just 2 more days and the year is over...

i have to hurry to get my last blog in. weather was very nice to us - so we are working outside as much as possible. today Jon got 2 trees cut out of the chicken/duck run. so Erminia has more fire wood for next year. she lets us have the old pig building for our feathered friends and it works very well for all of us. and i figured that the weeds after a little frost and back to sun come out like from soft butter - i got tap roots 30 cm long out with 1 easy pull - that makes my gardener heart smile:)

we were a part of the presepe vivende like last year. we did not show our silly chicken, this year we were wafer baker.
at least that was the idea. after several trial to make the dough for the hostia, we went sunday 26.12. -also Jon's B-day- with a bag of crispy sweet wafers and the perfect batter to our prepared place. but Jon figured soon that the iron is not getting evenly hot in the open fire pit and actually warped!!!!! oh what a disappointment, hundreds of people were strolling by and we could not show them our new learned baking ability.

the 3 Kings including a real african

a shoemaker in his shop

this guy does make this baskets!

market scenes

at the piazza- this is a very friendly goat

that wall is a new addition, closes up the part of the village

the boat and the fisher

another market scene

the laundry place

at the black smiths


all the fire-stones stones and carts were there for this 4 hour event

it is now back to a parking area

this is my favorite scene: the cheese makers

the horse shoes in the alley have a very unique sound

the setting of the living christmas scenes were fantastic, even more detailed and beautiful arranged than last year. i still don't know facts, numbers - but from my point of view a super success (except our waffle iron).

the little baby got hungry and sick of all the people looking....

on the day before Jon's special birthday celebration he was playing his music the 1st time real official with announcement and poster. we set up the music equipment at 15:00 on sunday and at 4:30 Flavia and Jon started their concerto di natale.

it was very busy at that place. people were coming in their prettiest outfits - who are by the way ALWAYS completely black - and their bambini after a loooong christmas lunch - one lady said they stopped eating at 17:00 after 4 hours!!!!!!i tried to film all with my tiny camera - some moments are well kept.



in this time of preparing for the big concert and than the baking the roof also had to be finished so the precipitation cannot damage our new ceiling. that was a big piece of work- but the weather gods were nice and it all got up. it needs more finishing on the edges, but from a distance it looks like a roof even all the cotto tiles are still on the ground.
photos will come a bit later........ pazienza

autumn

the 1st snow was on 9th of oktober --- in the mountains --- a bit scary, but the closest high peek is 1500 meter higher than our location and only 18 km away ( as the crow flies).

finally we made a decision what to do with our old car. whatever we choose is stupid - so we did the easiest version. Simona's sister has a agency to get foreign cars through the technical inspection and turn it over into an italian vehicle. it will cost us all together 600 Euro. and there are many different steps involved. of course the car paper are in german and have to be translated into italia. the tax has to be arranged. we got through the inspection - unbelievable simple compared to the german "TüV . they did not even check the underneath of the car. only lights and breaks. :-). than we got new license plates. a paper for the time until we have some official ones. will be in 3 months - i heard.

Dietmar was here for a short week visit and took the old license plates with to germany. but there they will not do anything before they get the old papers back from the italian office. this is all very slow. pazienza.

the weekend of Halloween came and we were thinking to through an old bedsheets over our heads and go to a town where the ghost and pumpkin are all over. but the friends from a neighbor on our road came to invite us to dinner. no pumpkins anywhere. Nello the host 83 years old did not even know what it is all about. great!!!!!!! after all it is the day when the holy and saints (all dead) are celebrated. but no pumpkins.

Jon's test with the new speakers were also at Nello's, just some weeks earlier. the guests did dance!!!!!! it sounded very good and he did very well.



at the end of september a smaller female calico colored cat came up towards the house and meowed so loud that i could not overlook her. she inspected everything very well, liked it and adopted us. she still has no name, but comes with "Mietzi" "Kitty" and "MeowMeow" and spends every possible minute purring on our lab and between our walking feet.

the stairs

we got through the hot summer with almost no rain - just once: 1,5 cm. so i am watering everyday somewhere. when i do all the places i planted it takes me 2 hours. i could meditate while doing so - still working on that ;-(.

we had some very nice guests and dogs this season and with some we were even house hunting. so much fun to investigate old ruins and the left interior. the best were the little bats living in the places.

seems they do not built big colonies like in the usa. just 3 here 5 there. we have 2 spending the day underneath an overhang on the balcony floor and fly off every day at sunset and get their first catches around the house.

the last guests are coming this weekend at the neighbors and i hope they have a sunny time here. i remember it can be very wet and foggy. the mosquito/sandfly problem - at sleep at least got solved - the new big net covering the bed. i thought maybe we should keep it up - it keeps also the warmth inside. for the cooler time it would be a nice benefit.

the metal staircase is built and up. lots of measuring and adjusting to the surface of the wood beam. my part were the tiles. - they needed to be jack-hammered (the concrete from previous use) and brushed, washed and sorted.we have around 15 different styles/sizes. who knows where they all came from.

before and after washing, but still with concrete edges:

now they have to get glued to the steps and sealed with something - we still work on that.

gelato ;-)

it is definitely gelato time in italy- almost every bar has homemade ones, or at least the ones in a wrapper. isn't this look appealing? (i don't know about the blue one, have not tried it)

the tomatoes are HUGE
the corn so sweet,
mozzarella and fresh basil from the balcony
Jon's home-baked bread
with olive oil from the neighbor ...
we must be in heaven
...

but than there was this at the restaurant the neighbors daughter runs:

mocetta, arugula with parmigiano and thick sweet balsamico

more prosciutto/salami marchigiana

ricotta with lemon-jam red pepper and walnuts

my plate: fried mozzarella with truffle, olives with fennel/garlic,
baby-mozzarella in green olive-oil, foccacia with rosemary

we made it into the summer and temperature turns us into italians. getting up at sunrise, work in the garden until it gets too warm. after lunch a long siesta and around 17:00 some activities start again. than there could easily be a festa or sagra, where you can join in. that will be a place where someone else is cooking and lots of people sitting at sunset out on a piazza and have a great time. dance, wine, home-cooked specialties. everybody, all ages come together and chat and enjoy the summer in the community.


this is the festa di san severino mit pizza e birra auf dem stadt platz

afterwards a marchigiani band lit up in front of the old buildings

kids danced a quadrille

at the lake in the mountains, 45 minutes away a HUGE firework lit up over the water at 23:00 with hundreds of cars blocking the road and people sitting on the lawn in front of the lake.



the drive home was actually a race on the twisty mountain roads. because they thought nobody is driving towards the lake they all passed in these narrow curves

parties at the neighbors


wonderful all homemade pizza in a pizza-oven in the garden

by a professional chef

another party on the same road - this time spinach fussili with shrimps and porcetta. homemade potato chips (wonderful) and fried zucchini (i tried that recipe at the next party also fried onions - was a hit)

Nello would love to sell his house and 3 ha ground and gave me a tour

the other neighbors dogs had a blast with all the shrimp skins

a family photo with that darling old mother, who could just stand up to a 90 degree angle - but was cooking this delicious meal.Jon thought i should be on this photo :-)

a party for the elderly from gualdo, lots of home baked goods and

even a little bit of music

the major is always part of the commune life and easy to recognize through his heavy smoking



progress at the little house moves v e r y s l o w no way we will get a new roof on before winter comes :-( pazienza and piano-piano ) or 'nur net huudle' ....... but the stairs become more real:

Jon is the best backer ever

he did not want me to move the flower pots. he passed the trailer with the future stair oak-beam by 2 inches away from my new rose-cuts

the 1/2 tree trunk got cut by a handsaw to the perfect angle

still a provisorium- more next blog...