appetiser pickled in aceto (vinegar) for Dino and roasted with wild fennel for the rest of us.
Of course there are many Rome stories, for everyone at the table loves Rome, and Pietro and Duccio have many stories to tell about the grand city that we've only heard a couple of times but laugh at them again and again.
We leave our guests and it is only 2:30, so I ask Dino if we can drive to Chiusi to see if we can find the blue wisteria from Margheriti Brothers. "Come no?" (why not?). About an hour later, after the most beautiful drive through parts of Lazio and Umbria and also Southern Tuscany we reach the huge vivai. There are hundreds of specimens there, as well as a huge poster showing various kinds of wisteria, but there is no blue to be had. We open two books and can find no real blue in either of those books, either. What to do?
I switch my plan after seeing a specimen called Pink Ice. It is pale pink with touches of white and very pale yellow centers. Dino agrees, we find four hearty plants, and stuff them into the Alfa, driving down the a-1 toward home.
After a stop at the Tenaglie house to check on the progress and answer some questions, we drive home and are followed closely by Lorenzo the fabro, who measures for the wisteria pergola he will make in conjunction with Dino (Roy) and also Stefano the muratore.
We're going to find a way to make our pergola without it costing a ton of money. But since the wisteria is here and we need to plant it in the ground in the next weeks, we'll meet with Stefano in the next days to put a plan together.
Did I tell you that the wisteria is not in flower? Well, when we went to Margheriti Brothers a few weeks ago they were not in flower and we were told to come back during the middle of May. So here we are and nothing is in flower. We'll have to take their word for it, and won't know if it will flower, or when it will flower, for perhaps a few years. In the meantime, we'll watch the plants grow and get the structure started.
Yes, it is all an adventure. What's the worst that can happen? I suppose we will see we have three or four colors of wisteria, none of which I like. I'll worry about that...then.
May 15
We're up early. I mean early. By 6AM Dino is in the shower and we're dressed and ready for Mario for the first time...ever.
Mario arrives at 7AM, and he and Dino will pull up all the fave plants, turn over the soil and put up the structure for the pomodori plants, then plant the few plants that are ready for the ground and hopefully plant basil plants in between each one.
I don't know where I read about it, but last year we planted basil and tomato plants this way, and the tomatoes tasted wonderfully fragrant. So we'll do it again this year.
But we have no basil plants, nor do we have sedano (celery) to plant, or any lettuce or cucumbers or anything else, except for two zucchini and some herbs. While the guys are working on the tomato orto, I'll drive off to Bruno's in Attigliano to see what I can dig up there (sorry for the pun) for them to plant, too.
I can't find any basil or any lettuce or anything else at Bruno's, so drive to Giove and at least pick up 17 basil plants. Later this week we'll pick up whatever else we need.
While I'm gone, Mario reworks all the tomato orto, digging up the fave plants irrigating with plastic pipes, and they plant ten pomodori plants. When I return, they plant all the basil.
Mario takes a look at the puny pomodori plants in the serra and tells me it's been too hot in the serra, so move them outside where they can get air. Then water them twice a day. Half of them are still alive. So we won't have a big crop this year.
It doesn't' really matter. There will be plenty of tomatoes, and we have about two years' worth of backlog in processed tomatoes from previous years. Now I know what to do. It is a shame, particularly since I planted the seeds on February 1st.
Both the plum and peach trees have lots of fruit, so Mario tells us to pinch off every other one so that we can have a better and sweeter yield. All right. Why is it that year after year we still feel like neophytes in the garden?
There are several volunteer zucca (squash) plants in the raised bed, so when Mario reworks the orto bed near the peach tree he plants six zucca, telling Dino to start to pinch them out once they take hold. We will have tons of zucca this year. Perhaps we'll even have a few zucchini.
Mario will return in a week or so to put in a gravel path to San Rocco on the far property. Until this winter the apple tree will stay put. Then it will be moved to the side, so that there will be a clear path of gravel. The path will be edged in tufa bricks, and in spring will be flanked by artichoke plants. Come no?
There's lots more to do, but all Sofi and I get done are the feeding of most of the roses and clipping back of dead blossoms and leaves. We really need a simpler garden, and I think we'll be getting rid of some of the roses this winter. The older we get, the easier the garden must be to take care of.
After an early pranzo, Dino takes me to Marco's for a short session. It is a very good one, and before I'm through for the day, Marco tells me that he wants me to do a figure with folds of fabric for my next project. He picks one out of a book and wants me to draw it first, then paint it in oils.
I love this idea, for it is my goal to be extremely accomplished at painting folds of fabric and people wearing drapes of elaborate material. Marco is an ideal instructor, not forcing his interests on his students, but listening intently to what they want to learn and really helping them to learn in a very practical way. Bravo, Marco.
After the workshop, it's our turn to babysit at the mostra in Viterbo, so Dino and Sofi and I spend three hours in Viterbo, then treat ourselves to pizza in San Pellegrino. We're all tired, so drag ourselves home.
While I was at the workshop, Dino drove to Tenaglie and met the new gardener, then worked out some kinks in the orchestration of the work. He wants to meet with the electrical contractor, who never seems to be around when Dino needs him. But all is still on schedule...
May 16
It's Sofi's birthday! Or was it yesterday? The little dog continues to be the most incredible companion. As the day moves swiftly by, she spends most of it waiting for us, and each time we come back to her it is as if we have been gone for days, the joy is so intense.
The day is filled with trips to the house, to Terni to look at towel bars and possibly order made-to-order screens for our client, to Amelia to revise our mirror frame order for the Piano Terra bathroom, and then ends with a trip back to the house.
As we drive over the Tenaglie hill we can see a hole that could have been made by a guided missle. The demilune opening for the window above the roof of the next house is now a reality.
And inside the size of the hole is evident, with big stones covering the stairs and floor, and Tani full of dust.
We've missed the electrical contractor again, but Dino has spoken with Tani regarding a few "not to forget" details. Inside the tiny Piano Prima bathroom it's difficult to comprehend that this will be a functioning space. There are many electrical details, just the same.
We knew we had little room to work with, so Arshi makes a funny sweeping jesture to confirm that the room will be used in case of "urgency". Well, this added room is a luxury, one that we think will be just large enough for occasional use. Do you remember the tiles we purchased for the guest bedroom floor? They were to replace ugly tiles that were damaged when channels were dug into the floor for electrical cables. So today Arshi lays the tiles.
But before he begins, I remember that the client likes tiles laid in a complex fashion, at least on the diagonal, which means a lot of cutting. So we agree on the design. But that means they may need more tiles.
We continue on our day and return to the house before returning to the discount yard to see if we can find more of the same design. Arshi is just about finished, and will need every last tile we have. But he may have enough to finish.
Dino tells him, "I have one tile in my car!" and we agree that he may need to leave it. We'll see tomorrow how close our estimating has come. And I'm reminded of my father, who did a little estimating as a hobby, estimating the stock and value of shoe stores going out of business, his estimates almost always right "on the money".
May 17
So there's an email from Pat Flaharty, and sad news that Sue Mulcahy passed away suddenly this past week. I barely knew her, but she was the wife of one of Dino's best pals growing up. We send our condolences to the whole family.
Losing a friend long distance is, well, is it more difficult? Without other friends to get together with in person to share stories and memories with, it's different. Despite countless reminders to Francesco, we are still not sure if the cemetery plot we've asked for is available for us in our village cemetery.
This is a reminder try to get it done before Terence arrives next month. No one wants to talk about it, but we really want to get the business done, hopefully far in advance of any need.
While I sit here writing this I'm jolted into reality by the loud sounds of chirping outside our bedroom window. There is a tension in the air, and it feels as though birds are jealously guarding their turfs.
A thick fog gives way to sun, and I bless the day, bless the small moments of life, and confirm to myself that it is these little moments that are so precious. I feel thankful to have spent twenty-six years so far with a man I love deeply. That's not so long compared to Will and Sue, but a very long and rich time to me.
We're bouncing around in Pandina today, with Sofi bounding into the back seat when she's to sit and wait for us. It's a cool day, so not uncomfortable for her.
At the house, there are three tiles left from the paving work on the guest bedroom floor! Arshi has done an excellent job, and I look forward to working with him on the rest of the paving work. Speaking of paving, where are those tiles we've ordered?
Today our salesman from Orsolini is "not in", so tomorrow we'll hound him to get more answers. The last we knew, he wanted to deliver the tiles we need a week from tomorrow. We're ready for them, so we want them...subito!
May 18
This morning, Dino spends time at the Tenaglie house, for the folks from ENEL are to arrive to either move the gas line or to look the work over. He'll take the opportunity to do some other work there, and Sofi and I will stay at home.
I'm hoping for two things this morning : 1)good weather to work in the garden, especially with all the roses, and 2)time to paint Pietro's stemma and work on painting the plates for our grand daughters, who'll arrive in less than a month.
Yesterday on the road I ran into Paolo, the grand father of the boy twins. I asked him how they were and he responded that they are little terrorists, rolling his eyes. I told him about our little angels, and that there will be a "gemelli party" in the square on the 17th in the afternoon. He confirms that he'll invite them to come. I don't know if I'm happy or not about this, but I do like these two very spirited boys.
The weather cooperates, and I'm able to spend a couple of hours in the garden as well as paint all three plates. This afternoon Dino will take them to Elena to be baked.
Duccio calls and will stop by on the way to the train station to pick up Giovanna. He wants the Valori stemma for his daughter and that pleases me. Bit by bit, I'm honing down the remaining ceramics, and soon we'll have a place to store them.
After pranzo, we turn the bottom piece of the newly built and delivered vetrina on its side and Dino stains the inside in a castagno (chestnut) color. It looks quite good, and we think we'll be able to use it within the next ten days or so. The finish work that I am to do can be done after the piece is in place. I'll be doing a three-step antiquing job on the outside, and will probably leave that for a summer project, when it's too hot to work outside.
Tonight Sofi will stay at home and we'll drive to Narni to see the Mille Miglia, the 1,000 km auto race of antique sport cars. Dino loves this event, but this year the "race" will not drive through San Gemini.
Dino thinks that Narni is a better place to view it, anyway, because of the curves and also because the cars will be driving uphill (a kind of revving thing, I suppose) as they whiz past.
I'm particularly reminded of a couple in a convertible car last year, dressed in leather driving gear, including goggles, all quite fantastic as the car swerved around the curve arriving at San Gemini's main piazza. As they waved I imagined how much fun it must be to participate. But Dino is the one who really, I mean REALLY, wants to participate some year. I can see it in his eyes.
We plan to meet Dan and Wendy Hallinan and then have cena at a very good restaurant in town, thinking we'll communicate by cell phone. Parking near the restaurant, we walk across Corso Garibaldi and end up at a bar with a great view of the scene. There is a table, so we take it, and not long later Dan and Wendy arrive.
The first cars zoom by, and after a few minutes we think we can find a better viewpoint. So we walk up the hill a little and around a curve, where we can watch the cars come almost straight toward us before making a turn.
I'm into the scene now, waving at each car as it drives by. Most people wave back, and it is obvious that they are enjoyng the adventure. Only a few scoul as they pass. Many wear leather goggles and caps, for it is cool and most of the cars are convertibles, strangely enough.
My favorite is a duo of two women in an ancient cream-colored BMW. Of course, any BMW is all right with me. I still wax nostalgic whenever thinking of those eight years in Mill Valley, driving two BMW's up and down Mount Tam, the throaty sound feeling as if it's rising somewhere from deep within me.
After about one hundred of them pass (0ut of about 350), we've seen enough, and walk to the restaurant, where we sit in a fabulous grotto, just set for four. Since Dan and especially Wendy are budding archeologists, this is a special spot.
May 19
Dino wants to stop at the house, and we're a little disappointed by the tile work at the bottom of the demilune window. Dino will speak with Tani about it. He's sure Tani is not happy and will fix it next week.
Inside, the travertine for the upstairs window sills is almost all at the site, and by Monday afternoon it will probably all be in place, ready for windows.
The tiles for the Prima Piano floor and the Piano Due bathroom are expected to arrive on Wednesday, and I've asked Dino if he minds if I take on the master bathroom tile project myself, laying out the design and working with Arshi as he does the actual installation.
He actually seems relieved. I'm jazzed by the idea, taking inspiration by the guest bedroom tiles, which look better than they should! There're that good looking!
We drive to Viterbo, stopping at our favorite bread bakery in Civitella D-Agliano for WWF bread, and buy more paint for the vetrina and the first of our orto plants...sedano (celery) and six plugs of a nondescript lettuce. The lettuce we like the best (Sant' Anna) is nowhere around. So we'll look for it soon.
I think we'll also start a little orto garden in a big pot for Kate and Merritt, so that they'll have some things to eat right from the garden when they arrive in less than a month. Dino promises to plant the first orto produce later today.
We've installed a new screen for the front door, and this consists of six panels, that we think will work better than the screen we used last year. It's better than nothing, and we want Sofi to be able to hop in and out easily. So it's worth a try.
I'm thinking about the new shutters, which may be installed this next week, and with the new wisteria vine, perhaps we can get away with not painting the house after all. The inside front of the dining room needs work, however, and we'll have to visit the folks at Techno-Asphalta in Vetralla, for moisture has done a job on the inside walls.
We think we've cured the moisture problems in the house, but must repair the damage done for decades before we came upon the scene. First we'll speak with Stefano again, hopefully at the beginning of the week.
Last night Dan and Wendy told us about a festa in a town in Northern Umbria for fabros (ironworkers) and we think we can find the chandeliers for the house there. But after a call to the town today, we're told the sindaco (mayor) decided not to have the festa after all this year. And it appears there is only one fabro in town, so we'll have to continue to look. I'm thinking our best bet is Pienza, the town with the most incredible pecorino cheese....Time for a drive?
I have a ceremonial plate to smalto and a few smaller items, then will throw out the rest of the smalto and perhaps retire that hobby for good. At least I'll retire it for the near future. There's too much going on to spend much more time on it in the near future.
Pietro returns from Rome and arrives with a birthday present for Sofi, a windup mouse that she loves but can't seem to figure out. She chases it around the kitchen but won't get too near it, barking out and jumping with joy. Pietro is very dear to have thought of his little friend.
Dino decides to begin painting the vetrina, as it sits on two sets of sawhorses in the dining room. He finishes two coats of chestnut colored stain on the inside of the bottom piece, and finishes most of the first coat for the inside of the top piece. Tomorrow he'll finish the staining, topping it with a clear coat of varnish. And then the more elaborate painting will begin on the outside...
Since there are three elaborately painted panels on the doors of the bottom piece, I will begin working the design on paper and then use carbon paper to transfer the design on top of the finished painted piece.
But first there are to be several layers of paint, a cream color, a darkish brown color that is quickly wiped off, followed by another watered down coat of the beige. Probably a bit of sanding happens then, and only then do I work on the details of the molding and the intricate design of the front door panels.
Once everything has been painted, we will use tiny nails or brads to affix gold cord, which will be used to hold in the glass. Now what we don't know is if we will install handles or knobs. I would like to use magnetic catches, instead. So we will try those before using knobs or handles. If we use handles, the ones we have purchased for Merrit and Kate's kitchen might work well. We really like the design.
I love the idea of having a vetrina, and while watching Dino paint on the stain, could imagine my bigger trays sitting right inside the bottom piece. It's a luxury in this little house to have a place to store things we love but don't want displayed all the time.
What I love most is the idea that we'll finally have a real dining room. Unless you've never had a dining room, you won't appreciate its appeal. But because we love to entertain and cannot always entertain outside, this is an important room for us. We think it's more important than having a living room, for most of our time is spent in the kitchen. And in a little house, one must pick their options.
I'm also thinking of the wisteria pergola o
We stop at Shelly's to give her some guidance on a project she wants to talk with us about, but we're all about helping people to settle into Italia, so give her a few names of other people who can perform the work she needs.