May Day - May 1, 2010

May 1 is a holiday throughout Europe.  This year it fell on a Saturday.  Nonetheless, the annual May Day walk at Montemagno was held early in the morning.  It was a beautiful day so it was no hardship for Dom and I to get up and drive over there.  Since there was another walk the next morning we decided to do the shortest walk--3 kilometers.  This was just enough to get our heart rates up and we saw some beautiful countryside and houses.  The picture at left is a view from the walk of the Alpi Appuane.

We have done this particular walk several times before.  This wall never ceases to fascinate me.  The builder is a sculptor and he has incorporated all sorts of interesting objects into it.

Later in the day, after lunch, we went up the Serchio valley to the annual festa at Fornaci di Barga.  The town is filled with all sorts of exhibitors--sort of like a cross between a home show, an auto show and a weekly Italian market.  It was really a warm afternoon and there were LOTS of people there.

There are always lots of displays of farm equipment. Here a young girl is trying out a sort of mower. Unlike in the U.S. where the exhibitors would probably discourage children from climbing on the machinery, no one seems to think much of it here.

Here is another youngster trying out the merchandise.

Dom never climbs on the tractors but he certainly studies everything intently.

There were two spots with pony rides (or horse rides) for children.

A parked Ferrari always draws admirers including Dom and I, of course.

A local organization uses the town soccer field for paid parking.  When we returned to our car we got a kick out of where this Fiat 500 had found a spot. Gol!

The next morning, May 2, was the start of our recent seemingly endless spell of rain.  Dom stayed in bed but Mary Caselli and I went to the marcia at Camigliano.  It was not raining when we got up but started about the time we left our respective houses.  We had umbrellas and used them for about 2/3rds of the walk.  It actually, mostly, stopped for a while but then started up again. In spite of that, we really enjoyed our brisk 5 km. hike.

The rain has been pretty steady until today.  We had a shower this morning but it has been mostly dry but although overcast.  It has actually cleared up now but it is quite chilly outside.  After the beautiful weather we had our first four weeks here this has been a bit hard to take.  Luckily, we had a really busy week with the house closing on Tuesday, lots of errands at banks and other spots and a full day of househunting on Thursday.  Today is the first day we have had to just chill.  So, you are finally getting a blog post, or two.