Some fixing up

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We have an amazing handy man. Roddy Gee. Send an email to me and I can share his details if you’re in Umbria. So nice to have a competent person to help around here with the many repairs and “improvements”.

The first picture is one of our planters. Made of masonry. Covered with stucco. Roddy scraped and repainted 2 years ago and then, like before, the moisture leached through the masonry and bubbled up the paint. Back in the U.S., we bought a sealant against moisture that went on the wall inside our basement. So I asked him to see if there was something like that here. This is the scraped, sealed and repainted planter. Looks nice. Now to see how long it lasts!

This next one is the cabinet whose door was ripped off in a windstorm. Roddy got new hinges and a new latch. All set for summer use!

Finally, my favorite thing. This wall was butt ugly. Dark gray paint which was bubbling up and waiting to slough off. I got the idea to cover it with a trellis. I asked Roddy about it. He found some panels that worked perfectly. Anyway, I find this so much warmer and inviting than that ugly wall. I can’t stop looking at it! PS, the pink was the former owners choice. I am not a pink person. Someday I’ll get that repainted.

We are enduring a very early heat wave in all of italy. Not quite as bad down here as further north in France, Germany, England, but still, a harbinger of things to come. Hope you’re having nice weather wherever you are! Ciao!

Pizza night

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Pizza night with friends! Our nearby Degusto pizzaria. The pizzas are stellar. The crust is stupendo. I love this place. Here are three of our pizzas,

We are having great weather now. It went from cold, wet spring to hot summer practically overnight. I’m fine with it! The orto did not like that cold, damp, gray weather. Now, with the hot sunshine things are starting to grow. I took some pictures, first my impromptu potato crop to be. They are doing great. Potatoes are easy to grow. The tomatoes are doing well. Two have baby tomatoes. I’m not sure about the third. It gets a bit less sun so maybe it will start to produce. The pepper is very slow to get going. Even with the sun it is not thriving. Crossing fingers. The basil was also affected by the weather but it may start growing now with the heat and sun. And all my herbs are looking great.

The poor jalapeño plant is in front of the tomatoes next to the white flower. It is tiny.

On Saturday night we joined Susan and Gary to celebrate their anniversary. They came from Florence for a couple nights in the Calagrana agriturismo. Our friends Christie and Jane also came and Jane surprised Christie with an overnight there too! Fun. The food, as always was great, as was the company.

Labor Day – May Day

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Friday was Labor Day in Europe. Also called May Day. I see the U.S. also had a big May Day walk out. Italy always has lots of strikes and also parades on this day. Umbertide always has a parade too. It’s made up of the labor unions and also lots of tractors all shiny and clean blowing their horns. The local mill is a union operation and all of its trucks rumbled past. Oh, and of course the Umbertide town band, who were sporting spiffy new uniforms. They actually seem to have improved a lot recently. They even had a few flags against the Iran war. They said “war is not our business”. Sentiment here is very high against that war. Here are a couple of pictures with captions.

Umbertide band.
The tractors. My favorite is the tiny Ape in the middle. He had a loud siren 😆
Big guy
That sign says War is not our business.

Diesel fuel is now up to 2.05€ a liter. That works out to about $9.50 a gallon. This is hurting a lot of people here. And the airlines are canceling lots of flights internal to Europe due to lack of jet fuel. Lufthansa canceled 20,000 flights. This will start to hurt the tourist industry hard. I read Americans are rethinking their plans to come to Europe. 20% have decided to wait. None of this is good for Europe. No wonder they are anti-US administration. Of course that administration is threatening to close the U.S. bases here because they won’t support the war that it started. Closing bases would hurt the U.S. more than Italy and Spain. The U.S. needs those bases. Enuf of that.
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Our weather is spectacular right now, the Umbrian countryside is verdant green. I had my inaugural Campari spritz of the season last night at Bar Mary in the Piazza with newly returned friends and friends of theirs who have come to visit. Lots of fun and laughter. Salute a tutti! 🍹🍹🍹

Umbria primavera.

Carabinieri

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A friend of ours related an amusing thing that I have to think would only happen here. First you must know it was her birthday. Second, know that here in Italy it is normal to be pulled over randomly by the Carabinieri for road checks. They want to see ID and registration. They check your tag on their computers for insurance, and whether the car tax was paid etc. and if everything is ok, they say “arrivederci”.

Our friend said, after she dropped off her husband at the train station, she was driving home and got pulled over by the Carabinieri, Italy’s military police. In her words they were “equipped with bullet proof vests, automatic weapons and those gorgeous uniforms. Serious as hell, but after checking my id’s and registration, came back to the car, and proceeded to sing happy birthday to me! Okay, that was a first!” Tell me folks, would this happen in your country? 😁

Screenshot from Pinterest

Spring days bring a few chores

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It is definitely primavera!. A perfect string of days. Sunny and in the 70s. What more can we ask? It made me want to plant my vegetables, herbs and flowers for this year. Here is one of my ferns. They aren’t called fiddleheads for nothing!

Last week we went to our local plant store — and well, just about everything else. But I had no luck finding what I wanted. I did buy bags of dirt so I wouldn’t go home empty-handed. Yesterday I decided to drive up to Città di Castello, about 20 minutes north. There is a viviao there called Mariottini. They have good quality plants and they usually have what I’m looking for. Yesterday it was especially tomatoes and Jalapeños. Also herbs and a few flowers.

Bingo, I found three pomodori and a pepper plant. The jalapeño was one of only three left. They had tons of habaneros and Carolina reapers and the like, but I wanted jalapeños this year. It is fun that they have these since, as a rule, Italians aren’t into hot food. I also got sage, rosemary, basil, mint and 3 daisy type flowers in different colors. The tomatoes I chose were a Buffalosteak, Fantasio and Honey Moon. No idea except from the pictures what they will be like. I knew I didn’t want Romas and I didn’t want cherry tomatoes.

This is Orto 2026. This bed has the basil, pepper and tomatoes. Check out the cool tomato cages I bought. I hope they will support the soon to be heavy vines.

I also, on a whim I decided to stick a few potatoes that I had that had sprouted into some unused planters. I’ve grown potatoes once before and it is fun to dig up your own new potatoes. Well, they started growing happily so we shall await the results. here are three.

I had ordered a new pump for the piccolo pond. This time I got what I wanted. I didn’t want a fountain, I wanted to create a little waterfall, which I did. I made a video, but for some reason it doesn’t work.
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For a treat for Luther I got a whole duck. He, for some reason, loves them. I cooked it a couple days ago. Sorry, I had to show you how they are sold here. A bit strange, but the good news is, I could use the extra “bits” to make a rich stock, which I did today, plus the carcass.

Tonight we had Left Over Roasted Duck Soup. I made the broth over six hours. Then I added cabbage and after it cooked I added ramen noodles. I rewarmed the duck and added it along with more slivered cabbage for crunch and some spring onions. It was pretty good for a left over type dinner.

I leave you with a pretty sunset we enjoyed tonight.

Buona domenica a tutti!

Something new to come I hope!

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A couple of months ago I saw an ad in Facebook. I NEVER respond to ads there, but this one was different, it specified only people in the Alta Valle del Tevere should respond. That is me! And it was by a local farmer and entrepreneur who was starting something similar in our valley to a CSA (community supported agriculture).

In the U.S.. I used to be a member of a CSA, and it was a lot of fun to pick up my veggies once a week. The good thing for the farmers in the U.S. is that all the shareholders pay an annual fee for whatever produce grows that year. So if the farmer has a bad year, the shareholders take the hit. It is guaranteed income for the farmer.

Here they will deliver to my home (!) which is much easier, and it will be about 7kg of veggies every two weeks starting in June. That’s about 15.5 lbs. The cost will be 23€ (about $27) each delivery. We can’t choose what we get. That’s always been ok with me because I love figuring out how to use it all.

He has a network of farmers who will be growing specified crops just for those of us who subscribed. The list of subscribers filled up fast and he closed the subscriptions. He is very eco friendly, it is all bio, and he wants it to have minimal waste. He contacted me today and wanted a final confirmation, which I did. He will now be meeting with farmers to decide who grows what because the season is just beginning.

I’m excited for a new thing in my life here. You all know I love to cook and experiment, and I love locally grown food that is chemical free and super fresh. I will be posting pictures in June of my first delivery, but for now, here is a picture of a typical CSA box in the U.S.

Photo courtesy of The Sprice Eats.

Buona Pasqua!

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This is Easter weekend. As I’ve always said, I’m not religious but enjoy the season. We are going to Calagrana for Easter lunch. That will be a treat. The weather has made a welcome turn for the better so it will be sunny and warm for the holiday.

Buona Pasqua a tutti. 💕

Easter week

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This is Easter week. Lot of religious things on the religious calendar. I am not religious, but I enjoy learning about things. There will be the usual Good Friday procession in Centro. Sunday is Easter. Everyone either goes out to eat, go to family homes, or make a feast themselves. After all, Lent has ended so it’s ok to pig out! Speaking of which, we have reservations at Calagrana with friends. This is the official opening of the summer season. The weather doesn’t seem to know that though.

Last week we had snow. It snowed hard for three hours, then turned to rain. It was pretty while it was happening. The mountains are still snowcapped. This from our terrace.

Today, we had a really nice lunch with our friends Steve and Roselyne. We decided on a very traditional, family owned place where they serve delicious, very traditional Umbrian food. There are fireplaces in the dining rooms so on a blustery and cold day like today they were welcomed. We’ve been coming here for 12+ years and it is not different food wise, but their two sons now work there. In the past Mom recited the food choices that day. Now one son speaks English and can do it in English which would be good if we ever took guests there. All of us today speak Italian reasonably well so we would have had no issue but it’s nice they can do this now. They have a ton of animals there. Outside there are chickens galore and peacocks. Inside there was a calico cat who had pride of place beside the fire. She also was an accomplished beggar.

We returned home and the wind and rain were fierce. We were full of wonderful food so we took a nap. While we did so the wind wrecked havoc on the terrace. It actually blew the entire sofa across the space it moved a glass topped table! And it ripped a door off the outside cabinet. I was amazed!

Trust me, this is NOT where this sofa was, or should be!

I am sure Spring will come back. Who knows when? But it will. Today, on the way home I grabbed couple pictures of a field of rapeseed plants. So pretty and yellow!

Buona Pasqua to everyone, even those who aren’t religious, like me.

Cortona wine

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Yesterday we got off our winter asses and decided to visit a vineyard. I had been wanting to explore more of the Cortona wine region, yes there is one, and it is the only place they produce the DOC Syrah wines in Italy. It was only a 50 minute drive. And a very pleasant one at that.

Y’all probably know of Cortōna from “Under the Tuscan Sun”, the book and movie, but you probably don’t know it’s history. It is a Tuscan hill town now, but started out in about 800BC as an Etruscan city/state. It was part of Umbria. It was conquered by Rome in 310BC. Then, it was destroyed by the Goths in around 500AD. The city emerged as a Ghibelline city-state in the 13th century. Subsequently it was ruled by the Ranieri-Casali family from 1325 to 1409. Interestingly the Ranieri family was very important in the Umbertide area and the family castle is still here and hosts artists all summer. Associated with the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in NYC. Then , — and this is my favorite part — it was bought (bought!🤣) by the Medici family in 1411. It remained under Florence’s influence until the unification of Italy.

But now let’s explore Cortona wines. In Cortona, the hills and plains provide a good climate for grape growing. As always there are different growing conditions in different parts of Cortona. Cortona is not just the hill town and the slopes, but its surrounding area on the flat plain of Lake Trasimeno. Lots of sunshine tempered by cooling influences at night. The plain has sandstone underlying the soil from the Mesozoic era which influences the wines.

This is the plain I was talking about but you can see the mountains in the distance. That’s where the hill town is.
Plains.

Most of the varieties set out in the DOP regulations in Tuscany today are “international” varieties. Cortona wines are overwhelmingly varietal (as in local), and labeled as such under the DOC law. The winery we visited Baldetti which is in the flat plain below Cortona but still in the Cortona Comune. The grapes they use are Syrah, which makes up the majority of the region’s plantings, as well as Merlot, and the Tuscan staple Sangiovese.

Baldetti was easy to reach on the flat plain. They had a nice tasting room and the property was lovely. Our host was Desiree who was fluent in English and Italian. There were three people already there so we joined them. They were all men, one lived nearby in the town of Tuoro, and the other two were visiting him, one from New York and the other Toronto. All spoke Italian so we had the tasting in Italian. We tasted a white and then three reds. One Sangiovese and the other two primarily Syrah. Their production is really tiny. We bought 6 of the white and 6 of one of the Syrahs. There was a huge difference between them, the one we picked was softer and more food friendly. Ready to drink now.

it was a lovely outing which we hope to do more often. So much to still explore around here!

It’s quiz night! And it is March!

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I am celebrating spring. The cherry trees are blooming and the Mimosa. The Japanese magnolia, always first, is blooming everywhere. Most of the trees have obvious buds now. The weather is springlike with cool temperatures and showers interspersed with sun.

We had a meet up for Sunday pranzo with my friend Doug up in his amazing home. It was the gang of six. A perfect day and we welcomed primavera. It was the final day of the Olympics and he made the signature dish from the north of Italy which was served everywhere from the cafeterias at the Olympic village to 3 Star Michelin restaurants in Milan. It is called Pizzoccheri and is made with buckwheat pasta (homemade by Doug), potatoes, garlic cheese topped by butter. A real calorie bomb. But good! 😋 plus a refreshing salad to make up for it and a beautiful lemon tart. Thanks Doug for a fun time and it was lovely seeing the “gang”.

I have been out and about a bit. I went into centro last week and met up with the local cat carer, who is also a lawyer. She has 7 cats of her own but cares for the Umbertide registered feral cat colony which presently numbers about 40. She was sweet. I gave a donation for one of the ferals who is in the clinic and sick. No one knows if he will make it. We met at Bar Mary, where else? One of the houses erected for the colony. Photo by Marta.

And here is a pic of the Saturday action, along with a tree the likes of which I have never seen.

Tuesday night was the Quiz Night benefit for Books For Dogs. They have it in a local restaurant. The questions are in English. It always sells out. It is very fun and we have a team, this time it is all Americans. I think. Two people are new to me. We are at a disadvantage since the questions are compiled by a British person and they can be British centric. So best to have a Brit or two on the team. It is all for fun and a good cause so who really cares. The tickets get you a free wine and some snacks. Here are some pics of the action.

They had this amazing pot of pansies outside, so petty that I had to take a picture.
The players.
One part is id identifying pictures of famous people. Harder when they have masks.
You play the joker for double points on the round at which you feel the most competent.
The bar area. Grace is the restaurant that hosts us. It is a nice local restaurant.

Sadly our team, Perché, came in last. Next time we will have to try to find a few other nationalities to join up with.

Today I went to my first session of private PT. I came to the conclusion I need some help to strengthen my muscles. My therapista is Ricardo. He was quite nice and we communicated in mostly my poor Italian. The words used in this new activity are new to me so I did a lot of improvisation. I now have a program, and “compiti” — “homework”. I vow I will exercise everyday. Another appointment next week,

Happy primavera a tutti!