Cow transport

Lovely, lovely day.  We left the haze and smog about 20 miles off the highway at Pinerolo and headed up into gorgeous blue sky and a soft breeze.  There were still a lot of mountain flowers blooming; wild Bachelor Buttons, Salvia, funny little Crocus things, Yarrow and Pin Cushions.  It was also moving day for the cows left to wander the mountains for summer vacation.  We didn't see many but could hear the herds as they all wear huge bells around their necks so as not to get lost.  They sounded like brass bands passing beneath us.  We had a glimpse of one small herd walking slowly along down the mountain paths.  The cows are heading back to their winter quarters in the countryside outside of Torino to make wonderful cheeses for me.  Walking was a little hazardous because there were cow patties everywhere.  I mostly managed to avoid them but did stomp in a nice big one just as we were getting to the "refugio" , (hut), where we stop and eat lunch.  My boots are now drying out on the balcony.

Outside the hut

When we go to the mountains, GP always wears orange and carries an orange backpack so that should he fall in a ravine he'll be seen by the rescue helicopter.  I will blend in with the background and die a miserable, lonely death.

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 We noticed this porta potty in the almost dry riverbed on the way back down the mountain.  Dunno.

On the road home we stopped to pick up a couple things at the Eataly in Pinerolo.  If one has never heard of Eataly check this out:  http://www.eataly.com/

Eataly is an experience.  The first store was opened in Torino in 2007.  The owner lives in the wine region hereabouts and sells only the top quality, locally made products.  I could spend a whole lotta time and money in these shops.  We stopped because it's one of the few places we can find fresh, spinach pasta which we plan on serving tomorrow at lunch to Nonna.  This next week is their town's Patron Saint's Day and a special lunch is a big deal.  The baton has been passed on to me now that Aldo is gone.

self explanatory

I'm now off to do some cleaning for the mother-in-law tomorrow.  She may be old but she has eyes like a hawk.  ooxx me

Check out this car we followed out of the school parking lot.  Grace said the driver was Caceres, a Juventus soccer player who has a young son at the school.   That car costs more than my two houses put together.  Geesh.

left my little natural gas Chevy in the dust

Tomorrow, GP and I are going up to the mountains for a hike.  It is a much needed reprieve for us.  For GP it's a break from all the stress and late hours related to his father's passing.  For me it's a break from the flipping smog.  The air quality here has been awful.  Torino is always on the list of most air-polluted cities in Europe, having one of the highest concentrations of cars per capita.  The past two years have not been too bad, but this fall is different.  There has been no wind to clear away the haze and the sky has been grey and heavy.  Even sunny days have bothered my eyes and throat.  But being the considerate person that I am I haven't bitched about it, (as I normally do), as GP has enough on his plate.  Grace is going to a friend's house to study for upcoming PSATs.  Sadly, there is no irony in that "study".  Sometimes I wonder if I'm a bad mother because I want my daughter to go out there and have some fun.  She has classmates who have a wild old time, having sex in school bathrooms and sneaking drugs across international borders during field-trips, so I am grateful that she is such a good kid but....  maybe it's just that living vicariously through our children thing.  I'll have to ponder.  xxoo me

California Closets ain't got nuthin' on my Mother-in-law.  She is coping with her loss by keeping very busy cleaning out the apartment.  She has gone through all of the storage areas and given away Nonno's many, many clothes.  Nonno was a serious clothes horse and was always very dapper.  When Amalia had finally taken everything out of the closets and dressers and from various nooks and crannies, she could have opened up a shop.  Many of the items had never been worn, some still with tags and the others still in boxes.  He had dozens of pairs of shoes, piles of caps, racks of ties.  How they fit all of that in a two bedroom apartment is beyond me.  Our apartment is bursting at the seams.  I have got to figure out how to utilize the space better.  Our neighbors on one side are raising two kids.  The neighbors across the hall have lived here for 30 years and still have their 25 year old daughter living with them.  How do they do it!  We have beds that lift and have storage under the frames for our suitcases and linens.  Our meager kitchen cabinets are filled to the brim.  We have our printer in the rolled-door wardrobe that houses our vacuum cleaner and cleaning products.  GP had to buy extra shelves for my closet to put all of the new shoes he inherited, (tags included).  Soon we'll be spilling out onto the walkway.  Little space!  The bane of wasteful Americans!  xxoo cramped me

OK, so completely ignore that post from yesterday.  I am not getting Nonno's car and I am not selling mine.  His car is being donated to a needy, somewhat, relative.  I cleaned my car inside and out for nothing!

Today we went for our first walk since we've come back.  As we had to drive Grace to school where she was working at a function, GP and I walked some of the back roads up behind it.  Harvest has started and the countryside was full of tractors and people working in the fields.  Grapes are ripe for picking and the wine-making season is almost upon us.  We'll soon head out to the Langhe for a big dinner with friends.  I'm looking forward to it.  So far our two eats away from home have been Indian and Chinese.  Hmmm.

Me with grapes.  I'm already losing my tan!

    Looking down over the school's rooftops.     

 We wandered down a road that we had never taken before.  It was lined with large old trees and magnificent high stone walls covered in ivy.  The walls finally gave way to an iron fence and then an Addams family style gate.  Hiding behind those walls was a huge manor house in great need of loving care.  It was hidden away on this narrow dirt road, little more than a track, and surrounded by woods and parkland.  I wanted to scale the walls and find it's gardens but GP wouldn't let me.  Oh how I'd love to get my hands on that place!  xxoo me

looky!  Mine all mine!

Italians LOVE their cars and there's a car wash at practically every intersection.  I took my little Chevy down today to wash and detail because we've decided to sell it.  My logical and sensible husband, two traits I seem to have missed out on, wants to keep his father's car and sell mine.  The reason being that though Nonno's Fiat is well over 10 years old, it has spent the majority of that time in his garage and has fewer than 20,000 miles.  It is in pristine condition and still has that plastic new car smell.  It's old enough though, that it has no sales value.  It doesn't have any of the new gadgets that my car does nor does it get the terrific mileage that mine gets.  I'll miss my little car but good sense says to sell the one that we can actually get some money for.  Damn that good sense!  xxoo me

Today was the funeral.  It was chilly and rainy, which seemed appropriate.  We met Nonna and her cousin at the funeral home where many people had gone for the viewing.  I skipped that.  As far as I'm concerned there is no point in looking at a dead body.  It's like an empty peanut butter jar.  All the good stuff is gone.  There was a procession behind the hearse to the church where literally hundreds of people were waiting.  Aldo had been in local government, had owned a business in town for many years, has spent his retirement volunteering in various capacities.  He also spent his entire 84 years in the same town of 9,000 inhabitants.  He was a well known and much liked man.  The funeral was in a famous baroque cathedral in the center of town.  It's huge and ornate, with lots of gold and intricate carvings and walls covered in murals depicting all sorts of tragic stuff. 


The mass lasted for about 45 minutes.  Catholic mass is so complicated and exhausting.  So much to memorize, so much standing and sitting...  After the mass we made our way through the crowd kissing and hand-shaking and trying to remember who is who.  The burial followed.  Cemeteries are small cities unto themselves with tombs of relatives all in the same locale, marble statues and monuments for the well-to-do, drawers in high walls for the not so fortunate.  GP's family has two big tombs, one for his mother's side and one for his father's.  At the burial, the men who work for the funeral home removed a giant slab of marble, pried open a metal door inside and lowered the casket.  Photos and depictions of all the ancestors are on the main wall of the tomb.  I find it all a little macabre.  I've instructed Grace to cremate me and sprinkle me in the ocean.  xxoo meIl Duomo di Carignano

By the way, our windows don't open up and down but out to the sides.  They are also heavy double paned with metal frames.  For an accident prone person such as myself, this is not a good thing.  I can't count the number of times I've almost knocked myself out standing up quickly from vacuuming or picking something up off the floor and banging my head on the underside of an open window.  Today I may or may not have broken my nose and will, at the very least, have a bruise.  don't ask...  xxoo me

Aldo Oggero

GP says he's suffering from RSD, Religious Stress Disorder.  Nonno passed away yesterday and it's been non-stop since then.  There are two types of bureaucracy here, Church and State.  The non-practicing people such as ourselves would normally skip the church but with the older generation that is impossible.  It is as complicated to die here as it is to live.  Thank God, (no pun intended), we have a sense of humor.  There is a law that funerals and burials must be held within 3 days of death dating back from ancient pre-refrigerator times.  The funeral, therefore, is tomorrow.  This morning both the church and the government had to be notified and the services arranged.  I say services in plural because it begins tonight with The Rosary, tomorrow is The Funeral Mass, and according to GP another Mass said weekly well on into the future, (as in years).  This is how they keep priests employed.  Every year of course there will be the Anniversary of his Funeral Mass.  Then there are the Public Notifications, something that dates back to medieval times, where a poster is put up informing the public that a certain person has passed.  Though something called the telephone and internet has been invented, many people still use this ancient form of communication.  It's sort of like the town crier.  GP just left for The Rosary that fortunately somehow Grace and I have escaped, being pagans.  The one thing that surprises me is that there is no food involved.  There is no 5 hour dinner to attend, no wake, no coffee hour.  It seems so incongruous in this country where food is everything.   I'm making up for it by drinking a lovely bottle of Bonarda, to Nonno's life.  xxoo me

I was given a few pounds of fresh cannellini beans.  And I thought they only came in cans!  xxoo me

My coffee shop is out of coffee.  I buy my beans specially ground for drip coffee makers and so have to go to specific shops which can do that.  I've been twice since we returned 10 days ago but both times the proprietors have said they have no coffee to sell.  Their shelves are bare just like Mother Hubbard.  They say they have had no deliveries.  Their shop/cafe is a franchise of a locally produced specialty coffee based less than 10 miles away.   Now if this were a shop in the US, the owners would get in their car and pick up the coffee themselves.  Not here.  They stand behind the bar and throw their hands up in the air and say, "What can we do?".  Go get the flippin' coffee!  That's what you can do!  I've been drinking the horrible stuff that comes out of a machine at school just to get my caffeine.  Today I called a teacher friend on the way to school and invited myself to stop in for breakfast.  I was desperate.  Unfortunately there are no coffee shops between here and the school as it's all residential or countryside.  I'm going to have to venture farther away to get my supplies if I can just get the time.  xxoo me

It seems impossible that it has only been 48 hours and yet that's what the clock tells me.  Friday was our anniversary.  We had plans to go out for drinks with friends and then dinner in an Indian restaurant.  (The results of that wouldn't have been very romantic but after 30 years together... ) Anyhow.  Gp had just come back from work, a little early, and had thrown himself on the bed to rest when the phone rang.  His mother was calling and was in a panic.  His dad had suffered another stroke and this one was bad.  He doesn't have long.  GP has spent the past two days back and forth between here, the hospital and his parents place.  The reason we came to Italy is that the grandparents were getting old and it was time we were nearby.  I'm glad we've had these past two years with them.  They've been able to spend time with their only grandchild, and have the security of their son nearby.  Nonno is a wonderful man.  He has a great, slapstick-wordplay sense of humor.  He's warm and affectionate and a real pushover for kids and dogs.  He was Sweetie's favorite and has been Grace's playmate from the beginning.  We will miss him.  xxoo me

It's the first day I've seen blue sky since we've been back.  It's been like living in the tropics.  Days have been heavy, grey and very hot.  I'm sticky and wet by 10 am and that's usually before the regular hot flashes start.  Then things get really ugly.  By afternoon all I want is a cold shower.  Then every night it's rained.  I've cleaned the garden some but haven't been able to mow the mini lawn and it's getting high.  I'm a feared of what might be lurking out there!

Tonight I went to dinner to say another goodbye.  Our Australian friends are heading back on Sunday, as their time here is up.  We went to a little open mall where the food court is oh so different from those in the US.  We had pizza and wine and little fried dough things for dessert that are filled with Nutella and topped with fresh whipped cream.  My, my, my.  So sad to see others go.  Who will I tease about sounding like pirates?  xxoo me

First day of school........ Well there are 15 new teachers replacing the mass exodus and firing last year.  Another three teachers were told the day before school started that they wouldn't be hired back.  Surprisingly I still have a job.  I celebrated by stopping off at a friend's house, bitching about the school and polishing off a nice chilled bottle of white.  It has been very hot and humid.  One needs to cool off somehow.  Fortunately there are still some wonderful people for me to play with.  One of my favorite is a Canadian gentleman of a certain age and certain persuasion who makes a killer trifle.  I'm going to a get-together at his place after school on Thursday.  He promises cocktails he learned to make in cooking classes in Venice this summer.  Should be fun as long as I can stay awake.  Am heading to bed now and it's only 8 pm.  Jet lag stinks.  I crashed big time today at school and found myself speaking in tongues.  Weird.  Leaving now.  xxoo me

Hellllloooooo!  I'm back.  The trip was long but uneventful thankfully.  This morning I woke up and peeked outside to see in what state my little garden was after my 10 week absence.  GP pretends it's not there when I'm gone.  He rarely even opens up the shutters on that side of the apartment.  My, should live in a cool, dark basement, husband says that lets in too much light.  When I opened up it was looking out into a tiny jungle, all tall grass and crawling, climbing vines.  The Magpies, that sound like the fishmonger wives of the aviary family, were making a racket and crashing around in the trees.  The "lawn" has been taken over by crabgrass and there are slugs the size of kid's shoes out there.  (Big kids)  I've started cleaning but this will take a while.  Everything I do out there has to be done with much caution as this country produces some mother spiders and as we all know, I am NOT a fan of spiders.

When I first got back to Maine I noticed how clean the air and roadsides are, how friendly the people, how casual and relaxed life is.  I do love that and I miss it when I'm gone.  However I'm not going to miss the supermarket where I have to take out a mortgage on my house to buy the weekly groceries!  I can't believe how expensive food has become.  This morning we bought bags of food to fill our empty cupboards for what it would cost me to get a loaf of bread and some milk at home.  OK, that may be a slight exaggeration, but not much.  We need to push for more local farming in the States.  We encourage people to eat well but who can afford their fresh fruit and veggies?  Geesh.

Tomorrow we start school, the girl and I.  I'm curious to see the changes and meet all the new staff.  Grace is being morbid.  Wish us me luck.

It was wonderful spending the summer with you all and  we will miss you!  xxoo me