farmer bringing in grapes to weigh station

 We went out for dinner in the wine region last night to celebrate our 23rd anniversary.  We stopped to buy some wine for the mother-in-law at a co'op and timed it with the arrival of tractors full of grapes.  First they weighed their loads and then dumped them in a masher like a giant underground meat processor.  The smell was amazing.

check out the ladies on the back wall

 Our restaurant, (pic above), was great but for the fact that the owner's son, a long haired, '70's dressing coke-head, was waiting on us and was a complete asshole.  First GP asked which of four bottles of wine was the least "oak barrel aged" and the guy answered snidely as though talking to an ignoramus, "They are very different wines!".  K.  But that doesn't answer the question does it?  Then when our pasta dishes arrived, mine with mushrooms, I made the mistake of asking for Parmigiano!  What was I thinking?  He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to me and said, "But that just isn't done!"  meaning Parmigiano on mushrooms, and may I just mention that in fact, it IS done.  The guy was higher than a kite.  Apart from that, the food was wonderful, the wine was wonderful and the place is charming.  We even had naked breasted ladies stomping grapes to look at.

Monforte

The restaurant is in Monforte, one of my favorite towns in the region.  It is becoming more and more popular with tourists however and that's both good and bad.  Good because it has brought a lot of money to the local folks and they have restored all sorts of gorgeous old buildings that were literally falling to pieces.  But bad because as is always the case' it is at risk of becoming more Disneyland than a real village.  It has loads of restaurants, bars, bed and breakfasts and wine shops now, and very few "real" shops for the locals.  Many of the old farms have been turned in to hotels and big moneyed people are buying up land and building mega homes.  I must admit I resist change.  GP says I am anti progress but sometimes progress is at a big cost.  Heavy sigh.  xxoo me

Good God, my new desk-mate, (filling in for colleague out on maternity leave), is a Christian!  That's CHRISTIAN.  He and his lovely wife, married just one year, (after having had a very chaste period of courting I imagine), are sweet as can be and set my teeth on edge.  She is uptight and he is just so damned sincere is the only word I can come up with.  He's a very nice young man.  But he's very nice and very young.  And I'm neither.  Heavy sigh.  If I have to behave myself all day it will be a long year indeed.  My other colleague, who was with me last year, has set up a chat for us so we can talk freely without his noticing.  Either of us could be his mother but we're acting in an extremely juvenile fashion, exchanging notes (via computer) and giggling.  Poor Michael.  He knows not what he's gotten himself into......

On another note, the refugee issue is all anyone is talking about these days.  It's a serious, serious issue.  The numbers of people flooding the countries along the coast are unbelievable.  There have been brutal crimes by some immigrants that of course categorize them all as criminals.  People are very worried.  This ain't your momma's Europe any more.

Still haven't ventured farther than school but Saturday is our anniversary so we are going out to dinner in Le Langhe, the wine region.  We have to go early because the mother-in-law needs to be restocked with the only wine she'll drink.  Tonight is a nice dry rose' from Cinzano in the hills northeast of Torino.  Yum.  I'm going to be a glutton in my next life.

xxoo me

Here we are again.  I'm back on the Apennine Peninsula.  GP is cooking dinner and I'm drinking a glass of cold Ribolla Gialla, a super yummy white wine we bought last January in Slovenia.  Maine seems very far away indeed.  Since we've been back, only 3 days, I've cleaned the garden, (which was mostly dead and brown from the extreme heat and drought this summer), dusted and vacuumed the apartment, (an accumulation you wouldn't believe after only 3 weeks of GP's absence - damn city life), and worked for two days reorganizing the library at school 'cause the headmaster is an idiot.  I'm already ready for the weekend.  There is nothing more to report at the moment.  I go to bed early with jet lag.  Wake up about 3 with jet lag.  Fall asleep again at 5 and get up at 7 for work.  I should be back to normal, no snickers, by Friday.  Then the adventures begin!  Miss you all already!  xxoo me