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OUR ITALIAN EXPERIENCE - Our Italy Journal
Welcome to my daily journal, a look over our shoulders as we navigate our lives in Italy. The journal reads from the beginning to end of each month.
We post to the journal several times a month, so if you'd like to be notified each time we post, send us an email: evanne@lavventuraitalia.com
For previous entries, click on JOURNAL ARCHIVES to find the month you're looking for.
Evanne is also a contributor to ItalianNotebook.com. From time to time she writes about something of cultural interest about life in Italy. Take a look and you can subscribe to get a daily (5 days a week) snippit of life in Italy. Click here: www.italiannotebook.com
For those of you who have known us for a long time as Roy or Dad and Evanne, the names Nonno, Dino, Eva and Nonna may seem a little strange at first. We are grandparents of Marissa and Nicole of California, hence the Nonno and Nonna nicknames. Dino and Eva are our Italian nicknames, or sopranomes. If you've been reading the journal, you'll know about those changes, too. In addition to LINKS in the column on the left, you will now find Dino's, soon to be world famous, collection of photos of Fiat Cinque Cento cars. Everyone needs a hobby and it probably keeps him out of trouble. For previous entries, click on JOURNAL ARCHIVES to find the month you're looking for.
Why not own a specially commissioned and signed "Moona Lisa" oil painting, depicted in the location of your choice? Click here for details: http://www.lavventuraitalia.com/art/moonalisa
FEBRUARY 2010
February 1 I paint rope and hands this morning, having Dino take photos of me holding a long brush handle for a new perspective. I realize I have made a mistake in drawing one hand, so slowly rework both hands. I love painting hands, for some reason. Right after pranzo, we take Sofi to the vet, and all signs are good. Dottoressa Paola gives Sofi a Rabies shot and clips her nails. Since they are black, we don't cut them ourselves...it's too difficult to tell where to cut. Sofi wags her tail and we're out of there quickly. It really works to visit the vet during the middle of the day when everyone else is having pranzo. On the way back, we stop at a muratore's location in Bomarzo to pick up a preventivo (quote) for a client of Dino's, but he is not there. So Dino takes us home and returns to pick it up. One reason Dino is so effective is that he methodically keeps after suppliers. This muratore probably is avoiding him because he does not want the work. Stay tuned for a very high quote. Tonight I have choir practice, and look forward to it, even though it will be very cold in the little church. We'll all huddle around the heater. Huddle we do, and we're introduced to a new hymn; a beautiful one. I look forward to singing it in church soon. Tomorrow is the Blessing of the Throat mass. The word for throat in Italian is "gola". I think that its aim is to pray for good health, during winter when sickness is more common.
February 2 It's cold here, but there is no snow. So there's no shadow for the groundhog to see, indicating that the rest of winter may not be too bad. Actually, on our terrace, it's warm and sunny. It's a good day to work in the garden, but I'm working on painting Salvatore's hands instead. After a trip to Viterbo to pick up regular prescriptions from our doctor's office, Dino meets with the Bomarzo muratore, who finally has a bid for him. The bid is so high that the man obviously did not want the work. Dino had to keep after him and after him; it's taken a long time to get even this bid. Earlier, Dino convinced me to slow down on the tree project. Our neighbors are a little slow getting back to us with information we need and do not have, but we're going to continue working on the project methodically ourselves. Perhaps it will take one more festa weekend in May and perhaps even Ferragosto, the iron (hottest) days of summer in August, until we have all the information we need. The delay makes the project more fun, less stressful. Joy! In the meantime, Dino tells me he can find paper one meter wide by three or four meters high. Three of those side by side will represent the size of the finished tree, but Dino thinks we might as well purchase the wood, or whatever we will ultimately use, as the background in advance. We'll meet with the Ecomuse folks about that. I see the size of the tree as three panels wide. Before I begin to sketch out the tree, I need to see the entire expanse, as well as determine with Ecomuseo how many names will be used. Piano, piano (slowly, slowly). After pranzo I return to painting, while Dino continues bringing up firewood from the parcheggio and placing it in the little building around the corner of the house built just for that! Late in the afternoon is the traditional mass for the blessing of the gola (throat). The legend of St. Blaise (San Biagio) tells us that he was born into a noble family and raised as a Christian. He became a bishop at the beginning of the 4th century. Later, a new persecution of Christians began. He received a message from God to go into the hills to escape persecution. Hunters discovered a cave surrounded by wild animals that were sick. Blaise walked among them unafraid, curing them of their illnesses. The hunters recognized Blaise as a Bishop, so they captured him to take him back for trial. On the way back, he talked a wolf into releasing a pig that belonged to a poor woman. When Blaise was sentenced to death by starvation, the woman sneaked into the prison with food and candles, in gratitude. Unfortunately, it did not save him. Saint Blase is the patron of physicians (along with Damian and Cosimo), sick cattle, wax- chandlers, woolcombers, and of wild animals because of his care for them and of those with throat maladies. As one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, Saint Blase was much venerated throughout Central Europe. Very little is known about his life. According to various stories, he was a physician before becoming a bishop. His cult spread throughout the entire Church during the Middle Ages, for he was reputed to have miraculously cured a little boy who nearly died from a fishbone caught in his throat. Since the eighth century, he has been invoked on behalf of the sick, especially those afflicted with illnesses of the throat. It's time to fill you in on Italian News that we think you may want to read: (ANSA) - Italy is determined to get a recent European ruling against crosses in Italian classrooms cancelled, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Tuesday. Speaking ahead of a meeting with French judge Jean-Paul Costa, who chairs the ECHR, Frattini said he hoped Italy's appeal would be declared admissible. "We are going to the court to defend a very deep sentiment of the Italian people, a fundamental principle which affects the identity of our country". "We are going to the court to defend a very deep sentiment of the Italian people, a fundamental principle which affects the identity of our country". Frattini said it was even more important to safeguard Italy's "Christian identity" after Italy and other Catholic countries failed to have a reference to Europe's Christian roots included in the European Union's Constitution. Italy and several other Catholic countries fought a long and hard battle for the insertion of such a reference but in the end the Lisbon Treaty, drafted in 2004, contained only a generic reference to ''religious'' influences as having shaped the continent's values. "We lost that battle, for the moment, but now we must defend that identity". Italy had garnered support from "many European countries" for its appeal, he said, without naming them. However, he said they had agreed to speak up against the ruling and cited an "important" declaration adopted by the Polish parliament. 'Live excavation' at Pompeii (ANSA) - Pompeii, February 1 - Visitors to the archaeological site of Pompeii will soon get the chance to observe the complex excavation process involved as it happens. Excavation and restoration work at the House of the Chaste Lovers, which resumed a few months ago following ten years of neglect, will open to the public from the start of February. Visitors will be allowed to enter sections of the building and watch archaeologists at work, gaining a deeper understanding of the effort involved in bringing 2,000-year-old remains to light. ''This is a project of immense importance to us,'' said Pompeii's emergency commissioner Marcello Fiori, recalling it was a priority on his works programme, approved by the culture ministry in November. ''These 'open-door' excavations will greatly enrich the opportunities provided by Pompeii. ''They will provide visitors with a different kind of experience, in which they have the chance to observe the fascinating work of archaeologists in action, as well as seeing recently unearthed items in situ''. The site will be protected from damage by glass screens. Interior panels will provide visitors with practical information, while technology will offer a virtual reconstruction of the premises as they probably looked prior to their destruction.
Italy launches new anti-mafia plan (by Denis Greenan). The cabinet met in Reggio Calabria, where the new agency is to be located, shrugging off recent threats from the Calabrian crime syndicate 'Ndrangheta. The plan, drafted by Interior Minister Roberto Maroni and Justice Minister Angelino Alfano, will collect and streamline all existing anti-mafia legislation. ''This new code can be used by all law enforcement groups to fight the mafia,'' Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi told a press conference. The plan will draw a national map of mafia assets, set up a new data base and stop organised crime infiltrating public tenders, he said. "Firms will have a black list of companies so they know who not to sub-contract work to," the premier said. Maroni said the plan would also target illegal waste disposal, one of the mafia's biggest earners, while Alfano said a state insurance net would be created for extortion victims. But the cornerstone of the plan, Berlusconi stressed, will be the agency to control the seizure of assets from 'Ndrangheta, as well as the Camorra in Naples and Cosa Nostra in Sicily. Unlike the other measures, which were put into bills to be presented to parliament, the agency was established by decree, effective immediately. It will be ready to start work "in two weeks", Maroni said, stressing the importance of asset confiscation as "a fundamental tool" in the anti-mafia battle. Asked about the possible danger of the mafia buying back assets at auction, Berlusconi replied: "We'll seize them again". Berlusconi also stressed the importance of keeping the number of illegal immigrants in Italy down because ''they swell the ranks of criminals''. This prompted a sharp reaction from the opposition Democratic Party (PD), with PD Senate whip Anna Finocchiaro, among others, accusing the premier of criminalising migrants. The premier also repeated his conviction that TV shows about the mafia were "hurting Italy's image" and "this bad habit should be stopped", prompting a Catholic TV viewers group, Aiart, to note that the premier's Mediaset group had produced and broadcast two of the highest-rating recent shows including one on jailed ex-Cosa Nostra chief Toto' 'the Beast' Riina. In other reactions, National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Pietro Grasso said he would discuss the merits of the plan when he had examined it, while the small opposition Communist Party accused the government of staging "a publicity stunt". After the cabinet meeting, the premier met with Reggio prosecutors and said they "did not seem at all worried" about the recent 'Ndrangheta threats. 'Ndrangheta, now reckoned to be Italy's strongest mafia, has sent three apparent warnings to the government ahead of the cabinet meeting. The fire bombing of the entrance to the main courthouse in Reggio on January 3 was followed a week ago by the discovery of a car containing rudimentary explosives a few hundred metres from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano's route to the airport after a visit to the city.
Then, on Monday, a bullet was sent to a Reggio prosecutor involved in key probes and trials against 'Ndrangheta.
Maroni said Thursday the new confiscation agency will be a "key in dismantling the economic power" of the mafia, which according to a survey Wednesday generates business equivalent to almost 10% of GDP, making it "Italy's biggest private enterprise".
Homes, farms and other assets confiscated from Italy's mafias have been turned to public use in recent years including a Riina villa which has become the Corleone tax HQ.
On Wednesday police made the third of three recent massive assets seizures, totalling some 1.4 billion euros ($2 billion), against businessmen linked to Cosa Nostra head Matteo Messina Denaro, who took over command of the Sicilian mafia in the wake of the 2006 arrest of boss of bosses Bernardo Provenzano.
Asset seizures have also played a key role in the state's fight against 'Ndrangheta, including a Dolce Vita landmark café in Rome, and the Camorra, including numerous construction and waste management firms.
Italy has caught many mafiosi on the most-wanted list in the last two years.
Those arrested have included most of Provenzano's would-be heirs and most of the remaining leaders of the Casalesi clan, exposed in Roberto Saviano's book Gomorrah, whose jailed chieftains recently saw their life sentences upheld.
Several 'Ndrangheta figures have also been caught including those responsible for the Duisburg massacre.
There is still more news about the Mafia:
Mafia rides recession to new gains
More loan sharking, greater brand counterfeiting, different kinds of protection rackets and expansion in its traditional construction mainstay helped organised crime generate 135 billion euros in turnover, or almost 10% of GDP, a business report said Tuesday.
'Mafia Incorporated' - formed by the Camorra in Naples, Cosa Nostra in Sicily and 'Ndrangheta in Calabria - made some 70 billion in profits, the Confesercenti retail association said.
Some 200,000 businesses were hit by loan sharks last year but the cases topped 600,000 because many merchants or entrepreneurs were taking loans from "as many as three sharks at a time," the report said.
There was a rise in one-day loans with an interest rate of 10% in 24 hours, Confesercenti said.
Income from protection rackets stayed more or less the same but only because more businesses were being taken over by the Mob and the recession "cut the number of firms the mafia could prey on".
Still, some 150,000 small businesses had to fork out, with crime syndicates "diversifying from their traditional pizzo" (cash pay-out) to making firms buy calendars, pens and office equipment as well as hire workers and pay for services from mafia-connected companies.
Income from the construction sector "in all its forms" was steady as the mafia's No.1 earner, the report said.
Shopping malls, supermakets and other big retail outlets were being "snapped up" to launder money while the farm sector, hit harder by the recession than most, was under "especially aggressive" mafia attack, Confesercenti said.
The age-old trade of rustling was "holding steady", the report said, with 100,000 animals going missing each year: mainly cattle and pigs but also sheep, lambs and horses.
From the ancient to the modern, mobsters were "ever more involved" in computer crime including cloning of credit cards and phishing, while the market in counterfeit goods was also "strong" as mafia-linked firms turned out more fake designer goods and pirated more software, CDs and DVDs.
Confesercenti that did not consider non-business activities like drug and arms trafficking, prostitution and crimes against the environment such as illegal waste management.
Last year the Eurispes research agency said Italy's three main mafias made 130 billion euros from these in 2008, the equivalent of 9% of GDP, with 'Ndrangheta in Calabria accounting for 3% through its domination of the European cocaine market.
And here's my favorite:
(ANSA) - Agrigento, January 26 - An Italian man has been cleared of growing opium poppies after convincing a judge he didn't know what they were.
Calogero Carlisi, 72, from a small town near Agrigento in Sicily, was given a full acquittal.
"No crime was committed," the judge ruled.
Carlisi's lawyers argued the farmer had no idea what the 250 plants on his land were and in any case did not know it was a crime to grow them, court sources said.
Have you ever seen the hilarious film, A Growing Concern with Brenda Blethen? She fills a large hothouse with grow lights and marijuana plants, thinking the sale of the plants will get her out of debt. When she finds out the police will raid her instead, she sets it all on fire and the police and all the neighbors get high and dance around. She does get out of debt by writing a book about it.
No, we aren't thinking of doing something similar...
February 3
Today is cold and clear. Dino drives to Montecchio for a meeting, and I put on a pot of espresso. We have a container of panna (cream), with a current expiration date, so I put together a frozen dessert made with whipped panna, cacao powder, canella, sugar and freshly made espresso.
I put it in festive glasses and stand them in the freezer. Before serving, I crumble an Oreo (can you believe it?) on top of each one. Ha. I'm really sounding old fashioned, but Dino loves his chicken risotto (what's not to like?) with caramelized onions and mushrooms and then waxes ecstatic about the silly dessert. I don't know if he loves leftovers more or the fact that I can put a meal together with things we already have. Life is good.
I continue to paint, and now that I see that my colors are too "hot", I use a lot of cobalt blue to tone them down. The rope that I thought was finished is too orange, so before it's through it will probably look dull...just what rope should look like.
February 4
Dino's in Montecchio, showing a muratore what he wants for a client and telling him what the client wants to spend for a change. Sometimes this works better than just asking for a bid; the murature has leeway and pads in some 10% usually for contingencies. We'll see in a few days if this is the right muratore for the job.
I sleep in late, although am awakened twice by a nervous client in the US. Va bene. All will work out....Dino to the rescue.
I work on the painting and then email my mentor the background for the subject with the work I've just completed; I would love my paintings of local people to tell a story.
There's pasta for pranzo and then I'm thinking that Dino will take me to the next town to a woman we hope will be my next parucchiere (hairdresser). I take a photo for the mix of color, but perhaps I am too much an artist and too little a realist, thinking shaping colors of paint on the canvas are similar to mixing colors of tint on one's head.
But instead he opens the mail and there is a €500 bill for one month's cell phone service from a new carrier! Yikes! Dino rushes to the office in Viterbo and the adventure continues.
Back at home, I'm also in a bit of a dither. While delicately taking a paintbrush hair off the canvas; one that had been there for possibly a couple of days, it pops off along with a piece of gesso. Now there is a tiny crater over one of Mauro's eyes. Sigh.
I email my instructor to confess, and think I'll move to another part of the painting. Perhaps I'll stop instead and wait for his counsel. I feel as if I've entered a virtual confession booth. What will be my penance and what will be the result?
February 5
We love the effects, the colors, the gentle parts of the film, but you can have all the violence. It has me thinking of the Amazon jungle and wondering if its demise will be the beginning of the end...surely we'll abuse it until it no longer resembles the place it once was and its richness is but a memory of the past.
How do young teens and adults respond to the film? Do enough of them want to rise up and protect the environment? Does the film inspire them? In some cases, the shoot-em-up parts probably inspire young people, especially men, to want to join up, or to embrace violence as a conduit of power. Oh, how I hope the young will embrace peace and find a way to make the world a better place by respecting their fellow man/woman.
I commented to Dino as we waited for the theatre to open up after the previous showing. No one smiled or spoke to one another as they left the theatre. It had me wondering. Now I understand why.
The spirit tree in the film, with its massive root system, inspires me to make the roots of the Mugnano family tree a special part of the project. The more I ponder, the longer it will take to finish the project, and perhaps that is just. The roots of this village certainly dig back centuries. If only (magari) we knew more about how village life centuries ago compared to life here now...
The sky remaines overcast all day, but there is little rain. We arrive home before dark, and it is too late to paint. Speaking of color, my hair turned pinkish in the morning, taupe in the afternoon and evening.
It will take a few days for the color to set in, but early next week we'll return to Rina to show her how much pigment I have in my hair, and give her help in determining what to do with me "a la prossima volta" (next time). If only we had a way to sell the pigment...
February 6
If I were to do a program about Mugnano, what would I say? I'm far too partial for an objective viewpoint. For Dino and me, this place is heaven on earth, its residents a world apart. That is one of the reasons this tree project is so meaningful to us. Whatever we could do for our neighbors to bring them joy, that would be but a tiny reflection of what they have done for us.
There is a joke in nearby towns that the Mugnanese are slow and keep to their selves; that is why they are jokingly called lumache (snails). We're happy snails at that.
I do a little repair work on my painting, but don't feel completely absorbed as I usually do, so fix a "piccio paccio" for pranzo. What is it? We'll, it's what Italians would refer to as "the kitchen sink". Here in Italia it always includes pasta, usually tomatoes and cheese....
This morning, Dino wants to talk about the Mugnano tree. Since he is a forceful guy, and intends to get his point across no matter what, he interrupts me and lets me know that he'd like to see me paint a beautiful tree, with an overlay of the individual family trees on top of that. I laugh and ask him if the overlay can be in neon. He thinks an overlay of clear material, probably acetate, would be great. I roll my eyes and smile.
I'm so happy to see him interested in the project, for his assignment is to take the information and work on the interplay of how the different family trees relate to each other. He disagrees with my approach, telling me that the point at which families merge (marriage) is not important, although I see it as a key to how the families really relate to each other. He thinks the bloodlines are what is key. What will the neighbors think? What do you think? What do YOU think, Sofi?
Dino loves the pranzo, and there is enough for another meal. That makes him happier still. In the afternoon he drives to Viterbo for...I don't know what. Sofi and I watch a movie and I get into bed and read while Sofi secretly lies next to me on the comforter from San Remy. Pure luxury!
February 7
Don Angelo is today's priest, and one day we will invite him for a visit. Since he speaks English, we'll have a lot to talk about.
The minutes before mass begins are always full of chatter among the Coro members. What will we sing? Serena distributes today's list, and when Anna Farina arrives, I invite her to sit next to me, so that I can ask her questions about her parents.
Once she sees the draft of the Farina tree that Dino has provided, she tells me that the main people we have are her cousins, so there are trees within the family trees. I call Dino over so that he can understand for himself.
Once he returns to his seat, she whispers to me that Mansueto is really Isidoro and Dusolina is really Olga. We now know that the names on cemetery markers and plots are generally of people as they are known to each other...not always as "given" names. She also tells me that when she was little, she played in our garden, thinking our house was enormous. Now she knows it is a little house.
I ask her if she went to school in our house and yes, she did. Some day it will be interesting to see if there are any group photos of children at our house, but we don't think photography was as important in the early 20th century as it is today.
After mass, we ask Rosina if her brother, Tommaso, is always here. Yes, but he is in his field most of the day. So we can visit with them together to obtain more names of the Farina family, but probably it's best to do that during late afternoon...perhaps later this week. Together, they know a great deal about the Farina family, as well as other families in the village.
I consider it fortuitous that we purchased this property, a property so important in the lives of our neighbors. One day, perhaps it should be returned to the village. We'll see. At night, when we're cuddled in our toasty bed, I think warmly of the gift we've been given to live out our lives here.
On the way home from church, I talk to Dino about the proposed roof for the loggia, and about the bread oven. It will soon be time to speak with Stefano about it, but I think the oven belongs to the left of the sink, next to the side of the house. We'll need a chimney for it, and it should rise up the side of the house, not causing any problems for Rosina, who lives above us.
But Dino wants us to keep the walkway to the back of the house open, for easy access to the heater...and then it dawns on me. Perhaps we'll move the heater! Why not? Anything's possible. But I do hope we will have a bread oven soon, especially for the summer months, when we can make pizza and eat outside under the moonlight.
I also tell Dino that I think he should have a cantina, a workroom, that would be entered from the parcheggio and be located under the terrace. He's intrigued...
Yes, I am a dreamer. I dream as if we have money to spend. But without dreams, nothing would be possible. With dreams, we can usually find a way, bit by bit, to accomplish them.
Last night I had a dream that I thought I was dying. I had really been bitten by something on my right arm, and there were two adjacent puncture points, surrounded by a rash. I was sure in my fantasy that the bite was poisonous, and that once the poison traveled to my heart that I would die in my sleep. I waited, but nothing happened. That's me, the silent drama queen.
For pranzo today, we ate a baked persico (perch) with potatoes and tomatoes and olives, a dish that made Dino swoon. So do try it some time. It is good to eat fish for a change, and something not fried.
The euro has dropped, and continues to drop, against the dollar. That is very good news for us, so we watch the number daily, and we're on the way to returning to parity between the euro and the dollar, although we have a long way to go.
Sun continues in the afternoon, while I work on the chair slipcover, and pull out the stitches twice. The material is thick, and I'll press on, but think a professional could stitch these up easily.
It's Superbowl tonight, but since we cannot see the commercials, I think it's not worth staying up. The game begins after midnight.
Yes, we attend the meeting in Giove on the proposed biodegestore that seems to be getting built under our noses...
The flyer distributed on the chairs makes no mention of Ecomuseo, so it is run by a group of locals, "Comitato Cittadino Spontaneo "Salviamo il Basso Tevere". On a slide projected on the front wall we read, "Tutti insieme ognuno di noi, per Quello che puo dia il proprio contributo per la ricerca della verita qualunque essa sia...Assemblea Pubblica". Everyone wants to learn what is right and to contribute what they have to say together during a meeting, or something like that. Remember never to take Italian lessons from another foreigner.
So here we sit, and the room is full, so many stand; encircling those seated as if they are decorations on a cake stand.
I know this is serious business, but I can imagine the wheels turning inside the heads of the participants; Italians love to tell a story, and there will be many about this night. We wondered how the people of Giove felt, and they are clearly angry. Tonight is their night...
"L'indifferenza non e piu una virtu! (Indifference is not a virtue) is shown as a headline on a slide. Italians are often indifferent, but in this case indifference could very lead to a community with dangerous pollutants harming its residents.
Two significant facts remain, brought up by Marco Moretti, the same expert who has been to our meetings before:
After 2 1/2 hours we leave; acrimonious posturing continues as we walk out the door. So many people want to badger the Giove mayor, and we don't blame them.
I am sure that Sr. Cecca, who was a no-show, felt there was no reason to subject himself to the anger of the residents who attended the first two meetings. The mayor will undoubtedly let him proceed. Now, can we find a way to insist that Sr. Cecca give the communities surrounding his biodegestore a guarantee?
It's ever so much more peaceful back at home.
February 8
Tonight we'll have cena at our house, with fresh fish Stein is bringing from Norway. Since he's not eaten our baked fish, I may remake yesterday's recipe. Dino loves to eat good things more than one day in a row; he's easy to please in the food department.
Now he's off to Guardea to the bank; he's helping another client figure out what's going on with their bank. It's true that there are a myriad of things that go on here, whether property owners are here or not, and he loves the running around and doing the details.
I've been thinking of the slipcover I sewed yesterday, and today I'll take out the front seam and redo that part; there are inverted pleats at each front corner and they must be finished "just so". Since this chair is a bit smaller than the ones we owned in the U S, I'm adjusting this one from back to front, where we have more material than we need. That's a good thing, for if it were the other way around, I'd be in a fix.
With plenty of sun streaming in the front windows, it's better not to paint this morning, anyway. Sofi sits outside in the sun for a bit, but wants to be by my side. So she can sleep inside near me, with sun covering her like a warm blanket while I rip out a seam and adjust the slipcover. What project people we both are!
Soon we'll drive to Viterbo, probably this week with Candace and Frank's station wagon, to bring back the three huge panels for the Mugnano tree. We'll surely need paper to sketch out the details as well. While I write, Bolero is playing and as the music builds I'm dreaming about the project, which builds with each family verifying the names of their relatives.
Will we be finished by August? We have no idea, and the momentum continues...
The painting of Salvatore and Mauro and the tree raising awaits...while I fix a simple panna cotta (cooked cream) for tonight's dessert.
I fiddle with the chair cover, and realize it's probably almost fine, but the man in Viterbo who made pillows and things for us a few years ago can fix the left front side in a snap. So let's take the chair to him later if his shop is open. Since it's a Monday, many stores and all grocery stores are closed.
We realize that we have a second matching chair, so I'll work on that slipcover first and we'll take them both later this week. Funny, but we don't have a table to use with the chairs as a "dining room table", although we have two other chairs that can serve as dining room end chairs.
I leave Dino to watch the replay of the Superbowl (he does not know who won) and sweep the side steps while enjoying the winter sunshine. Later this afternoon, I'll make Focaccia (Italian flat bread) to serve tonight before our main course. We're looking forward to the temporary return of our dear friend.
This in from ANSA, the Italian News Agency:
Among those arrested were several businessmen who gave the immigrants apparently legal job documents so they could get into Italy and join up with family members.
Also arrested were three employees at the provincial employment office in Reggio Calabria.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni hailed the operation as "groundbreaking" in showing for the first time how 'Ndrangheta was running illegal immigrants into Italy.
''For the first time the direct involvement of 'Ndrangheta families in favouring illegal immigration has been proven,'' Maroni said at a policing conference in Monza.
''This is a worrying signal which shows how much money there is to be made from the business of illegal immigration''.
He said the operation showed the fight against illegal immigration was not only essential in fighting crime, as Premier Silvio Berlusconi recently stressed, but was also part of the war on organised crime.
Reggio Calabria Prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone said the operation ''shows 'Ndrangheta's capacity to exploit any opportunity for gain''.
He said the organisation ''used a sophisticated mechanism which included Indian immigrants, corrupt officials, and businessmen in Reggio Calabria province''. According to police, the Indians resident in Italy contacted hundreds of people back home wanting to join their families and arranged their employment contracts through two 'Ndrangheta clans.
The immigrants paid 10-18,000 euros a head and the organisation made more than six million euros, police said.
So did they provide phony identification for this high price? What will Italians do for workers if we cut down on immigration? These days, it's very difficult to find workers for menial work, and those we do find are usually foreigners.
Somehow, Dino found a muratore for a client to put in a deck and a pool that charged a fair price and began...on Sunday! Dino stopped in to see the work on the way home and things are proceeding. While the client is here until the end of the week, the job may even be finished before he leaves. Now that would be one for a story...
Have I forgotten all about my dear friend, Giusi, who gives me the best pedicures? Since my appointments are always on Tuesdays and the salon is closed on Mondays, I'm nervous that I've missed my latest appointment and can't call. This is so terrible, for she loses money when I don't show up and I can't find a December appointment on the journal. First thing tomorrow I will call her.
Dino drives to Orte in Stein's car to pick him up. He has brought a fresh cod and tells Dino that he knows how to prepare it...boiled (!) with potatoes and carrots. There's always something to learn, and now there's plenty of room in the oven for the two big loaves of Foccaccia!
I want to eat late, so that the bread will be ready, but Stein has a particular way to cook his cod, which is fresh from Norway and considered a delicacy there. Early February must be the time the fish swim from the Arctic, or am I making this up?
What I do know, is that the cod, which is put into boiling water, the temperature turned off, and it is served with boiled potatoes and boiled carrots and melted butter.
To say that the cod tastes like lobster, without any chewiness, is an understatement. It's heavenly. The simple potatoes and simple carrots compliment the fish perfectly. This meal surely is a treat, and the sage foccaccia seems unimportant.
I've fixed a frozen panna cotta (is it possible to have frozen cooked cream?) with amaretto cookies on Stein's and chocolate cookies on ours. With just a touch of grappa to finish the evening off, Stein leaves for his Mugnano home and we tuck into bed.
February 9
Don Francis emails from the Molise, and he seems content at last with a parish all his own. In a strange way, our lives are similar, being plunked down among strangers who wonder why we are there and, as time passes, think we've always been a part of them.
Giusy agrees to take me at mezzogiorno (noon), and I explain to her that sometimes Dino has a problem with his appointment calendar, but that I am so sorry I missed my last appointment. I present her with a little token, a colored pencil drawing of jonquils. I also bring her our desk calendar and have her write her name on the next appointment day, which is also my birthday. Now we will see it every day and will surely not let the day of my next pedicure pass us by.
Dino has two appointments after pranzo, so I make a warm potato salad with a bag of fingerling potatoes we brought back from the US (what?)! I notice that a number of them have eyes, so we set them aside on a paper towel and will soon plant them in big tubs. I love digging for potatoes and having them fresh from the ground, as soon as they're washed and scrubbed.
This is exciting, because our Spring Planting will be a reality, even if it's too early yet. We do have an indoor greenhouse and why not chit potatoes in it this month? I love the instructions on planting many things: "Plant two weeks before last frost"...What? How can we know when the last frost will appear?
Well, who is the Patron Saint of Gardeners? It's Saint Fiacre. Perhaps he will tell us; that is, if we are faithful to him. Listen up:
The Roman Catholic Church considers August 30 as the feast day of Saint Fiacre. I think that's a strange date, for on August 30th, we're usually exhausted. It's often so hot we pray for cooler weather then. Sitting out in the garden on August 30th seems an unfair penance for not growing perfect flowers and vegetables. But in the 7th century, when Fiacre lived, perhaps times were different.
Fiacre is also the patron saint of hemorrhoids, but I'll leave it to you to think about that as well as their association with the garden. His feast day is celebrated on September 1st in Ireland and France.
The French call a particular kind of carriage a fiacre, due to the closeness of a hotel named after him to a taxi-stand. So he's also the patron saint of taxi-drivers. But let's get back to the garden...
Europeans have recognized Fiacre as the patron saint of gardeners since the Middle Ages, and celebrate this day with special masses, floral processions and pilgrimages. In France, special floats of elaborate floral arrangements make their way down flower petal-covered streets. In Ireland, citizens sing hymns written in Fiacre's honor.
Although his feast day is not officially celebrated in the United States, statues of Saint Fiacre can be found in many gardens and museums, including Cypress Gardens in Florida and The Cloisters at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
St. Fiacre was born in Ireland and raised in a monastery. Much of medieval learning and knowledge was brought to monasteries and left in the care and protection of their monks. Travelers brought seeds and plant material, as well as cultural enlightenment from as far away as Rome and the Holy Land.
St. Fiacre's days at the monastery taught him a deep love of silence, the joys of planting and harvesting crops and an appreciation of nature. Drawn to the religious life and the desire to serve God in solitude, Fiacre decided to establish a hermitage for worship. He traveled South and chose a wooded area by the Nore River for his home, with a cave for meditation, a well for drinking water and the river for bathing.
Monks in those days were regarded as physicians of the body as well as the soul. Soon people were flocking to Fiacre for prayers, food and healing. He fed the hungry and healed the sick with herbs from his garden and prayed for everyone who travelled there.
Longing for solitude for his worship, Fiacre traveled to France where the Bishop of Meaux granted him land in a wooded area near the Marne River. He built a hut near a well, clearing space for his garden of vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs.
The first miracle attributed to Fiacre, which later became cause for his sainthood, occurred when he asked for additional ground for his garden from the local Bishop. The Bishop Faro told Fiacre he could have as much land as he could entrench in one day. Don't you love the bishop's name? Perhaps it should have two "r's".
According to legend, the next morning Fiacre merely dragged his spade across the ground, causing trees to topple and bushes to be uprooted. Word of this miracle spread and people flocked to him for food, healing and spiritual guidance, although it also probably made the 'tree huggers" angry.
St. Fiacre's famous monastery welcomed all who sought his counsel and healing. A culinary garden that fed the poor, a medical garden that cured the sick, a flower garden and an herb garden occupied the property surrounding the monastery.
Even after his death around 670 A.D., people continued to visit the monastery and, as legend would have it, receive physical and spiritual healing. To this day crowds visit St. Fiacre's shrine, where his relics are still believed to contain healing powers.
That's it for today's history lesson. Back in Mugnano, we've found the other chair covers stored away, and now I can work on it to see if I can sew the second one better than the first.
Since we have six chair covers, if we had a dining room table we could have as many as eight people sit around it. Now what I don't know is how we could manage to turn the room into both a living room and a dining room for eight. Perhaps we'll need my little sitting room off the garden after all.
Dino has left to stop at Stein's to tell Mario what Stein wants done. Since Stein has Dino to translate for him, he's not ready to converse with Mario in Italian just yet. Only yesterday he arrived from Norway, so let's give him a little time.
February 10
Roy and Enzo are on the altar this morning with Don Renzo, and I join the Coro, singing the traditional funeral pieces. Don Renzo is wonderful, as usual, saying that her death is a test; I don't understand all of it, but as we grow older we're very aware of a force to believe in, one that guides us and gives us hope.
Since it is raining, we drive to the borgo for the funeral, and to the cemetery afterward. Carla and Vincenzo are buried on the same row as our plot, several spaces further down.
I suppose when we pass away we'll face North, depending on what direction our bodies lie. Does one have a choice? I'm not sure, but I think I'd like to face North, for we're on the far South side of the cemetery, and we'd face all our neighbors. Enough of that.
In the afternoon, we drive to Tommaso's little house, and Rosina, his sister, walks down a few steps from her house to join us. They are members of the Farina family, the largest family in Mugnano, and sit with us to go over what we've found about their ancestors and closer relatives.
Before we leave, I remind them that this project is our competiti (homework); we're doing this to get to know our neighbors, and they think it's a good thing to do. In May, Dino tells them, we'll have the rest of our project spelled out by family, and we'll hope to have everyone take a look and help us with corrections and additions. It will only be after then that we begin to cull the names.
In the meantime, this week or next we'll drive to Viterbo to purchase the panels and the paper for the sketching. But for now, we return home and Dino puts the new information we have gathered into the computer. But where is it? Dino made a copy, but the information he had painstakingly entered is not there. He sent an email to the software company to find out how to retrieve it, but at least he has the information on a hard copy. Sempre Avanti (always forward)! We're not to be daunted.
Giusy has convinced me to ask the doctor about the bad circulation in my hands and feet. After looking up the symptoms on Al Gore's internet, I begin to worry. So let's figure out what to do about it...soon. In the meantime, I wear gloves around the house when I am not sewing or painting.
I've also almost finished pinning the fourth chair cover to the point that the chairs can be easily sewn by an expert. We'll take them to Viterbo, and it should take no time at all to finish them. There are two additional chair covers, but for now, we have plenty.
February 11
Back at home I finish the pinning, and we take a chair and the four covers and drive to the man in Viterbo where we have had cushions and pillows made. We don't know his name, but he lives in Chia and can see our house from his house. Do we think he's doing Sarah Palin talk (She can see Russia from her house)?
He tells us no, he cannot sew the covers. His sister (or is it his wife?) appears from behind a curtain, and she knows exactly what to do. But she won't do it either. They agree that they know a woman who is retired and does work from her home, so they will take the covers and chair to her and we will return in a couple of weeks. There is usually a way if one is patient and keeps the other person talking.
Back at home, a migraine creeps into the picture, and Sofi and I spend the afternoon in bed. Thanks to rest and Difmetre, I'm fine, although my hands are really cold. When we were in Viterbo we made an appointment with the doctor and will return on Monday morning for a solution.
Earlier, Dino took the car out and went around Mugnano, getting signatures to protest the Attigliano biologica site; if we get our petitions in before this weekend is up, we can shut them down, hopefully until a study is done. Its an iffy proposition, but thanks to Michelle, we may be able to do it. Tonight Dino takes the forms to Ernesta's, and she'll have people who come into the little store sign them; many have already signed in Attigliano.
We spend the evening huddled by the fire; it is a good thing we have bought more firewood, for last year's firewood is gone. The fires are so hot that the wet wood burns just the same, so somehow we're doing fine. Next time, we'll buy a larger load of firewood.
February 12
I'm thinking of painting this morning, and looking up recipes to make for Valentine's Day. Since we purchased strawberries yesterday, I'll fix something early, perhaps even today. We're used to not doing things always on the date, and for us every day is Valentine's Day.
It's really cold, and we're expecting a big storm later today, one that will have strong winds, rain, and perhaps snow. We've not had snow all winter.
I make a chocolate soufflé in individual ramekins and slice fresh strawberries, covering them with sugar and Cointreau to put on top. We'll begin with chicken risotto, so it will be a tasty pranzo.
All is well, Dino delivers the petition with 41 names to the Hotel Umbria, where the sindaco of Attigliano will take all the collected names and march up to Giove, to try to stop the project. Ernesta has sheets on which to collect more names, and we'll continue to do so. Already, almost everyone living in Mugnano has signed, either at Ernesta's or in Attigliano. Michelle calls to say we've come up with 306 names so far. Don't know yet what that means...
I paint this afternoon, while Dino shows a property in Tenaglie. Angie Good calls, telling us that Renzo's a grandfather again, and Marsiglia a biz-nonna (great grandmother). It's always great to hear from Angie and we miss her.
It's really cold, or we're really feeling it. I can't wait to get in bed under the covers...No, we don't put on any heat other than first thing in the morning. Any heat comes in the kitchen from the fireplace. Brrrrr.
February 13
Lief and Kari arrive for a short visit, then I return to painting. This painting is taking months longer than I anticipated, probably due to the advice of a mentor in England who advises me by email. It's worth the extra time, speriamo, but I'd like to finish soon. There's another canvas waiting for me.
Sadly, the ambulance yesterday was for dear Candida, who is now in Bel Colle hospital in Viterbo. Italo is also there, with his son arriving from Parma and everyone in the family keeping watch. I love these two folks, and pray for their return to Mugnano really soon.
Dino keeps up another fire in the fireplace, but he's excited about possible work we would do in the loggia, including adding solar panels to the roof. We've taken measurements and he's drawn it out on graph paper. We're good at these projects, and if we're able to, will start this before the hot days of summer are upon us.
February14
Dino presents me with a valentine surprise...a cd by Eva Cassidy that we do not have. I love her music!
There's no mention of Saint Valentine today during mass, but in nearby Terni, he is the city's padrono (patron saint). Hundreds of couples marry in Terni on this date, but to us the idea is troppo carina (too cute).
I have a head cold, and take advantage of the cold and the cold weather to snooze in the afternoon. Dino continues cutting the branches of the plum tree that he clipped recently, as it is warm on the terrace. I'm reminded that this is the time to prune any roses that we have not already done.
Pietro visits us in the evening, not interested at all in the Olympics, except to say that the Norwegians win most of it. What do you think, Sofi? We sit by the fire and drink spumanti.
February 15
We'll make an appointment through our pharmacist, leaving the receipt with Vezio on the way home. This medical system is so good, that we wonder why the American system is such a mess...and so expensive. It's a reason to live here, by itself, although there are so many reasons...
Dino takes Pietro to the train, and we look forward to his next visit, when we hope he will stay longer.
Sofi rides with us, and waits while we have our visit. We're both scheduled for exams now, mine for circulation and Dino for his leg pain. Gee, getting old is complicated. It's a good thing we have such a good doctor, who treats us with respect and diagnoses us in English.
The rest of the day is mellow, with cold temperatures and dreary skies. I have a cold, so won't attend coro tonight; I'm happy to receive word from Rosita that there will be none after all.
Tiziano emails us the words to "Evenu shalom alejem", and I sing it to Sofi when I dance with her around the house. It's a wonderful hymn, enough to make anyone raise his/her arms with joy. Email us if you want to know the words...
We're watching Olympic coverage during these dreary days, and there is much to see. SKY has five channels devoted to it. Does that mean that we can see more coverage than in the U S? I don't know, but remember that one channel usually was awarded the rights, and there were no options. Perhaps that was in "the old days"....
February 16
Dino has driven to Tenaglie to show a property, and if it looks good today, it will be wonderful any day of the year. The couple likes the property a lot, and will choose between this one and one near Lake Bolsena.
Soon we will have a little money to have our cemetery project done and possibly a new roof over the loggia. So during these dark days of winter, it's fun to draw out what the new space under the new roof will look like.
For quite a while, I have imagined a kind of arbor effect once someone reaches the top step and opens the gate under the rose arch. That means two more glicine plants, perhaps, but we won't need pots; they can be planted right in the ground next to iron supports.
There is so much sun on this South/Southwest facing view, that shade becomes very important. It makes it possible for us to spend more time outside during the lazy days of summer. These days, dreaming is the major activity...well, at least it is mine.
As for Dino, he meets with a muratore on a current project, where the geometra is missing a document in order for the job to be granted permission to begin. What? The muratore has started and almost finished the job, but when Dino speaks with the geometra he's not concerned.
Dino likes this contractor a lot, and when he's asked if there are any jobs coming up, he tells him about ours. Much as we love Stefano, he's always over his head in work and does not mind if we use someone else. We'd like them both to look at the work, and to determine if we need a permit to begin. In this case, I want it to proceed correctly, and Dino seems to agree. It will be weeks before we're ready, anyway.
February 17
I think I have mastered painting one of Salvatore's hands, and when Dino gets back from Orte, where he is having blood drawn for a test, we'll take a photo and email it to Roger. Even though a headache persists, I want to paint, for it is what I love to do.
Sofi sits in the sun for a while, but clamors to come back inside to be with me. Perhaps she likes sleeping to the classical music in the background and country sounds outside the window.
Is there a better way to live out one's life? If there is, I surely can't imagine what it would be...
I send a photo to Roger, and after pranzo work a little on a project of my own, then Dino and I drive up to mass to receive our cenere (ashes).
Don Angelo talks about palestra (exercise) and I think he's talking about the gym, but he's talking about a spiritual exercise; one that we need to embark on during Quaresima (lent). I stop worrying about what I'll give up and instead realize that I'll think more spiritually instead for these weeks.
Just before mass, Serena tells me she follows the journal but cannot get into our site. So I tell her that Dino will see if he can help after mass. We walk up to her house, and realize that we have not yet posted for the first half of February. Dino promises to do this tomorrow, for it is already written.
Serena tells me that she and possibly other members of her family follow the journal by translating it on Google. One day, perhaps one of her children, Erica or Salvatore, will take the journal on by translating it. We're always running into people who read it, and that astounds me.
February 18
On this overcast morning, we drive to Viterbo to pick up a paint smock for me. Dino thinks the one I have is looking grungy, but I like it; I like not worrying about spilling paint on it. So I humor him.
The paint smocks either look just like the industrial one I have or are tropo carina (too cute). I don't want another one, unless it has some character. I do have a wonderful French one; purchased a year or so ago in Provence, but I like wearing it as it is as a kind of lightweight coat. So perhaps one of these days we'll return to Provence and pick up another one. Then I'll wear one of them. Until then, we'll see...
We do some errands and pick up some short ribs; I'll fix them tomorrow. Later in the day I paint a little. The rest of the day and evening are spent before the fire.
February 19
It takes the entire morning to prepare the short ribs, but they are tasty and ready on time for pranzo. Made with potatoes and carrots, it's a treat. Try it some time, when you find ribs with good meat on them and have plenty of time to let them cook in the oven. Here's what we do:
I paint in the afternoon, while Dino makes arrangements for our trip next winter to San Francisco. Next winter seems so very far away...
February 20
By the time we return home and re-measure the loggia space, we agree about what the oven will look like...
We're waiting for Ovidio to return to install the shutters, which lean against the house in their plastic sheeting. It will be several days before he can return, and I'm almost wondering if we shouldn't install them ourselves. But then, he's redone them for us at his expense, so we do need to be patient. Let's hope that this time they will be fine.
Earlier, during our drive North from Civita Castellana, we passed a sight I've never seen before: a horse leading a bunch of sheep. The horse moved joyfully, looking back at the sheep, and if I had not seen it with my own eyes I would not believe it.
I'm ready to return to painting; this time, I have some definite ideas about colors. Mauro's shirt is again the dark bright blue of the actual shirt, and I'm seeing light clearly descend from above left. I've also drawn in another figure, and before I do anything else, I'll put definition into his features. Yes, we are in the home stretch. Magari!
Not to be daunted, I return to the painting and take a fresh view of it. Some things I've painted today are good, so at least we're moving forward. I've really made this into a project much bigger than it should be. Let's wrestle it back to reality. Now I've only to wait to hear back from Roger to see if he thinks I'm nuts about changing the background entirely. That's where my mind is racing when I concentrate on it.
Before I hear from Roger I change the background to fresher and lighter blues and greens. He's so right. It looks much better. Now if I can only figure out how to take the detail out of the background characters and mute them. This is such an interesting learning experience...
After a hailstorm, during which Sofi lands on my lap, sun appears toward the West, and unless I look South, it's as if the hail never happened. The rest of the afternoon and evening press on without a drop of rain...
February 21
Too bad, the Roversellis have closed their shutters and left Mugnano without attending mass. We'll see them...next time.
It's a glorious day! I think we're in paradise whenever we have a little sun, and talk about the loggia project. Dino agrees to bring the loggia out to meet the pergola, and we'll move the hydrangeas in their pots to the steps inside the loggia, giving them lots of light and shade during the hot summer months. Let's get back to painting to take our minds off this project unless and until we're able to afford it.
I paint late this morning, after returning from Il Pallone, and Dino agrees to do research on solar panels. Has the price come down? They are, or were, so very expensive.
Yesterday, when talking about the horse guiding the sheep, dear friend Joy emails us to tell us that these horses are called "cowy", because "they can move cattle with ease". Thanks to Joy, here's a little more: "That instinct is very prized in ranch horses. This talent is used for "cutting", "team roping" and "team penning" which are rodeo sports as well as necessary skills for work on cattle ranches. This is poetry in motion, just as beautiful as jumping and dressage"
Yes, dear Joy, and I can just imagine you riding horseback, your hair flying, graceful as a dove. Perhaps some year we will return to visit you again. Perhaps you and Morgan and even John will come to visit us in the meantime...
February 22
Today the Italian Agricultural Minister is praising the efforts of MacDonald's in Italy, where special items using Italian agricultural products are featured. There is a photo of a very large cow, standing next to a display outside a MacDonald's. If the cow only knew...
Here it is cold and rainy. Buds appear on the glicine (wisteria) growing over the terrace, and there is time to de-leaf any roses that have been overlooked...but not today. It is raining, and probably will continue to rain all day.
Painting is again on the agenda for me, and probably Dino will watch the Olympics. Nope...He's driving to the ENEL office in Soriano to speak with them about solar panels. There was something we read some time ago about being able to sell energy back to ENEL. That sounds insane, but in Italy anything is possible. Making sense here is not always the case.
Yesterday while driving to Il Pallone, we saw a headline of a local paper referring to a murder in Civita Castellana, a town we also visited yesterday. An internet search tells me that there were plenty of murders in that town over the centuries, including Sr. Thomas Becket and at least one Pope. But there is no mention of the recent murder.
What I did find is that the Mafia has a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy about homosexuality. This is so insane, that I suggest that you read it yourself if you are interested, on ANSA, which is an Italian News Service, and it is available online in English. The details are most bizarre.
Because "Bella figura" (to make a good impression) is important in Italy, legislation will soon be passed to allow breast implant operations for girls under the age of eighteen.
On a more creative note: On the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio's death, sites all over Rome will offer special exhibits of his work. "For the show's duration, Rome city hall has mapped out an itinerary of the 15 Caravaggios housed in churches and palazzi around the city, including the first public peek at Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto at Palazzo Boncompagni Ludovisi, where the artist used a mirror to put his own nude body into the picture.
"The whole of Rome will become a Caravaggio museum," said Culture Councillor Umberto Croppi, stressing that the works had been left where they are "so people can enjoy them in their original settings". Although the exhibition will draw a clear line between attributed and confirmed works, it will also look at some of the controversy surrounding Caravaggio and his style.
It will examine his technique and debate whether he worked individually, with another artist or as part of workshop. It's definitely a reason to travel to Rome soon.
Dino returns after a good meeting with ENEL. There is financing for the installation of solar panels, and he's quoted an eight-year payout. We'd pay our ENEL each month, and at the end of each year they'd give us a check for about €1200. Are there better options? We're researching, and have a meeting on Saturday with someone who has installed solar panels nearby.
What a wild world it would be if everyone installed solar panels on their properties and they were paid to "sell" electricity back to the power company. Would we then become gluttons for power? Some fantasies foster craziness, and this sounds like one.
With no response from my online mentor, I return to painting in the afternoon, determined to figure out what I need to know myself. Perhaps it's time to scour our art books for background characters...
Tonight is Coro practice, and I'd rather stay home, but it will only take an hour or so.
February 23
Dismal weather continues, so our shutters wait on the terrace in their plastic wraps. Dino drives off while Sofi and I return to painting...well, Sofi sleeps nearby while I try to figure out what to do next. Perhaps without guidance I'll find a way to finish the painting just as well by myself. Come no?
My mentor replies, so it appears I have not been getting his emails. All is well.
Painting is my main activity, and Dino returns to Viterbo. It's a normal day in Mugnano. With a little Olympics watching, we're feeling strangely unconnected with the games. The longer we are here, the less the fights of the rest of the world mean to us. I think that's a good thing, especially with all the acrimony taking place in American politics.
People like to argue, as if each of them is the arbiter of what is right and what is wrong with the world they live in. In my new view of life, I don't take a stand. It seems unnecessary, for unless I can do something to change the world, it is idle conjecture.
What if we did not argue? What if we found a way to compromise, to work together with mutual respect? The world we are leaving to our children seems out of step. I am a child of the "season of love", and in the 1960's, while in college, wanted the world to be a better place, and for everyone to respect one's neighbors. What happened to our generation? Where did the love go?
After months of trying to work out background figures, I agree with my painting mentor to get rid of them. Let's keep things simple, and let's finish this painting and move on. There is plenty left to do.
Dino returns from Viterbo with a chair and four slipcovers that have been reworked to fit our more slender Italian chairs.
The annual blessing will take place next month, perhaps even when Don Francis is here. That would be funny.
February 24
We agree that we'll continue to research solar panels, but not to move forward until the costs come down. Highest on our list is the cemetery project, which we hope to approve later this month.
Just this week, we've received emails from a handful of old contacts that tell us that they read the journal on an ongoing basis. You are all to be commended and it's fun to hear from people who do read what I write and what we think about life in Italy. If you haven't emailed us, do let us know who you are. That's as formal as we get in determining who clicks on our site. Thanks.
I hope to finish the painting by tomorrow, and then will move on to the painting of the two young Andreas, sitting on Livio and Gigliola's front steps inside the borgo.
Rain begins while we wait for Ovidio in the afternoon. Will the rain continue? Will Ovidio show up? In the meantime, I rearrange the studio/guest bedroom to allow access to both windows, and like the idea of the big table in front of the front window disappearing. Less is more. Perhaps it will lean against the side of an armadio, at least for now.
With no ability to paint this afternoon, we dream a little, and write up a list of projects to speak with Stefano, our favorite muratore, about. Who knows if/when any of them will be done, or who will do them? Remember, without a dream, nothing is really possible...Yes, that's me, the dreamer. I dream so well, perhaps it's because I have a lot of experience...
So do we make Mauro sad that he is not our favorite muratore? We love you, Mauro, as you will see very soon when the painting of you and Salvatore is finished. I've spent weeks with you two on my mind as I paint you, thinking of that special night of April 30th, 2009. The painting will certainly be finished for all to see for this year's Alza Maggio! Hope you enjoy it as much as I have painting it.
Yes, now we know that many people read our journal; those who live both near and far. Those who don't speak English translate it, usually on Google. I'm so silly to wonder if our neighbors know how wonderful we think they are.
They all know, perhaps delegating one person in a family to translate and give them all the news, as if they're little birds sitting on the telephone wire, the birdsong reaching across the valley and down the little lanes of the borgo.
Ovidio returns, and three of the shutter panels are still wrong. I believe they are warped, and Ovidio agrees to stand by his work and will take them and repair them, returning next week to bring the damaged ones back and to finish the work of installing them all. Magari! (if only that were so...)
I remain completely confused by Facebook. I am unable to add friends, confirm friends, send notes. Each time I press a button, nothing happens. People must think I hate them. If you have any advice, do email me and let me know. I can't seem to find anyone on Facebook who will help. Dino thinks I should join a chat room (forum) to see if anyone can help there. I'm not ready for that...yet.
February 25
Before noon, we're out in shirtsleeves: Dino sprays the peach tree for protection from peach blight, a common disease here. I think it is biologic, but don't know. Otherwise, peaches in this area have problems with their leaves, which turn color and swell in spots. The fruit also turns gnarly, although it's still tasty. We usually forget to spray in February, but not this year. Here's to an abundant and tasty crop this summer.
We are pleased that we have so much gravel...it is easy to weed, and the many weeds that are air born pull up easily. I'm able to pick up a whole big bin full from the terrace until it feels too hot (!) to stay outside. That is, until I am stung by a nettle and that's it for this morning. Sofi loves this weather, loves staying by my side, even it means she sits on top of weeds I am about to pull.
Dino and I speak again about the loggia project, and his persistence wins; I agree to have the oven face out to the terrace. Score one for Dino.
As we look forward to March, the government continues its march against the Mafia; this time to the benefit of journalists in Sicily:
"Taking assets from the Mafia has a dual significance: a symbolic one because it shows the State is serious about rooting out the phenomenon; and a concrete one because it strips the clans of the economic resources they need to rule their anti-State," said Interior Minister Robero Maroni.
"This will become our home," said the head of the Sicilian branch of the national journalists guild, Franco Nicastro.
"It will be an outpost of legality and a memorial to slain journalists," he said. The seizure and sale of mafia assets is the linchpin of a recently unveiled government plan against organised crime with a new agency to coordinate confiscation and auctions to be based in Reggio Calabria.
Mafia land across Sicily is already run by not-for-profit farming cooperatives while another of Riina's villas, in his home town of Corleone, has been turned into the local tax police's offices.
Riina, the architect of a bomb campaign that killed 20 people including anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992-1993, was arrested outside the Palermo villa in 1993 after 23 years evading capture."
The sound of birdsong is everywhere. Yes, one of these days I'll ask a neighbor to sit with me and identify the different birds and their songs. Today I sing in my heart, thankful for the day and for our place here.
I work online with Humira at Ariana Outreach, for I have donated a painting to help the women of Afghanistan and she has just listed it as "Brave Afghan Woman Painting" on ebay. Take a look: it's a way to help these women and to also gain a painting. If you don't want the painting, do think of donating to them just the same.
Dino has copper gutters ready to install above Maria Elena's front and back doors, so Sofi guards the house and I join him, happy to hold the tools and his ladder while he works. Across the street, Franco calls out to see if she is arriving soon. He knows the exact date and Dino confirms.
A few doors down, dear Elisa, who can hardly see, calls out to welcome Maria Elena back. Dino turns and tells her, "Solo operai (only a worker)". I watch her gently put a saucer under a plant on her terrace and slowly walk back inside.
There's Luigina to wave at, and Giovanna and little Lorenzo. Franco stands at their front door for awhile, watching Dino as if to tell him he'll tell Maria Elena every little thing that is done while she is away. He seems bored, and walks inside, so it's just Dino and me to finish the work.
With a minor adjustment to make with a tool at home, we drive home and rescue Sofi; then Dino drives back to finish the job and take photos. Spring is surely not far away, even if the reality is only in our dreams.
These are what Dino calls "the chocolate days", but I suppose it's only an expression to use if one loves chocolate. Every day is a chocolate day here for me; there is something to be happy about, even in the dreariest weather. Having an open window has something to do with it, I muse as I write.
We have so many leaves from the cachi tree that I think they will make good mulch. How about mulch for the roses? Then I look mulch up online and change my mind. It may suck up nutrients from the soil, and the fear of frost is probably behind us. So let's plod on without it, and Dino can see if he wants to begin composting again. All the leaves are now in the compost pile, but we are not good examples of successful composters. Sorry, Sarah.
The good news about our garden is that the one glicine (wisteria) that we thought was dead is beginning to show growth; not much growth, but some. Since these plants are tough, we'll press on, and see how it progresses during the year. Will we have flowers? Only one of eight plants has pods; one had pods but they dropped off. The plants on the terrace have never flowered. Mother Nature, what's up with our wisteria?
February 26
Wind is the order of the day, with trees and plants dancing to try keep out of the way of the gusts. Is this it? Will storms pass us? It's a good day to paint, and to get to the finish of the current painting.
If you've not had a look at Fortezza, the Brave Afghan Woman painting on ebay, take a look:
February 27
It's a gorgeous day with full sun, and it's even warm enough to open the windows. I take a deep breath and breathe out fresh air while listening to the birdsong and a neighbor or two in their ortos. It's heavenly.
I return to painting, finishing Mauro's dark blue shirt and his bald head. It's time to move to their jeans, so I adjust the cavalo (s ) and work my way down the painting. Mixing shades of blue and white, the dance begins...painting shadows and light reflections on jeans is fun, and it's not a precise step, although I must be aware where the light shines and the shadows appear.
Dino returns, works on making photographs to simulate the project we are hoping to undertake with Stefano, who will arrive before pranzo.
Dear Stefano is undergoing therapy for problems with his back, and is still in a lot of pain. He's a joy to work with, giving Dino suggestions regarding how to save money and do a fine job at the same time.
When he leaves, we have ideas to take to the geometra for a permit. Stefano can begin at the beginning of April, magari! (if only that were so), and in the meantime we will apply for the permit and take down the bay tree. We also can plant the glicine, so it has a chance to root before the hot summer months.
Since the bay tree is now taller than the house, removing the tree will take a gru and an earthmover. We're going to see if we can get a local worker to take on the project first, cutting the branches and the main trunk of the tree. Will we leave the roots of the tree? I hope not, but it that has to do with the difficulty of the work. Stay tuned for a project the neighbors will love to watch...
We leave to visit a man in Giove who has solar panels, and although we are not ready to put them on our house, need to do our homework.
Marco is a marvelous man, and speaks a little English, to boot. He's built a separate wooden structure on his property, and the solar panels will be installed on top. He thinks our roof is too small for solar panels, and that it makes better sense to have a larger space dedicated to it. He agrees to send us his documents to study, and we drive on to Pozzo Ciulino and Tenaglie to look at the progress of a few projects that Dino is managing.
Is it worth the initial investment, even though the organization that supplies the energy will pay us every two months for what we don't use? I think it does, but don't like the initial investment, although most banks will finance it, at around €280 a month.
Part of the answer has to do with an impossible conjecture...will the checks continue to arrive at the same level their contracts indicate in succeeding years? What if thousands of property owners in Italy installed solar panels? Would there still be good payback?
On the road across the valley, fruit tree are beginning to flower. What about our peach tree...and the two plum trees and the apple? With the good weather, it's time to spend more time dreaming outside and walking along the property.
So much green! With all the rain, this surely will be a luxurious spring. But back at home, non of our fruit trees are yet in flower...only the Viburnum in our garden is in flower, although bulbs are shooting up their green stalks.
February 28
We end the month with a huge windstorm, but the weather is not cold. Neighbors tell us it will rain, however; the wind here often brings rain from the West. Since temperatures have returned to double digits Centigrade (is it amazing that we now think in terms of Centigrade instead of Farenheit?), we may even pack away our warmest coats. Let's not be too hasty, for March is known for unreliable changes in weather.
Some fruit trees are in flower, as are the mimosas, those little yellow flowers celebrating women (the choice was obviously made by a man) and known to wreak havoc with allergies.
We return to Il Pallone for cappuccinos and cornetti glassata and grocery shopping. When we return, there are no hunters on the road and everything is moving in the wind. We understand the worst of the storm is in France.Only one small wrapped kumquat tree on our terrace has fallen, and its white winter wrap has protected it. The wind continues for hours...
This is the first winter in memory here that we have not planted seeds. We have found a variety of Italian tomato that we love, and can buy the plants already robust at the end of April. So we will have tomatoes from our garden, just not from seed.
I paint after pranzo while Dino takes a nap. I hope to finish the painting in the next few days. As we near the end, it's recommended that I paint in a suggestion of a tree. I like the idea, but it will take some thought not to overpower the characters in the center.
See you next month...
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