no "Nikolausi " in italia

 the pretty colors around our casa

 

 

and here with the mountains in the back

 

 and the reason why i was there --- the olive harvest at our neighbor

it is the 6th of december 

(if anyone wants to hear mr Polt :   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGwOCFMl_Hk)  and i know - there will not be anything wonderful in my boots standing in front of the door. ;-(... i have to consider that the Sankt Nikolaus tradition is dead

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas (this tells everything about santa claus and that he is actually Nikolaus and where he comes from) ... so i am munching on the chocolate bought at the lidl: schogetten cappuccino and the warm stove is doing the best to keep me warm.

it snowed yesterday, right when we decided to bring Flavia back to sarnano. the flakes were huge and the road covered in just 15 minutes. cars all over stuck in the heavy snow. but with our winter tires and! the 4 wheel drive - Jon put the kardanwelle/driveshaft back just in time - no problem. we decided to buy lots of noodle so if we have to stay in the house like last year for 10 days we are prepared. there is more snow in the forecast....

the P stands for a long italian word to tell others -there is a beginner driving - i called it P for pazienza/patience i just loved watching that bowed over lady getting into the cinquecento, priceless...

the last month was filled with lots of drives with a chauffeur : Flavia. she was making her drivers license, got perfectly through the theory, but had no car to get the driving skill. so i jumped in and played mother for 3 weeks. i realized the only time i really wanted to get pregnant with a babygirl!(not successful) in my life was around when Flavia was born. so - it was a pleasure to have a daughter and let her drive me around. she made it easily though the driving test and she has now the patente!

 german lead around an italian chimney made by an american - this is the recipe to keep it tide !!!

Jon put a bit of mortar underneath the tiles, no chance for them to move around

the casa is making progress, not much my verdienst,merit? Jon really got into gear and finished the east side of the roof, including putting the chimney up. i was in charge to design the little roof for the top of it and thanks to a painful shoulder i am not a valuable helper. i got already an ultra sound scan, an MRI, 2 drives to Camerino to a shoulder surgent, a lot of anti inflammatory pills in my system.... and still it's getting worse ;-(.....but there is hope - i found a spalla specialist, he is at the sea - so we will have some fun with this shoulder

we are still alive ;-)

first some flowers from today (yes in november!) for the readers of this blog, not finding anything new - for months - sorry, no clue how it happened to be already in november, but i better put a new post up here before someone thinks we left to a new shore.

the summer was very dry, all i remember is watering, watering, i had days with 4 hours standing holding a hose in my hand. the flimsy water pressure is not helping with this chores. the garden went from green spring into dessert. what did not make it out of the seeds in time got baked - like the moonflowers/datura. they germinated after the fall rain and i have NOW! 30 cm tall seedlings.....who knows, maybe i get them to flower.

Jon played at our german neighbors road party, that was still with the old computer.

the veggies this year were also sparse, because we still have the tomatoes from 2 years ago in the freezer. but than there was Jon's dead computer and long days and nights fixing, ordering parts and building a new one and get the music back onto it. the little casa had to wait for all that to get in order.

 here is our major, praising the foreigners in his beautiful town Gualdo in italiano,

we went to several festas, especially to Gualdo, it had it's first big august filled with festas. Valentina, our neighbor, getting so many different events organized - including a day for the stranieries / strangers with different food, poetry, Jon and Flavia playing/singing and even me selling some of the stuff i collected over my life.

 

the buy of the summer : my complete suit sandfly proved - here helpful to get a hornet nest out of the shutter box in the livingroom

 a wonderful event in Gualdo with dance music - and a brother handy to make me something like dancing, big fun

San Ginesio is the best place for a late pizza on the piazza without cars, but dogs and kids playing at midnight  

i had 2 more ladies asking me to help to find renters for their unused houses. i gave it a try and was VERY busy especially on one saturday - i cannot remember 16 dogs and 8 people, that was an interesting experience: who are these people calling and which house did they rent. actually it went totally smooth just my stomach got totally twisted. so no more of that. after all we are in this gorgeous place, to increase our happiness, calmness and peace. the money part is absolute secondary.

another warm summer night in gualdo with loud music and good food.

 

 here we are in the neighbor town Sant Angelo in Pontano with a big band performing 

that was just a wonderful event : a duck-race in a tiny village just 3 km away.

 

the wine harvest this year in our little road was with perfect weather and lots of helping hands

 

 the grapes got squeezed and into the cellar right away

 

 this is a very special event we planned many months ago: a 10 day meditation 300 km away from here. it was a classic retreat with silence, no meals after lunch and minimum 10 hours sitting meditation. we got instructed by videos from Guenka, the founder of this vipassana meditation centers. the course is completely free. everything is based on donation ! after you went through the course and want the next ones have the same possibility you can give money. the food was vegetarian and excellent. Jon got his meditation much more deepend and i got my mind slowed down enough to forget to think for 10 minutes - that is a big accomplishment, even i have much more to go to reach Jon.

 with new power Jon started to work on the roof. he put up the last row of terracotta tiles on the edge.

the upper row of new bricks in the upstairs bedroom are already mortared over - looks like a real wall ;-)

 

these are still photos from the downstairs ceiling the last patch get mortared over 

after that my job was to get the beams painted. 

the chimney blocks are already stacked and  Jon cuts the exact fitting hole into the roof - kinda strange thing - a hole in this perfect ceiling

 there it is,-  a piece of the roof cut out...

and here is a photo of the new porcelain pieces for the  tiny bathroom - extra short and compact.

and the place where they will hang, already strongly connected to the wall. the new window sill is also in place

 

last weekend was the castagnata in Gualdo many people came to munch the hot maroni and the vino brule, hot wine with spices like the german glühwein. very good

lots of flowers

it is my favored poppytime! this tower will get restored and maybe turned in a B&B and i can find the guests for it YEAHHH
to see what actually happened the last weeks, i am referring to my photos - that is my memory. much better than that brain, it is getting kinda unpredictable, means: how often can you look for the special reading glasses? i need them to do the re-pointing so they move around and they are than at the strangest places - IF i find them.

we got invited for a meal at our dear neighbor Nello and his wife - LOTS to eat and talk. these old lady's reach from 73  to 97 (the one on the  left - her brother is 106 ! )you get old in le marche.

of course we more listening and making hand signals ;-)

fresh fava beans with homemade

pecorino and yes! white and red wine 

in the bottles in the back

 

  

one fantastic view in another hilltop town-
no words with that

this gorgeous place is for sale just 230000 Euro just the walls and the grounds unbelievable view!!!!!

Gualdo's big festa in the spring : all about cheese and food:

 

Dietmar was a week here for enjoying the sweet weather, he helped on the house :-)  !!!

and we visited the gran piane / Castelluccio and found the pastures covered with tulips and narcisses. no poppies at that time.

 

icecream and cappuccino in the little town Visso on the way from the mountains

catch up

i don't know who is actually reading this blog? and realized that i did not write for 2 month? comments are welcome;-). the other concert got canceled too: MUCH MORE SNOW. there was another 60 cm. we and anybody else had to stay home and be patient until someone scooped the road clear. all the snow on the roof started melting and froze while dripping down. the icicles were huge (doh no insulation in the roof - i know) and the thin coat of mortar underneath the gutter froze off. the ceiling in the kitchen got also water stained - a bit more... 

the concert got rescheduled to the 14. of april and we had the theater half full and the performing artist and the audience were happy. a success! after the concert we went to a restaurant with the major, who has a big interest for art in his little town, our art-director (also owns the 'edilnuovo' where we get all the building supply with all the family. it was lots of fun, even we stayed up until 2 in the morning.  

 
last year a couple asked me when i was at casa cuculo if i could help them to get renters for there house just around the corner. they started to renovate it, some parts completely - with an architect and lots of money to spend. so i agreed to make a website and try to find tourists for their place. so far, maybe because of the unfinished website - not much respond. it can also be that apartments (it has 3 units) are not that appealing. will see when i can make new photos if it gets more respond.

Jon found after all the practicing some time to work on the little house. we decided that the back wall in the kitchen needs a concrete foundation support. that took lots of time and material. but it is now definitely a solid support for the whole structure.

after already working there he made a hole in the upper wall for the so much wished for, window over the counter. later - after the the wall was opened we realized it is an easy walk in for all the little friends. the cat and  the chicken are living in the house already - they don't care about missing tiles and windows. we will need something to keep them from jumping into the sink...

the spring brought all the beauty back into the garden. it just goes so fast, in just a week all turned green and lush. the cherries and plums had a special performance this year - white clouds all through the valley, not enough bees i'm afraid to make it into fruits.