A Potpourri of Photos

The past few days we have had just enough to keep us occupied but not enough to prevent us from relaxing. The weather has been good so we have even been able to eat lunch outside a couple of times and spend some time reading on the patio.

Monday morning we ran some errands in Valdottavo and Diecimo. On our way home we saw this older man harvesting his olives in a small grove that sits between two roads. Actually, as you can see, he was taking a break and using his wheelbarrow as a table for his merenda (snack). I thought it was such an evocative image I asked Dom to circle back so I could snap this photo.

When we reached Partigliano we saw a couple of cats playing in the grass. There were two adults and this adorable kitten. This picture does a pretty good job of showing how fluffy the little guy is and you can just see that his black fur is tipped with gray. With the sunshine hitting him from the side he seemed to glow as he watched the adult cats scratch at a nearby olive tree.

Yesterday we had friends Carol and Luigi for lunch. It was a fun few hours and we enjoyed spending time with them before our departure.

Today we did a few chores. One of those I worked on was oiling the TALDI bench. TALDI stands for The Alpental Ladies Do Italy and is the shorthand reference to our “girls” trip to Italy in June 2004. Afterwards, my friends gave Dom and I a gift to buy a bench for our patio here. When Dom’s brother Frank and his wife Ang were here the following spring Frank built this bench using chestnut planks he found in our barn. It has a great deal of character because the planks were rough cut out of a curved section of tree trunk. Frank squared off a number of pieces to make the bench but left two sections whole—one on the seat and one on the backrest.

I told Dom that the bench is the only item in the house that ABSOLUTELY must go with us when we sell the house. Everything else is negotiable. It was looking pretty bad because I have neglected it for over a year. Monday I washed it good and today, after it dried well in the sun, I applied a coat of oil for garden furniture. It looks much better now and should be all ready for use next spring.

That’s it for now. We are expecting a neighbor to stop by for a drink and then tomorrow morning we are taking Joy and Bob to the airport in Pisa at 4:30 am. Aaarrrgghh!