Maltempo

We've had a quite a bit of rain for the past couple of years.  Sorry California, but it's been too much rain.  The ground is saturated and when it rains, the water just runs off.  And downhill. This is not a waterfall, this is the ditch that runs along the road to our house.

Thanks to a two hour, very intense downpour, much of the gravel from our road was swept into the side ditch which blocked the concrete pipe beaneath the road that carries the water away.

So we ended up with a small river running down the middle of the road causing some serious erosion.

Meanwhile back at the homestead there was more run-off.

Which resulted in a small landslide!

And a very unhappy dog.
Please excuse the photo shot of dear Pici's backside, but it was quite amusing to watch her wade through this mess, ears pinned back in displeasure.

It's no rainbow, but it's always nice to be able to find a little beauty in the middle of a small disaster.  Keep smiling!
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Belated Happy Spring 2015!!!

We're past the first day of Spring and the weather has started getting warmer.  I'm armed and ready for outdoor work with my secret gardening weapon, the dump cart!  We got my little green wagon at our local Brico Center, but I saw they also have them on Amazon.com if anyone is interested.  I highly recommend getting one.  It makes work a little more fun and a lot more easy!

I don't think you can tell from this photo, but these bay trees are over 30 feet tall and there are about 20 of them all together in one group.  Well, actually 17 now.  You can see where a few are missing.

They were too close together and too tall and Amore delighted in having to cut down a few, which will become firewood and also allow for the rest of the group to grow properly.

Amore made the first pass at our new vegetable with the rototiller.  The garden outline looks big in this photo, doesn't it.  Gosh, I hope in reality it's not really that big!

We have two large water tanks for watering the garden that will be filled from a natural spring.

One of the lovely things about moving to a new home is the little discoveries.  You know, things you didn't notice at first but are delighted to discover along the way.  A fine example are these Forget-Me-Nots growing everywhere around the house.  Truly my own little paradise here.

Crazy for Close-Ups

Now that I've discovered the close-up function on my camera

I am obsessed.

I can't stop wondering what everything looks like close-up.

A tiny world

of immense beauty.
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Look out macro, you're next!

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Nikon Coolpix L830

This is my first close-up shot taken with my new Nikon Coolpix L830 camera and I'm impressed.  These are almond blossoms from our newly planted almond tree.  Amore's father was over at our house last Sunday helping with Spring pruning and these branches were too lovely not to be enjoyed inside the house.

Lost Paradise Found

This begins the tale of our move from Umbria, just across the border from where we were, to Tuscany where we discovered our Lost Paradise Found.  An old, stone farmhouse that sits in the middle of 11 acres of trees and tranquility.  Pictured above is our driveway with some olive trees and fruit trees in view.

At the top of the driveway is an old ruin that sits in front of the house.  Because the foundation of this structure remains, permits are not required to rebuild on it!

There are lots of olive trees, fruit trees, nut trees and a large variety of flowers including this gorgeous lavender bush.  And there behind, you can see the house!

There is an unfinished apartment on the ground floor with beautiful lead, colored-glass windows on two sides.  Keep in mind, these photos are the "before" shots.  It may take a few months years for the "after" shots to become available.

In addition to the apartment on the ground floor there are also four separate cellars, two of which you can see above slightly hidden behind the pergola or arbor covered with grape vines.  The stairs on the left side of the photo lead up to the porch and the entrance of the house into the kitchen.  There was literally no kitchen when we bought the house, only a tiny stone sink in the corner -- but that's another post entirely. 

There are  cleared fields in the front of the house as well as in the back.  To the left you can see a solar panel which gives us heated water in the warm months of the year.  In the cold months, we have a large, wood-burning stove in one of the cellars which heats our water and also the radiators in the house.

There is a stall on the property which we would like to fix up and welcome a few chickens, or maybe a couple of dwarf goats, or a miniature donkey!

So here's how it went.  We saw a house we liked when my sister and her husband were visiting us in September 2013.  In October we made an offer.  In November we put down a deposit.  In May 2014 we signed papers.  In September 2014 we moved in after putting in a kitchen.  And that, my friends, is how things are done in Italy.  Piano, piano.  Very slowly!

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Staying Warm

I haven't gone away, I've just been absent.  Shame on me for not having posted anything in a while.  We moved into a new house in September of 2014 and have been busy ever since.  We relocated across the border from Umbria into Tuscany.  More or less a half an hour drive from where we were before, but it seems like so much farther because we now live on the top of a hill, up a steep and windy road, surrounded by 11 acres of trees.  New house and new life.  Loving it.  Miss you.
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Pickin' Out a Piggy

We're late this year in picking out a piggy to raise.  We did actually travel to the pig farm a few months ago, trailer in tow, but Amore's father and the pig farm owner couldn't agree on a price.  It's the same as when you're bargaining at an open market and the time comes to walk away when your final offer is not accepted.  And so we left, pigless.

This particular pig farmer sells his pigs by weight.  The pigs have grown since we last saw them and now cost more.  Amore and I made the trip without his father and paid the price the pig farmer asked.  It was getting too late in the year to haggle.

 

It's a long trip to make twice, but at least it's a pretty drive. Right now the fields are golden.

And cornflower blue. 

And sunflower yellow!
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