Life Goes On

Wow, I haven't made a post since the middle of March! That's terrible. I will say we were a bit disconnected for a while. The end of March brought a big move for us as we moved out of our temporary house and into the house where we will stay for the duration of our time here. That also entailed scheduling pick-up of our lovely government furniture, packing all stuff and taking many trips to the new house, and scheduling/accepting delivery of our household goods which we had not seen since mid-November. The best was getting our old bed back! The government supplied mattresses are worse than the worst pull-out bed.

All in all, the moves went smoothly and we have a great house with lots of space and we sit high on a hill with nice views. There are no DSL internet lines up here, so we were without internet for a while as we waited for our internet satellite dish to come in and be installed. Now we are once more connected to the world (though we still can't get American tv shows through the internet...bummer.)

The house is great and after a month here, we still need to do a lot of rearranging, furnishing, and unpacking, but that will all happen in time. We are now preparing what we can in expectation of the parental arrivals. First it will be the in-laws, then my parents. We are excited to show them where we live and what we experience everyday.

Let's see......what has happened since mid-March (besides moving)....

 1. We had our last ski day of the year. There wasn't much snow but it was perfect for our little beginners, and it was a nice day to sit outside. We went to Folgaria which is a short 1 1/2 hour drive from Vicenza.

2.  We took a final ride around Dueville and this time on bike, like the locals do. Well, the kids were on their bikes anyway. I have yet to purchase one. Still looking for just the right one. It was a fun ride to town complete with watching the old men (and a few young too) competing in their Sunday afternoon bocce ball games and a stop at the popular local gelateria. Perfeto!

Riding the path into town.

Bocce ball courts are on the left.

Mmmmm, blue gelato. Who whouda thought?

3.  Other interesting parts of our old town.....the neighbor who let us watch him make homemade polenta on a Saturday morning. He was preparing it for the big family lunch the next day.

Pouring out the cooked mixture onto cloths on the dining room table so it can cool and then be cut.

4. Good-bye Dueville and hello Arcugnano. We moved from the flat agricultural land to high on a hill in the Colli Berici. Now, instead of being engulfed in fog each morning, we can look down from above the fog.

Sunrise view from the back of our house.

 

 

 

Clear day view from near-by church. Not much snow left on the mountains now.

5.  Easter arrived. The Army Post does a great party for the kids with face painting, an egg hunt, and of course, the Easter bunny himself showed up.

In front of our front door.

6.  Chris has mastered the art of bottling wine. He now buys wine from the tap (vini sfusi). It's a great deal and one can try some great wines at a low price. We have 5 liter and 15 liter jugs which are filled at the wine store and brought home for bottling. Through many discussions at many stores around town, Chris managed to purchase all the necessary equipment and he is perfecting the process. We are slowly building the wine supply in our cantina; a small, cool, dark basement area below our garage just big enough for wine storage. We recently found hooks in the cantina that are there for hanging dried salamis. Guess what our next food purchase will be? Salami sandwich anyone?

The bottling operation in the garage.

7.  The weekend after Easter brought us a great trip. We headed South to Siena. This is a great medieval town about an hour South of Florence. The town was great for walking around, with many narrow cobbled streets full of mostly pedestrians and the main piazza is large and perfect for sitting and eating a gelato and watching the people around you and taking in the sights in front of you. There is a reason Crayola named that reddish-brown crayon Burnt Siena. Everything one can see... from the buildings to the color of the soil is that color.

Il Campo

Church of San Domenico in the background.

The Duomo in Siena is awesome. From the facade, to the small chapels, to the library full of brilliant frescoes, to the sculptures done by Bernini and Michelangelo (actually he left mid-way through one of his works within the church because Florence commissioned him to sculpt the perfect man. Siena was stood-up for David.) It's definitely worth a visit.

Inside the duomo.

We also got a bit further South to Montepulciano. This was another medieval town, though much smaller and propped on top of a steep hill like a scoop of ice cream sits on a cone. This town in much revered in the world due to its fantastic Vino Nobile of which we had a few glasses and purchased a few bottles. This is one of those wines that is made by the gods. Good, good stuff.

Another way to get your wine from the tap. That Vino Nobile sure is good!

Montepulciano: Rainy day in a medieval town.

8.  The next event was Josh's fourth birthday. It was a typical American birthday party complete with a Spiderman sheet cake and a pinata. It was good fun for all, especially Josh!

9.  The next highlight of our spring was Chris' big yard project. When Chris puts his mind to something, it usually gets it done. This time it was having a vineyard in our backyard. Yes, there was much research done into what to plant, where to buy them, what equipment would be needed, what other garden accessories would be needed. Happily, the vineyard is underway with small bits of growth showing on most of the vines. They say 3 years until any significant grape production happens. We have some time to get our wine-making equipment!

Josh was a good helper. The small green stump sticking out of the ground is the beginnings of a grape vine.

The vines are in and the poles are planted. Now we water and wait.

10.  Yea, we are caught up to just this past weekend! Last Sunday we joined a family march. There are many organized walks all over this area. Someone told me it's called a volksmarch. There was one last Sunday for families in a town about a half an hour drive from our home called Piazzola sul Brenta. We parked in front of a large villa that dominates the city center. The town was having its third annual festival of sport and the walk was part of the festival. We followed many other families and people with dogs who walked or jogged the 7K course. It was a very nice walk. They even supplied a couple rest stops with water and light snacks. The kids did great and we had to nickname Josh "rocket man" because he powered through the course. The kid ran at least 3-4K or the 7K course. He just runs and doesn't look back. It was the perfect place for it. We will be doing this again, I think.

Villa Contarini at the start of the course.

Isabel getting a ride from daddy (AKA il cavallo). Josh so far ahead you can't see him.

There it is.....spring in a nutshell. Now, this week brings us visits from the electrician and the plumber. These are not exciting things to write about. I will be stuck at home again tomorrow as the plumber dismantles our lovely pink bathroom to find the source of the septic tank odor. He speaks no English and rattles off things to me in Italian of which I understand about 30%. At least he seems to understand the smell is something we wish to be rid of! Good times!

Ciao!