Today, I had an Italian moment. It seems every neighbor was washing sheets. I have three clotheslines on a balcony which is five stories above the ground. It is in full sun and does the drying job nicely. I went out to take in my sheets and saw our across-the-hall neighbor, Helene, was hanging her sheets out too. Then I looked left and the two women on the two balconies next to us were ALSO hanging sheets. It was kind of fun as we all said ciao to one another. I hadn’t seen the two left hand neighbors. I did know the ones right next to us are the parents of Helene. And grandparents of her two girls. One of my lines broke today. So I guess they all need replacing. 240cm x 3. I need to get new line and also clamps to hold them tight.
As the title of the post says, it is autumn! The autumnal light never disappoints. I love how the shadows slant. Everything becomes clearer. I also could tell it is autumn by the produce in the market now. Since I was away on the Ireland trip the produce has changed. I like I can tell what part of the year I am in by what is on offer.
Saturday I went to our little local market. I bought peppers, potatoes, zucchini, an acorn squash, beatole, onions, leeks, and some of the last of the tomatoes. Here are a few pictures of the produce and the piazza. It was buzzing with activity.
I made my first soup of the season. A minestrone. Chock full of vegetables. I was ready for a bowl of soup.
It is an August Saturday in Umbertide. As I always do on Saturday, I went in to the market. It is brimming with summer produce. I bought a bunch of tomatoes, zucchini, a big beet, lettuce, and half a sugar baby watermelon from one vendor, oh, and ten eggs from the nice Sardinian cheese lady. Eggs are sold in different amounts in the stores here. They sell them in a four pack, and in a ten pack. In the market you can just say how many you want. Like six, or three. I bring a box for them to use. Eggs are not refrigerated here because they are not washed. They leave the film that coats them when they are laid which keeps the bacteria out. Although sometimes, when it is very hot, I will pop them in the refrigerator to extend their life.
Here are some pictures of my town and of the market starting with my entering the centro. The Rocca, our fortress, there since the 800s, dominates the town.
Entering Piazza Matteotti the market tents take up the square.
The vegetables and fruits are beautiful! All the summer fruits. The peaches are in now, the pears just beginning, and the plums! Roma tomatoes dominate but some stands still have salad tomatoes.
There are vendors selling other things as well. All must be produced/made by the vendor. This first is the dried legumes for which Umbria is famous. The next one is the black summer truffles for which Umbria is ALSO very famous. Then jams and honeys.
This ceramics guy is always here. I have one or two of his pieces. They are made here in town.
Back home with my treasures I finished the tomato tart I had begun early this morning. I made the pastry and refrigerated it. When I got home I finished it and popped it into the oven. It heated up the house somewhat but not too bad. Since I had the oven on and heated I popped the big beet I had bought in to roast. It will make a nice salad with feta and toasted nuts. Here is the finished tart. A David Leibovitz recipe.
We will have the tart with a small salad and a bowl of the cold tomato soup that I made earlier in the week. Vegetarian to make up for the steak extravaganza last night! 😁
Maybe you all don’t use or like sweet pickle relish but our household always has it, and so did my Mother’s. We use it in tuna salad, chicken salad and potato salad. Thing is, you won’t find anything remotely like it here. Also you’ll never find nice dill pickles. Alas. So we make our own. I say we, because Luther uses it a lot in tuna salad so I told him there is a TON of chopping so you can help. And he does. He has gotten very good at the peppers.
Luther’s peppersCucumbers, cetrioli in Italian.Soaking in brine.Finito!
This is only one of the things we want that are not available here. I make my own ranch dressing too, because dressing isn’t a “thing” here. There are not shelves full of different salad dressings. In Italy it is oil and vinegar and that’s it.
I also make Bisquick from scratch. That’s probably weird but it is useful in some things I make. I make my own fish fry to coat fish. Buttermilk is not available here, but it’s really easy to make. I am sure there are more! ~~~~~~~ We are still living our heat spell — it has to have been three weeks solid (maybe four) with the exception of that one day of rain. It is said to be because of an African heat dome that is stuck. Here’s the forecast for the next 7 days…and it goes on after that. 🥵. 38C is 100.4F.
I got out early this morning to show some people an apartment that my friend, who lives in Wales now, is renting. Piazza Matteotti was deserted. But cool at 8:30. I said hi to Irene at Bar Mary, and my friend Angelo at his Alimentari. Nice to see old friends. Miss them!
Finally a little about the garden. Being on the roof and in full sun the tomatoes are suffering. I got past the blossom end rot problem with extra calcium. I water twice a day. Still they look like they are miserable. I need a sun shade or something. My first year is an experiment for sure. There are quite a few tomatoes but they are small. They taste really sweet though.
I will leave you with a picture of my kumquat tree which is doing really well. She seems to really like the sun. She’s covered with sweet smelling blossoms…and the blossoms are covered with…honey bees! (You can see one bottom center).
It is pouring outside! It has been dastardly hot and this so so refreshing. Also, as always, it has been very dry. I opened the windows. I’m upstairs where I can hear the rain pounding on the roof and on the awning. It just feels so wonderful. We have had 3 or 4 weeks of super hot, as in the upper nineties to one hundred. No break. And it is predicted to continue for two more weeks. So this wonderful storm is very welcome. It will continue for a few hours.
Dinner a couple nights ago, butter tomato sauce pasta. The Roma tomatoes are now in season. I like to make this sauce and freeze it for winter use but here is some I made today.
A couple other interesting observations that I forgot to mention in the trip report. One is the cash economy in Germany. We never encountered as many restaurants that would only take cash. Even in Italy, supposedly more backward than Germany I don’t know of any restaurant that won’t take a credit card. Second one was also about how you can pay. This time, in the Cologne Cathedral, we noticed that if you wanted to light a candle for a loved one or send up a prayer, they DO take a credit card! 🙂 How progressive of the Catholic Church! But in Boppard, to park in any of the pay lots you must have change. No bills accepted, and no cards. How odd. ~~~~~~~ It is still quite hot here. Running from 35 to 37 each day for at least the next two weeks. That’s 95-99 for those who are metric challenged. We do have to run errands but wow! So hot. It really takes it out of you. Yesterday we went to the local market in the piazza. Then to buy a crate of fizzy water, and finally to the grocery store to stock up. We were both whipped when we got home.
I have a sad tomato story. Last post I did on them they were looking good. But now I must report the tomatoes are ripening with blossom end rot. I found if I picked the tomato when it was just beginning to ripen I could still use them. But many I couldn’t do that with. I read it was a lack of calcium in the soil so I have been feeding them with calcium plant food. Also some people say too much water can inhibit the absorption of the calcium, but it is just so freaking hot on that terrace in the full sun, if they aren’t watered they shrivel up and look pathetic. I am cutting back a little on the water. Anyway here is a bowl of the ones I did get that are fine.
We have a new wine bar in the Centro! Labrusca Wine Bar. Right next to La Rocca, our fortress. Run by a couple of young ragazzi. They feature lots of local Umbria wines, many we had not heard of. Also artisan local beer, and very delicious snacks. They have a small plate menu as well. There is a beer fest in town now too, called UmBEERtide! So they weren’t serving the menu. We met up with Jane and Christie at the new bar last evening. Always nice to have a new place in town.
Photo credit Michaël Cloet
Today is Sunday. We had a lunch planned with our Canadian friend Karen, at Calagrana. She is a teacher and every summer she comes and stays (mostly) in Tuscany. So we get together. She loves Calagrana. Our main courses. I forgot to photo the starter of grilled peaches, cherry tomatoes, with ham and buratta. So good.
Tagliatelle with trufflesFegato (liver) with potato puree. I love liver and this was superb.Baby chicken.
…and for our salad tonight, borlotti beans from the local market which just came in season. In English they are cranberry beans. Too bad they turn brown when cooked! But they taste great!
Ciao for now! Stay cool all y’all! (That’s the Virginia in me coming out! 🤣)
I realize it has been a while since I posted. Things are a bit slow here right now. Doing the usual dentist appointments and stuff. The tomatoes are in and I am enjoying them as I am sure all of you who read this regularly will know. My own tomato plants are looking great and have lots of fruit so soon, I will have my own crop! Exciting. Our weather has been really nice the last couple days. Highs in the eighties. Just right.
I visited the big market this morning to get my semi-weekly supply of tomatoes and was simply floored by the number of English speakers that were there. The summer season is definitely here. We also went grocery shopping this morning and were astounded by all the languages. Everyone comes and rents, or have summer houses which need to be equipped so the groceries are the place they all must go! I kind of like all the hubbub. ~~~~~~~~ The oopsy — A couple days ago, we were upstairs and I heard a loud bang outside. Curious I went to see. Looks like a small accident. Couldn’t be sure who did what but seems the BMW rear ended the Mini who had pulled into a parking spot. The Carabinieri came and so did lots of spectators. Created quite the traffic jam.
Last night we were privileged to meet some of the family of our friends Christie and Jane. There were twelve of them, so quite a handful. Last night was a re-affirmation of vows for Christie’s daughter and son-in-law. We didn’t participate but we loved being included. We sat at our own table and the party of 12 sat next to us. Our friends Manuele and Barbara and their sons also came. So nice to see them. Manuele was our Geometra on the first renovation we did. Here are a few pictures and a short video.
View from the dining terrace. Can anything be more beautiful?
We had a nice time and I loved watching them all dig right into the great food at Ristorante Agriturismo Calagrana. ~~~~~~~~ We are getting ready for another trip. This one to Germany, our old stomping grounds from back when we lived there. We are meeting up with our friends Kaye and Jeff, and Steve and Shiromi, all Australians we haven’t seen since pre-Covid. We will be staying on the Rhine River in the most picturesque part, the Rhine Gorge. We leave July 15.
Happy Fourth of July to all my American peeps!! 🇺🇸
Yes! It is summer! For better or for worse. Wednesday we had our first hot day 39C or 102.2F. We seldom use our air conditioning. We only have two units anyway, and they are old. We keep cool the old fashioned way — shutter management and fans.
We close all shutters around 11am. Making it dark inside. In the evening, after sunset, we open all the windows and shutters and let the cool evening air come in. We place fans in the windows to pull in the cool air. This makes the house very comfortable all night. Next morning, when we close up we keep all the cool inside. Works well. Every now and then it will just get too hot for too long and then it can get tough.
My orto is doing pretty well. I planted seven tomato plants of all sorts from seed. They are now happily growing in the new planters I have. Today I spied my first baby tomatoes. All the herbs are doing well except the rosemary which has croaked. Don’t know why. Basil is big and bushy. The little jalapeño I got is struggling for unknown reasons. But it does have quite a few peppers on it.
Qua and Quo, our fishes are doing well. If you’ve been reading this for long you’ll know last year we got three fishes for a small “pond” I made, Qui, Qua, and Quo. Qui unfortunately died of unknown causes. The other two are doing well and getting quite fat. Especially Quo.
This week has been busy! I had a final dentista appointment Monday. Then we met some new friends in the piazza at Bar Mary for caffè on Tuesday. Afterwards we shopped for groceries because we were having friends over for lunch Wednesday. Then, Tuesday night was quiz night, a benefit for a local charity called Books for Dogs/Libri per i cani. They have one every other month. We have a team. So we always attend. It is a British founded charity to support two canile (kennels) that take in abandoned dogs. One has 250! Very sad for the animals. Then our friends came for lunch which was fun.
It is now tax time here in Italy. We visited our Commercialista today. It is not my favorite time of course. I doubt I have talked much about this. Once you’re a resident here you are liable to pay income tax on your worldwide income. This includes a wealth tax and taxes on investments as well as social security and other income. The tax rates are higher here, but I reckon it all works out in the end because we have no property tax, nor state tax, and health care fees are negligible. We must file in the U.S. but we pay no taxes there because of the Italian/US tax treaty. I truly believe if a person wants to come live here they should contribute to the system, and pay for all the things they are enjoying.
I also met with Irma (our architect) to begin a new project. All three baths here are probably circa 1980, when this place was built. So they sorely need an update. We decided to start with the guest bath. It has an old shower which is the one we use because the bigger family bath has only a tub. We will rearrange the room. We will remove a laundry sink which we don’t use, and the bidet. This will be the spot for a new, bigger shower. I want a seat built in. And we both want a rain shower with separate squirter. Then the sink will move into the present shower spot. Probably two sinks. And the toilet will get updated plumbing from the old overhead tank. The dark blue tiles which go nearly to the ceiling will go and we will have a half wall of probably white subway tiles I think. Who knows when we can begin, but it will eventually get done. As always here in Italy, piano, piano!
Friday was our anniversary. We had a good lunch at San Giorgio in the Piazza to celebrate.
We, unfortunately have the horrible Saharan sand in our air again. This is the sunset Friday.
Luckily, today, Saturday, the air has wonderously cleared. It is not as hot either. A gorgeous day. The high will be about 82. There’s a nice breeze. Being market day I decided to walk into town and see if there are tomatoes yet.
Along the way.It was bustling. I got there at 9:30.
😃 YES! I see my first caprese salad in my future!
And I got all of this. I was in time for fresh eggs. The gigantic garlic is called Aglione. Which means big garlic! It is used in pasta dishes. Milder than the smaller bulbs.
My friend Doug and I like to go to the Iris farm over in the Niccone valley every spring to admire the blooms and lovely gardens. It is called IrisUmbria. It is open on weekends in May.
Casale – main farmhouse – and upper fields.
~~~~~~~~ As an addendum to my Trip Report on Albania. Many people said they’d never go after reading it. I didn’t mean to put people off. The people are so very nice, the prices are so very low. The food is good. Fresh seafood is wonderful. The towns very pretty. The beaches are pristine. If you hike, the Albanian Alps are amazing and attract a lot of hikers. I feel for the people there. They had a very hard time so are a bit behind the rest of the former communist countries who didn’t live under as cruel a regime as the Albanese. It is so near Italy. We will go back, this time to a beach off season. It is just next to Greece and it’s beaches just as nice and at way less than half the price! Give it a try. Another thing that is of interest is that it is not Schengen. This makes it a place to go if you’re trying to do the Schengen shuffle. I will write about the Schengen Shuffle soon.
This past week we were invited to a birthday party for a young woman turning 18. Her parents threw a big party with a full five course dinner for seventy of her friends. They are our adopted Italian family. Vera and Graziano. I really enjoyed watching the young people. Beautiful in the flush of youth. Wearing all kinds of things… much flesh exposed! The meal was good, a lot of food but fortunately you could turn down a course if you wanted, and I did! Pictures with captions next.
Birthday girl. She has the most amazing red hair. Really sets her apart. She is pretty, AND super smart.Vera and Graziano, mom and dad.The adult tableThe kidsKids
~~~~~~~ Then the dread intervento happened on Thursday. I went to the hospital early, around eight. They immediately rushed me in and I changed into the hospital clothes. They covered me with a shiny blanket and I was wheeled to the surgery floor.
I gotta say, all the people (nurses, anesthesiologist, medics) were so nice and friendly. Happy to talk about where I was from, to tell me about their families who lived in the U.S. One, a nurse with raccoon eyes she had on so much makeup, told me, upon learning I was from near Washington DC, that her daughter lived in Walla Walla and did I know it. The explanation that it was Washington State and not DC which were on different coasts was hilarious. So I was well entertained while I waited. I will add, no one spoke any English. The norm for hospitals here.
All went well and when I woke I had a real scare because my throat closed up and I couldn’t breath. Probably because of the removal of the tubes. It subsided with oxygen. Whew. Back in my room I slept. The doctor came later to explain the findings. I had two different infections. One fungal in my cheek area and one bacterial behind my eye. The issue in my lower sinus in the cheek was a “fungal ball”. Like it has colonized and rearranged the furniture in there to make itself at home… but this also enabled a bacterial infection to get in the cavity which is right behind my left eye. He said that was more dangerous because it could have affected my eye or gone into my brain. So I am glad I got it done.
I have some pictures of my room. It was for two but it was all mine. It also had another whole room with a sofa. The nurse who brought me in said it was my “suite”. After procedures which was painless I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything hot. Nor was I allowed a hot shower on my head. So dinner came and it was puréed vegetable soup. They told me I couldn’t eat anything hot but this soup was piping hot. I asked if it was a mistake. No. I just needed to let it get cold. 🙄 OK then. It wasn’t very good cold. But I was famished so I ate it. Next morning breakfast. I had a choice of tea or milk. I decided on tea. But of course it was very hot. Another wait for it to cool. Sigh.
My roomThe “suite”Cold, but meant to be hot, soup. Horrible.
Back home on Friday and return Sunday then again next Thursday to find out the lab results and future treatments if any. Following instructions. Still not eating anything warm. I miss my coffee. ~~~~~~~~ Saturday we went to a celebration of life for a friend here in Umbertide. John Littlewood. An artist and illustrator with a rich and full life. He was British and his wife is American. They started their own businesses and lived all over the world. In the end Umbertide welcomed him. He was an old world gentleman. Friends with all. My memory of him in the piazza always walking to Bar Mary for his caffè will endure. The celebration was in his small gallery in town. It was packed. He was well loved and will be missed. I plan to buy some of his art as I never have and I do like it a lot.
Next big thing is the kitchen comes on Monday and will be installed Monday and Tuesday, All the players will be here, electrician, plumber, carpenters, work crew. It should be finished and usable this week. Exciting.
The weather is summery. Highs about 80. Really nice. There is a street food fest in town on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Looks good. And here is a picture of a park near the Rocca.
We are home in time for the Easter festivities. We have the misfortune to have a cyclone that is carrying Saharan dust high into the atmosphere and the sky is a murky mess. Cars and surfaces are coated with sand. The weak sun tries but it’s too much for it. This dust is spreading all over Europe even up into Germany.
Today was Pasquetta. It is traditional that the Italians make a picnic and enjoy the outdoors. It was horrible and murky to start with. You couldn’t see any distance really. Then we had a good steady rain all afternoon. It washed all the murk away! We enjoyed a fine lunch at Calagrana with good friends. Four courses plus a cocktail and snack. Many dishes had spring veggies like sweet fresh peas and fava beans. Delicious. This photo is after the storm but it doesn’t do justice to the brilliant red we had.
I went to the Otorino last week (ENT doctor) for a private consult. I have a bad infection, no doubt. He gave me antibiotics and nose spray and scheduled the operation. He is at a private hospital. Private hospitals are required to take some public patients so we checked availability and it would be September (!) before I could go in on the public system. So Luther and I opted to pay for it. TBH it isn’t that expensive. €2,500 all tolled. Includes one overnight and the operation and follow up if needed. I am pretty miserable and would love to feel better after over six months of this. I will report on the experience.
