A Little Sun, A Little Fun and a Lot of Work

The days seems to be running together a bit. The gap in posts can be explained by a number of things but mainly we ran our internet "chiavetta" out of time over the weekend so it was yesterday before we could get it recharged. Also, we had our first guest.

On Friday or Saturday (the days really do run together) I washed down a number of items on the patio including the chaise lounge and the patio itself. Luckily there is a drain from the patio so I could slosh around to my heart's content and not bother any of the other residents. After the patio and the chaise lounge dried I was able to "use" them. We really need a small table and a couple of chairs as I miss eating outside. That will be coming soon after one more project (cleaning and oiling the TALDI bench) that will occupy the patio for several days.

On Sunday we went to the marcia podistica at San Cassiano a Vico. It was a 6 km. walk in an area not too far from the apartment. We met Mary Caselli and Doris Fortino there and saw a number of friends from Partigliano. It was a beautiful morning and a flat route which we always enjoy. The local roses are in full bloom and it was fun to see all the different colors and types. One day I need to walk around here and photograph the roses as there are all sorts within a few blocks of the apartment.

On Sunday afternoon our friend Nancy McDonald arrive by train from Modena. She is making a three week tour of Italy mostly staying with friends. Both her nieces participated in Gonzaga's Italy program for a year and one of them made friends with a number of Carabinieri who were studying English (?) in Florence at the same time. Nancy met them when she visited her niece and all of them have stayed in touch ever since. She has a cousin and other friends here as well so she is doing a lot of socializing and not much sightseeing. However, it is not her first trip and she is just happy to be back in Italy after about eight years.

We went out to dinner on Sunday night and then on Monday Nancy and I drove to Florence for a bit of shopping. Actually she did a bit of shopping and I did a LOT of shopping. The photo below shows how loaded down I was. Some of it was commissions but I did buy two purses for myself plus some scarves. We meandered around the center of Florence and had a great time.

At about 4 pm, after dropping Nancy and her suitcase at her hotel, I headed to IKEA to pick up a shelving unit for the pantry. Today I put it together and organized the pantry. It is now so lovely I just want to stand in the doorway and stare at it. The biggest problem is making sure there is enough space for the three different garbage bins that need to go in there. I might have mentioned before that Capannori's recycling program is on a par with Seattle's but here you have different four different bins and there is pick-up of one sort six days a week. Paper and non-recyclable are each picked up once a week and multi-material (plastic, glass, metal, etc.) and organic/compostable are each picked up twice a week. I do keep the little brown organic bin on the patio but the others now fit neatly in the pantry.

I also put up holders for mops and brooms and a number of hooks so everything has a place. There are actually a few things I should get rid of but for now it looks pretty good.

This afternoon when I was in the back bedroom I looked out and saw an elderly gentleman sitting in the sun in his lovely back garden. I also saw a huge (for the plot of land) tractor pull into the plowed area next to his garden. Pretty soon two men were in the plowed field chatting about something and the elderly gentleman was looking over the hedge to see what they were doing. The nice thing about being on the top floor in the middle of a town is that there is always something going on.

Dom has been nursing a cold today but says he will be back at work tomorrow.