Mothersday and fathersday I am familiar with most but what about grandparentsday? They have it in Italy, on 2 October to be exact. At schools children make presents for their nonni (grandparents) and here and there they organise a special day at school! Since in rural...
It has cooled down a bit but is still is unusually warm for the time of the year. A few weeks ago on a very hot day the intense smell of smoke entered my nose. Ah great, BBQ and cold beer was the first...
Dried olives, nope not some obscure Umbrian delicacy but nature at work. For two months we didn't see any rain, yet temperatures were high. This puts great stress on plant life. Tomatoes burned, salads evaporated and even the hardy Umbrian olive trees are suffering....
You want the real Italian experience so you drive, fly, or walk a long distance to the green heart of il bel paese. The sun is shining the bees are buzzing you rented your holiday home via...
Some quick snaps of the vegetable garden. The terrain is not the best one can have, mostly clay and stones but we are gradually improving it.
Saturday was party day this week. The son of a friend had been baptized and in large parts of Italy that is a reason, not the only one mind you, for a party. They expected around 300 people. So a pig was...
Lavender time has arrived, always a spectacular sight, let alone smell. Fantastic color, wonderful smell but also incredible noise produced by hundreds if not thousands of insects hovering above it. Ah and...
Tomatoes are weeds, peppers are, zucchine certainly, butternut also and ... grapes too! What? Yes you see if seeds remain on fertile ground they will pop up next year. We already had quite a lot of rogue tomatoes and butternut squashes. In Umbria you will be able to...
Vino? The usual question of our genial neighbour was uttered as soon as we stepped on their turf. Ah no grazie, and than an excuse followed. Well we do have to climb a kilometre back up a hill which with 35C temperatures and alcohol running through your veins is not...
'T'ammazzo!' she yelled at the smiling small boy sitting next to her wielding a large knife. What lovely peope they are I thought to myself. I sat at the head of a long table filled with family, not mine...
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