Category Archives: garden

M.I.A

6 Replies

Ciao ragazzi! I know, I know and I feel really bad about being Missing-In-Action. But I have some pretty good excuses 😉. First off, I have had, and still am having issues with the website. It is down intermittently and this makes it hard to make updates. I am still working with my ISP. They are pretty inept.

Then, I got a mean virus that was going around. Not COVID. But that is going around here too. I ran a high fever, 102F or 38.9C. That is higher than most fevers I have had. I had a headache and intestinal upset. I took ibuprofen and checked in with my medico who said it was going around and she had many patients with the same symptoms. After 3 days the fever and headache subsided but the intestinal upset lasted a week. The worst was that, unlike most weekends, we had a lot of plans for this one. I, sadly, missed our entire Otto Cento festa. I had, planned to meet new residents and friends to show them around. Luther had to be my stand-in. But they got me some pretty sunflowers to cheer me up. 🙂. Then, Sunday, we had plans for lunch with our lunch bunch, the gang o six in Montefalco at our favorite restaurant, L’Alchemista. That, too had to be canceled.

Anyway, all that is past and since then we had our annual street fair which is non-stop vendors from the train station past our house. Probably 10 blocks. I watched from our aerie. And once I got over my malady I began to cook again. I had had no appetite during the illness. I grilled a few times outside on the wood fired BBQ. A whole grilled fish one night and I got very adventurous and made a Lebanese dinner. I made home made pitas which cannot be found here. They were good enough for my first try. And with them we had tzatziki and fresh tomatoes with sliced new onions and a kebab of spiced ground beef and pork. It should’ve been lamb but well, that’s not easy to find. I grilled the kebabs and it was a yummy dinner, and different!

I worked a shift at Books for dogs and someone donated some art which I really liked, so I bought two. I love them.

I always grow a pepper plant or two. This year I tried Tabasco. Tiny little heat bombs. I’ve been tossing them into stews etc and they really perk it up. The photo is after I harvested most of the ripe red ones, which were many. My tomato plants are still producing but have slowed down. The Sicilian one gives lots of small tomatoes. The beefsteak gave a lot of big juicy tomatoes but now it has stopped. There are a number of still growing green ones that I hope will mature. Our weather is the terrific autumn weather we always get here. Our fall season is long and perfect.

Last week we attended the annual silent auction that is held by Books for Dogs every year. They get donations all year and save the best ones for the auction. It was combined with a wine tasting. I had not been to one before. They published a catalog so I had picked out a couple things I was interested in and I was successful. I bought a pretty agate and glass vintage necklace, and a contemporary carved stone rhinoceros. It weighs 3 kilos. I have another soapstone collection of Inuit soapstone carvings and this reminded me of them, but much larger.

We have a few things planned for the future. We rescheduled our lunch with the Gang for the 21st. And we will finally get to Calagrana with other friends we haven’t seen in a while. Tomorrow we are trying a restaurant nearby we have not ever been to. We will enjoy this gorgeous fall weather. I hope you do too, wherever you are! Ciao amici!

Terrazzo update

10 Replies

Hi everyone 😊 This is an update on stuff outside. It’s really hot now so I spend my mornings out on the Terrazzo. It is cool and there is usually a breeze. I had to deep six one of my tomato plants because it was diseased. Sad. But we still have two. They look good and have some nice fruit. Second picture is a sprinkler I got. I’m having problems with the irrigation system in this bed and have a call in to our gardener who installed the system many years ago. I like the sprinkler. I got happily all wet trying to adjust it. 😎

The fish FINALLY woke from their long winter nap. We still have Qua. But the other two are new and small and have no names. I do like watching them play.

Some other pictures of plants. I put captions on them.

These are the lavenders. White and purple. And the red maple at the end.
This fern was nearly killed by an invasive plant but seems to be making a comeback. And the impatien is pretty.

Here is where I sit in the morning when it’s cool. I like to look at the surrounding mountains. Pretty.

Finally, a funny story. There are these big bottles used for wine here. Called demijohns in English. Damigiana in Italian. They used to be common and found in the recycle centers, tossed away. It seems now they are scarce and they are sold for a good price mostly among us immigrants. Anyway, I was driving back from errands and I saw an old man crossing the road near our house with a big, green demijohn. He was headed for the glass recycle receptacle. I made a quick turn around and sped back. Lucky for me the bottle wouldn’t fit and he was just leaving it. I asked if I could have it and he happily gave it to me apologizing because it was dirty and saying I needed a plastic cap. He assumed I was using it for wine. Anyway. Here is my prize, all cleaned up.

Today is laundry day. Did you know power is less expensive on Sundays and in the middle of the night in Italy? Yes, it is. Being summer, I no longer use the drier. Everything dries on the rack outside in minutes. Solar drying 😁 These just came inside so I can fold in the cool inside. The sheets smell like sunshine! ☀️

Cataract surgery

12 Replies

I will relate the entire story. I visited the local Occulista here in Umbertide that I used once before for a checkup. She said I needed surgery because I have cataracts in both eyes. She recommended two doctors. I opted for Dotoressa Ricci who would give me an appointment in Città di Castello north of us a short distance. She gave me the option of getting in the queue for the operation in the National Health system (free), or to pay private. The differences were, for the public system 1) I would have to wait a year or more, and 2) I wouldn’t get a choice of the type of lens they implanted. For going private, 1) I get the operation now and 2) I get the exact lens that will correct my astigmatism and remove the cataract. I opted to pay private. The cost was €2,000 for all. Including follow-ups.

The operation took place this week on Tuesday in a private clinic in a town called Gualdo Tadino. It is a 50 minute drive, but it is a very pretty drive so… The actual procedure was not fun. I don’t know how it is done in the U.S. Maybe someone can tell me. It took maybe 20 minutes. And I went home to do drops for a month. I had to wear dark glasses inside and out.

Today was my “after surgery checkup”. This time in the Gubbio – Gualdo Tadino hospital. All of these facilities are unknown to me. I was surprised that the hospital was quite modern and new. It was also in what I would call the “middle of nowhere”. It is nice they have a good medical facility out there.

I had to wait for an hour for the doc to see me. But it was all good news. I can see well from this eye. I need to get my glasses refitted to have plain glass instead of prescription. I’m cleared to drive and do anything I want. One more post op checkup and I’m done. Second eye we will do in September. Summertime is fun time here. We are all going places and doing things. So no business to be done! I love this summer vacation mindset.
~~~~~~~~~
A little side step. I always loved, and used the Miracle Grow pellets back in the U.S. for my plants. But I just couldn’t find them here. Most things are liquid and you mix with water. I like the time release ones. Finally I managed to enter the right parameters and I found this…

Literally crescita miracolosa. Means … miracle grow!

Busy Saturday

2 Replies

Lots going on in Umbertide today! I headed into the center of town to visit the market and also to do a short shift at Books for Dogs. I had forgotten that Sunday was the big, exciting day when the Giro d’Italia goes through town. See the banner below. It is a very famous bicycle race. Almost as famous as the Tour de France. Of course, ours is more important HERE. The cleaner up people were out mowing grass all along the route. Including the park next to the river.

It was a pretty day. The market was busy. Slow Food had a booth open. I bought some asparagus, spring onions, baby zucchini and some itty bitty new potatoes. But there was lots I didn’t buy, like new peas and fava beans. And the brand new local artichokes! It is so nice to see all these new spring veggies after a long winter of the same old winter veg. Inspiring.

I did my stint at Books for Dogs. A busy day. Now that the weather is nicer more folks come out. A couple of pictures of the goods. The winter things are gone and we are ready for the summer.

text

In my own garden I took a couple pictures. The first is our Christmas tree. He is spending his summer on the terrazzo and seems quite happy, judging from all the new growth. The next photo is the lemon tree with all its flowers. it also is very happy. And last is a teensy, tiny lemon just forming from the flower. There are probably a hundred flowers so it is not possible for them all to become mature lemons, as time goes by, some fall off.

I am feeling better from my cough. So happy. I even have energy to do some gardening. I planted another tomato, this one Sardinian with a darker skin colour. I also planted a tabasco pepper because I couldn’t get a Jalapeño. They had scotch bonnets and habaneros but I didn’t want those. I also got two basil plants. Next week flowers, chives, sage will come.

Buona domenica to all.

Bathroom

4 Replies

Hi everyone! I haven’t written a post for a while. I’ve been a bit busy with doctor appointments. I mentioned one small thing I wondered if there was medication for to my doctor. Well, from there it has spiraled right down the rabbit hole!

First, I will say I am feeling just fine so don’t worry. A couple small things not quite normal in my blood tests led to further blood tests and I mentioned my sister is being treated for Multiple Myeloma right now which does raise my risk level. So in an abundance of caution she recommend I visit a hematologist. Which I did last week. She didn’t seem concerned (definitely not Multiple Myeloma) but she wanted MORE blood tests, an ultrasound and a chest X-ray. Each thing needed to be done separately and entailed a trip to the hospital in Città di Castello, about 20 miles north. I like the hospital, there’s easy parking and there is zero traffic so it’s not terrible. Anyway. I’ve done the X-ray and ultrasound and the technicians both said no problems found. So just the last blood work to do. I guess I’m glad they are so thorough but it’s a lot of trouble! So that’s my world right now.

Otherwise, we have been having typical March weather it’s been warm for a while but now we are having a cold snap. It will go below freezing tonight so I covered my citrus trees. But I have a wonderful little display of Narcissus which are beautiful and up-lifting. Completely enjoying them.

Bathroom. Well, it’s been moving slowly but we are getting closer. My architect has returned from a trip to Sri Lanka on an architectural and garden tour. Maybe things will begin to go faster now. So the progress so far. Almost all the tiles are done and the floor is done. There is a niche in the wall I wanted and they were going to frame it in the same stone we are using for the shower and sink counter. Well, they cut the stone wrong so it’s waiting for the new pieces to be cut. Then the walls will be finished. Irma said the cabinet for under the sink is finished and they will be putting that in this week. The glass guy will come soon to measure for the glass and mirrors. Next week the plumber and electrician are being sorted to come. So we are getting there but aa always…piano, piano.

We have had some fun too. We invited friends who live here part time over to lunch last week. It was great fun. We met a new couple from Australia for aperitivo, also part timers here. They have a villa nearby and I am excited to see it sometime when they return. Other friends are just beginning to return for the spring. All of them part timers here. Winter is always very slow.

So that’s all the news fit to print! Take care everyone. Ciao!

Happy Women’s day!

8 Replies

Today is International Women’s day. Here in Italy, women are gifted a sprig of mimosa to celebrate. I worked at Books for Dogs this morning and the town was festooned with mimosas. There were big buckets of it on traffic islands, and in front of stores. Women were walking everywhere carrying their mimosa. It is said the mimosa was chosen because it manages to flourish even in difficult conditions and is associated with women’s own resilience and ability to win their rights. Here’s mine. Gifted to me when I went into the Farmacia to fill a prescription 🙂

I normally park on the other side of the river when I drive to town on market days. The river was pretty and I saw my first fisherman!

My little kumquat tree is loaded with fruit. Most isn’t quite ripe yet. You can tell when they are ready because they get extra orange and soften. I have a great recipe for Chicken and Kumquats which I made tonight. My tree.

We have a plethora of pizzerie in our town 😁. They have all different types of pizza. From the super thin, almost cracker crust that is called Roman style to the thicker crust of the Neapolitan style. Last Thursday we went to Degusto which is very near us and Neapolitan in style. Delicioso. This is Luther’s. Mine was prettier but I didn’t take a picture before I destroyed it, by cutting it. Did you know they don’t cut pizza into slices here? You get the whole pie, uncut. I use scissors to cut it if I get it “to go”.

No bathroom updates to speak of. They finally got the wooden form that they needed to use to cut the tiles around the shower stone. But that’s as far as they got. I hope next week we have more progress. This has been a major roadblock. I realize things happen on “Italian Time” here but this is getting tiresome. Oh well. Piano, piano.

August is winding down, but not the heat!

8 Replies

The heat spell continues. Daily temperatures of 35C, 95F. Not quite as bad as the over 100 days. At night it cools enough to sleep well. Looks like we have another week of this heat and then it begins to cool to around 30C.

We get our errands done in the mornings. I need one more big pot and would like to get it from our Molini Popolari so it matches the one for the kumquat. But they are sold out and I keep checking to see if they got more. Anyway, they have not. But I did notice this whole array of chicken coops. From very tiny, how many chickens could they hold. One? Two? And up to very large. I have always wanted to keep a couple chickens. But on a roof terrace? I dunno.

I finally bought a cabinet that will hold all my garden stuff, brooms and dust pans. We assembled it on Sunday. I hate assembling things. But we managed with only one mistake and that one wasn’t our fault! Nothing makes me happier than organizing things and making things tidy. Check this out!

Umbertide has begun a major building project. I can’t make hide nor hair of how this is going to work. The aim is to integrate our collegiata, the 15th century round church, into the Centro more. They are separated from each other now by a parking lot and a road. I read they will change the traffic patterns and there will be more places to sit. Here is a scan of the changes. If you can figure it out, let me know!

And on a very sad (and angry) note. There was some major vandalism in the Centro of Umbertide. One of my favorite things was destroyed. It was a pretty Madonna in an arch on a building. They gouged out her face then spray painted all over her. Some people have nothing better to do.

Screenshot

Thursday is the beginning of our huge annual festa, Otto Cento. Merriment and mayhem will prevail. Food, drinks, stilt walkers, dancers, music, costumes. All in the spirit of the late 1800s when Italy became a country. It lasts for four days. We used to live just above it all and it was loud. Now, we have to walk in to visit. If you’re interested type Otto Cento in the search bar on this site to see other years festivals. Lotsa pictures.

Un abbraccio a tutti!

What we can’t find…we make!

12 Replies

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 peppers
Cucumbers, 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).

Back to Italian life!

6 Replies

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 truffles
Fegato (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! 🤣)

Shutter Management

6 Replies

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.

Buon weekend a tutti!