The Oracle at La Gavina

Today was a rich day - rich like creamy gelato, full of substance and good stuff. It was my first day on my own with Sergio and Lorena. In the morning I continued to fill the wall that Sergio and I have been rebuilding together. Although it was nice to have Emily's company until now, it's nicer to work alone here (or with a quiet Italian man who only speaks in profundities). While I work I'm surrounded by all kinds of sounds which include a chorus of birds, crickets, and the swift movement of scampering lizards. It's also very hot now, and the sun is strong. It makes the work harder, but it also makes me feel like I'm rolling around in Tuscany's lap which is a good place to be. The grass smells sweet here, too.

After working on the wall, I repainted the wooden welcome gate at La Gavina. Sergio and Lorena use Sunflower oil to coat, freshen and darken the wood. It smells good and Lana was licking it off of the gate as I painted it on. This kind of work I can manage - actually it's right up my alley - not too heavy, but manual nonetheless. While I worked the couple who stayed at the B&B last night emerged with their son who must be 4. He was afraid of Lana! Incidentally, he had a run-in with two (large - 4 ft., 3 in. diameter) snakes this morning and those didn't bother him in the least. How interesting. I explained that Lana's not scary even if he's afraid of dogs because she's not really a dog, just a lady trapped in a dog's body. I think that really confused him and around now he's probably asking his parents about the she-dog. Oops. Once finished with the painting, I hung the laundry to dry. Then I sat down to draw a bit.

At breakfast Sergio and I talked about agriculture, and how quickly the climate and the terrain are changing. He said that from one year to the next they can no longer predict what they will be able to grow and how different types of foods will react to the evolution that seems to be happening faster than ever. He said that they experiment a lot, but what works one year may very well not work another year. They also have a problem with certain birds eating fruit off their trees - this is a new problem now because these birds used to have to migrate for part of the year and now they live locally all year round.

After lunch I sat down with Lorena while she cleaned some lettuce for tonight's B&B guests. She asked me if I feel ready to leave. I said I am because I know that the time is right but I will be sorry to leave her and Sergio, which is how I feel. We had a long talk, and she explained to me how it came to be that she left her city life to live at La Gavina.

Lorena grew up in Crete Senesi,  and her father was a farmer. Her father hoped that she would leave the farm and work in the city. After school she took a job at the bank here, Monte de Paschi, which is the top one around. She knew when she took the job that it wasn't the life she wanted but she thought it was the right thing anyway so she did it. 22 years later, she was still at the same job. Around then, she found a lump in her leg. Doctors wanted to operate to amputate her leg, but she felt convinced that it was a benign lump. After endless tests (which she insisted on having), this was confirmed. The only problem was that she still could not walk. A friend told her to go to a massage therapist, and after some time there, and with alternative medications, the lump got smaller. At that point, though, she decided to change her life. She felt that she hadn't been listening to her instincts, or doing what she needed to do, and what she wanted was to be working with her hands in some way, to be doing manual labor. Three months after her first visit to the massage therapist, Lorena quit her job at the bank. Within a year later, she and Sergio bought La Gavina. To me, Lorena seems like the wise woman of Siena, or the oracle at La Gavina.

Before dinner, Doro and Cece came to visit with Emeliano, their father. Doro and I prepared the pasta for tonight's dinner at the B&B. After that, Lorena and I finished making dinner together. We made two types of bruschette (traditional and one with ricotta and olive tapenade), two types of pasta (tomato sauce/butter & sage), turkey, and English soup for dessert. Tonight's guest are from Holland, and they speak English but not Italian, so I served and acted as the resident translator for Lorena. Sergio was out today and tonight buying bees so that La Gavina can begin making honey again! (They stopped doing so for a while because the bees were in trouble - I think that there was a disease that killed many of them). Sergio usually serves dinner and speak with the guests but tonight it was me. That was fun. I'm also so happy that Lorena let me make the pasta for dinner!

So, tomorrow is my last day at La Gavina and I will be sure to post with a final note.

How many Italian drivers does it take to fill a road?

Today I went into Siena to say hello and goodbye before I make my trip back to the US. The bus that I take into Siena is a small bus, half the length of but equal in width to a New York city bus. This morning it was just me and the bus driver. The ride is always an adventure because the terrain is extremely hilly and the bus is a manual - it's hard (even for me) not to notice when the driver is shifting gears. The roads are also very narrow, and this morning as we were driving we got caught in a jam with a very large truck. The truck was traveling toward La Gavina and we were headed away. So, what did my bus driver do? He rolled down the window and started yelling to the truck driver "now what do we do?!" and they both sat for a few minutes laughing. I thought - has this never happened before? That seems unlikely. But, the two of them spent a good amount of time figuring out how to maneuver their vehicles around each other.  Once they had their window aligned, they stopped their vehicles and had a nice long chat. It turns out that they know each other. They caught up on everything - families, work, etc. The bus driver has a three year old and she's doing well, thank you for asking.

Oh! I wanted to take a brief break to talk about the cherries! A while ago - maybe a week and one half - Sergio and I covered one of the cherry trees to protect the fruit from being eaten by birds. Yesterday, Sergio and I saw that the cherries are growing safely and beautifully! He picked about ten and handed them to me to eat. They were so delicious - juicy and warm from the sunshine. Even though the work here is so hard that it's almost impossible for me to imagine doing it for a lifetime, there are these little moments that would make anyone understand why it's worthwhile to Sergio and Lorena, and why they chose this life. I still don't know how they maintain the energy or the patience but oh boy do I respect it. They really did make a strong choice in choosing this lifestyle but from talking to both of them I understand that it is truly theirs - their choice, their work, their life. And that makes all of the hard work worthwhile to them. Plus, the cherries just taste SO GOOD.

Throw rocks at snakes.

Sorry to dwell on this topic, but that's exactly what I was doing all morning.

La Gavina is surrounded by a Sergio-built wall of large stones, and a few days ago part of the wall collapsed. Sergio and I spent the morning reconstructing it. Omitting the day I spent with a baby deer named Leo, this was the nicest morning I've had since I arrived. Sergio is pensive and usually relatively quiet (Lorena does most of the talking around here). Today was my first opportunity to work with him and it gave us a chance to talk a little bit - something which turned out to be very enjoyable.

Now, let's backtrack. Remember my three encounters with snakes last week? In one (very emotionally exhausting) day? In the vines? Well, today we were rebuilding the wall that those vines grow on. And encapsulate. So, when the snakes dodge in and out of the vines, they are actually just chilling on their front porch. Their real homes are inside the rocks of this wall that we were rebuilding. For three reasons, I was relatively calm about this whole thing: 1. Working with Sergio, I felt like I was working alongside a snake-whisperer. He loves the little guys because he thinks they're interesting and also because he knows exactly which ones to stay away from. (Incidentally, there IS one very poisonous snake that lives here, a small, brown viper with stripes.) 2. I decided to approach the project as a peace offering to the snakes. They can't mistreat someone who is building a house for them, right? That seems off. 3. I was sort of throwing rocks at them in the process of building their house - not like I was aiming or anything, or throwing them harder than necessary (I was) but at least I felt like it would keep them away.

The project was difficult because as we built new parts of the wall, older parts lost stability and collapsed. But with a lot of patience - which was mostly Sergio's, as I had to talk myself out of serious frustration every time we were slowed down by a new collapse - we made a lot of progress and we're almost finished. I wonder whether Sergio has always been this patient and level-headed, or if he learned to be this way over time. It's nice to be near someone who is that way. Most importantly, I saw one snake, a little green one with a yellow stripe, and it was right nearby but I did not panic! The only thing that can help you get over this kind of fear is finding out that something even worse than what you're afraid of exists. In this case, the "worse" thing would be the viper. Now that I know who he is, and what he looks like, the rest of them don't bother me as much. Don't get me wrong, I still very much hope to never see another one, but if he's green and he slithers we don't have as much beef as if he's brown and he slithers. Triumph!

Also a little overview of the past couple of days:

On Friday I went to Florence where I met up with two other Tamars (friends who are traveling in Italy now) hard to believe! It was so nice to be around familiar people, although it's clear that I've definitely become less capable at carrying an intelligent conversation in English which is, frankly, embarrassing. We had such a nice day though, and it was nice to be back in Florence and even nicer to find it feeling so familiar.

Over the weekend we've had two visitors at La Gavina, one previous WWOOFer who has just returned for a quick visit, and her friend (WWOOF is the name of the program I'm on). Sophie, the WWOOFer, was only 15 when she came here for three months, but she and Lorena grew very close over that time and it's nice to see them back together. She has been traveling with her friend Sinead for three months, and here they are on they're third to last stop before heading back to Australia. It has been fun to have other girls here, and especially english speakers. They leave tomorrow morning.

In addition, Emily left last night suddenly. She decided yesterday to leave, and so she did. I'm happy for her because I know that she missed her family very much. So now it's just me, Sergio and Lorena, which is perfectly fine!

Tomorrow I'll take a day-trip to Montepulciano (where I will eat gelato twice and also be sure to fill up on other goodies), and after that I have two more days at La Gavina before I head to Rome to catch my flight back to the US! More postings to come before that happens, of course.

Great Success!

See pictures below. The pasta was very tasty.

Incidentally, what Lorena did not tell me about today's guests was that they own a restaurant. Luckily, they liked the pasta.

Dearly Beloved...

I designed the title to give you all a little warning about the contents of this posting. Sadly, little Leo left this world after only one short day at La Gavina. Sergio found him yesterday afternoon. Poor Lana is devastated, as we all are, but Lorena and Sergio agree that it's for the best since the little guy was afraid and without his family. Nonetheless, we'll cherish the moments we had with him. Seriously. He was very adorable.

On a better note, Lorena's friends are here for dinner tonight - which will hopefully commence soon as I am very hungry (spent the morning cutting trees again and piling up firewood). But tonight's dinner is particularly exciting because Lorena asked me to make the pasta! I feel as though I've been officially approved by the Pasta Board of Italy (= Lorena). I made spinach tagliatellini, which are miniature flat noodles. It was good to do the whole process myself from start to finish because now I see what it entails - altogether it took about 1 1/2 hours. Here are the steps:

1. Begin with a bowl of farina dura - which is flour but from a different part of the wheat stalk than regular flour that we eat in bread and other wheat products. In terms of measurements - there are none, really. Just have to feel it out, which I need more time to get used to. But if you make too much it can always be stored. Push the flour up against the sides of the bowl so that there is a little bit of a ditch right in the center.

2. In the center add eggs - again, the number depends on how much flour you use, but we used 3 eggs for 5 people. Add pureed vegetables or beets, even - whatever kind you prefer (make sure they are slightly moist). Add about 1 tspn of oil per cup of flour.

3. Begin mixing the mixture in the center of the bowl with a fork. Allow the liquid mixture to pull in some of the flour as you turn the bowl in one direction and mix in the opposite direction. Add water as a you go, just a bit to make the dough workable. If you don't incorporate all of the flour at the onset, no problem - you can save it for later on in the pasta-making process. Be sure not to force the dough, let it do it's thing gradually.

4. When the dough is substantial enough to work on with your hands, drop the fork and go for it! When it feels mostly dry but still moist underneath the surface, lift the ball of dough out of the bowl and begin to knead. Palms always, no fingers! Fold the dough inward from the top forward, always pulling it toward you. As you knead, add flower until the dough feels only very slightly moist but mostly dry.

5. Let the dough sit for about 1/2 hour. If you have less time, it's ok. But it's ideal to let it rise a bit.

6. It's time to roll the dough! Use a rolling pin to create a large pancake, about 6 - 8 inches in diameter. Make sure you leave plenty of flour on the table underneath the dough, and don't be afraid to add more flour to the top of the pasta either. More flour is ok - the idea is never to let the dough get moist enough to stick again.

7. Place the rolling pin at the top of the circle (i.e. the opposite end from where you are). Pull the top of the dough over the rolling pin and begin rolling it up toward you on the rolling pin, using your palms to thin the dough. Push the dough out to the sides of the rolling pin with your palms as you go. This will expand/thin the pasta evenly. One you have all of the dough rolled around the pin, flip it onto the table so that you can work on the other side. This just keeps it all smooth. Again, add flour as you go! It seems like a bad idea (to me, at least) but it's perfectly acceptable. Just don't let the dough stick because it will break. When the dough is about 8-10 inches wide, stop pulling it out to the sides and just work on making it longer. You want the dough to be only about 1 centimeter high when you cut it into pasta. The more even it is, the better - so that it will cook evenly.

This last step is specifically for tagliatelle - but now that you have the dough flat and ready you can do anything with it! Ravioli, spaghetti, tortellini, manicotti, etc. etc. etc...

8. When you're ready to cut - first, get excited! This part is magical. Really, very fantastic. Cut the dough into pieces that are about 10 by 10 inches or 8 by 10, depending on how long you want the pasta to be. Take one square/rectangle and place it on the table in front of you. Flour it again. Fold the bottom up about three times, and the top down about three times. Begin to make vertical cuts (moving along the pasta horizontally with a good knife) into pieces that are the width of pasta you desire. Don't chop, work the knife through the dough swiftly so it bounces back nicely. Slide your knife underneath the bottom folds, and lift it to unravel the pasta! Place it on a floured baking sheet until you are ready to cook it.

It's always ok to add a tiny bit of water if you need to remoisten the pasta for any reason. In making ravioli, for example, you would use a little brush to add water in a patchwork grid so that when you place the second layer of pasta on top of the first, over the filling, it will create a seal.

Enjoy! I'll let you know how this particular pasta ends up tasting. Let's hope good, because there are guests!!

Bambi's in town!

While I was away yesterday, Lorena and Emily found a baby deer who was abandoned by his mother in the field at La Gavina. It's a sad thing to have happened, but the little guy is extremely cute!

This morning Lorena handed him to me and asked me to keep him nearby while I worked. He's tiny enough to fit in the cradle of my arms. We played for a while - by we I mean me, the little guy - let's call him Leo (short for Leonardo) the Italian deer, because when his legs flop around underneath him he looks like the Vitruvian man - and Lana. Lana has decided that she'll be Leo's absentee mother. Just as a reminder - Lana is Sergio and Lorena's dog and the mistress of La Gavina. She's a very small but very mighty animal. She also thinks she's a person. Lana follows Leo around everywhere to make sure he's safe, she nuzzles him, and she has dug up a little bed of dirt for him to sleep in. It's sweet to watch - they bonded instantly. We three played for a little while and then Lorena and I tried to feed Leo. Unfortunately he won't eat. We're hoping that he starts eating soon because he's extremely skinny and otherwise he won't make it. Late in the morning Lorena and I thought of returning to the spot where he was abandoned to see whether the mother would return. Sergio said, though, that he is already covered in human scents and the mother is likely to stay away. Sergio also said that if we're not carefully and he gets away the wolves will get him, or the pigs (who do in fact eat baby deer). So for now, we're keeping Leo safe here at La Gavina. We'll keep track of him and try to feed him again later.

Incidentally, I spent the rest of the morning chopping down trees. Leo has definitely the highlight of the day so far, though.

I'll put up a slideshow - he's so little! I've never seen anything like it.

Even if I did know how to yodel, I wouldn't do it here.

Today I took a day trip to San Gimignano. I decided to say c'est la vie to the snakes and take a day apart to see if we can think about our differences separately and then to regroup for negotiations tomorrow. Which we will be doing - regrouping, that is. I potted 17 bunches of vines yesterday so I have 23 to go, and that means more entry into the lairs of those whom I detest. Anywho, today was a day away from all that.

I took the bus into Siena, and grabbed another bus from Siena to San Gimignano. (It's about a one-hour bus ride). San Gimignano is a small hill town and it is particularly famous for it's plethora of towers. Like Siena, San Gimignano is very well kept and it's a beautiful, albeit touristy place to walk around for a day. It also happens to be home to Piazza Della Cisterna where there is a very cool fountain for people to look at, sit on, and oh! meet at to reunite with long-lost maybe loves... Seriously, it's a place where real life magic has happened. To the two M's - I was thinking about you both today. It was a lovely day, and as you must suspect it was one full of food, strolls, and relaxation.

While I waited for the bus to travel back to Siena, I heard/saw some very loud Americans yelling to each other. It occurs to me only now, actually, that they might have been drunk. Before any of us could stop him, one of them (these people were in their 60s) stood up on a bench and began to yodel. It was... interesting. I wondered what motivated this kind of activity. I can only imagine that it was the rolling hills to his right, but even with the expansive scenery, why yodel? This one time I can truly say that an Italian bus driver saved me from an insane American. He swooped in and picked me up, and delivered me back to Siena, far away from the yodeling Wisconsinite. (What, did you think that a guy loud enough to yodel didn't also yell to the whole of San Gimignano that he was from Wisconsin? Guess again.)

It was interesting that on the drive home there were actually two men on the bus who checked everyone's tickets. Here people are expected to buy and validate their own tickets (for trains the tickets get validated on the platforms, for buses they get validated on the buses). Usually the tickets never get checked... at least I've never seen it before. Today, I did! And there were literally two men on the bus to check them. So, including the bus driver, 3 of the maybe 35 people on the bus were men employed by the bus company. That math seems odd to me, but so it goes. Brava Italia! This is a country of madness. And that is part of why I love it so.

As an aside, Lorena has been talking to me about changing things up here at La Gavina. She is feeling like it's time to do things differently. She's tired of running a B&B, which I can understand because when there are guests she works very hard, as if she's never really graduated from being a full-time mother. But she is constantly flooded with an unpredictable number of children (i.e. tourists)! That would be exhausting for anyone, but for someone who spends the majority of her day chasing four geese away from her vegetable orchard, I imagine it's especially tiring. Lorena's heard about something called "co-housing" in Germany. She asked me whether I might be able to research it a bit on my computer. I don't think that Lorena's up on the internet. (When she took it upon herself to find bus times for my trip today even though I told her that I would be able to do it easily on my own, she called an Italian hotline to get the information. Needless to say, she was on hold listening to a loop auto-message for about 1 hour before finally giving in to me.) What I've discovered so far is that there are two similar concepts that are already being experimented with in places including Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, and the US called "co-housing" and "eco-villages." These are small communities built to support sustainable environmental and community development. It seems interesting - mostly about creating new types of close knit communities for young families, especially those with children. Lorena is trying to steer clear of anything having to do with children. She did tell me, though, that they are waiting for permission from the zoning board to build two new houses on their property, and she hopes to rent them out for seasons at a time to people who will want to live somewhat communally. She's not sure about the details beyond that, and she's hoping to get some ideas from more developed concepts in other places. So we're going to take a look at some materials together, but it seems like La Gavina will soon be evolving, which could be exciting and innovative.

Tomorrow we're having a visit from a previous WWOOFer. She's Australian and she's coming with her boyfriend - she was here when she was only 15! Lorena said that Australians tend to know what they're doing when they come here. I'll fill in the blank and point out that American's don't. At least not this American. But alas. They're stuck with me!

Lastly - I do want to state that I saw a third snake after I wrote yesterday, and Lorena told me that I was uniquely blessed because snakes are a good sign and three is the blessed number - the father, the son and the holy ghost. She asked "what else could you ask for?" I'll tell you what else I could ask for. Guess. I could ask not to see any more snakes. Also, unfortunately I think I'd have to believe in that particular rule of three for that "blessing" to apply to me, but maybe I'll try to accept that great compliment retroactively.

So, tomorrow is another day. Tonight, I go to sleep with a belly full of Tuscan food, and a mind full of yodeling.

They're coming to get me.

Well! It's happened! The battalions have banded together and they're coming to get me. Not only have I seen my first live snake here today... I've seen my first two! And I feel sure that there are more coming. The job that I'm doing right now involves sticking my hands into the (thick!) vines and pulling some of the plants out from their roots. Guess who lives in the vines?

Thankfully Lorena was with me when we saw the first snake. She is also afraid of them but after a lifetime in Tuscany and years in the country-side she's learned to cope. When we saw it we just looked at each other with big eyes and it was clear that neither one of us was breathing. At least it's not just me. Then Lorena explained that the snake we saw wasn't a dangerous one. The dangerous ones move more slowly "so it would be easier for us to kill them," Lorena said. Yeah. OK. You know me well enough to picture me up against a snake. Who do you think would do the killing?

The second one actually fell down... you know how when snakes want to get from a higher step to a lower one they sometimes just throw their entire selves over the side of the higher step? BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO LEGS?!  (Actually I sort of do that too when I'm tired, and what's my excuse?). That's what happened, about five inches in front of me. After that one I had to take a break. Lorena told me to sit down and listen to my heart, and try to understand where the fear was coming from. Lorena's a truly warm-hearted hippie. I think it's pretty clear where the fear comes from but I appreciate the fact that she's giving enough credit as a human being who can control my own insanity to think that it will go away if I "just think about it."

Special thanks to Ben Kaberon, who I g-chatted with after the "incidents," and who gave me some very interesting advice about facing my fears and just grabbing hold of the next one (snake) that I see. Thanks Kaberon. Don't worry, not enough people read this for you to feel embarrassed about those pearls of wisdom. I do wish you were here so that I could watch you take your own advice. And thanks to Michael Ann who I also g-chatted with after I saw the second snake.

The rest of you, if it wasn't 3:00 AM and 7:00 AM where you are, respectively, I would have been contacting you using whatever means I could think of. Clearly this is a code red. Actually I guess it's a code green, black, yellow, silver... they come in ALL DIFFERENT COLORS AND THEY ARE EVERYWHHHHHHERE. A fun thing to do could be to place bets on where and when the next one will surface. Maybe I'll see whether this blog has a gadget for that.

Usa the salta!

Someone should make a movie about a girl who travels to Italy and learns how to cook from an amazing, olive-tree climbing Italian woman. What could be better than watching someone cook pasta and other delicious Italian food for 2 1/2 hours? Oh yeah. Eating it. But seriously. It's a sure hit. Target audience: 20-something to 50-something year old women. Or just women in general. The men are probably falling asleep even reading this...

Tonight's blog is especially for my mom, who taught me how to cook and who's kitchen remains the most fun to spend time in. There are four people staying at the B&B tonight, two couples, so we were in the kitchen preparing and eating for about 3 hours. The nights when there are guests are my absolute favorites, because those are the nights in the kitchen. I found out, incidentally, that the local tourist agency recommends La Gavina to people looking for a place to stay, and that's why Lorena and Sergio often have tourist groups who have not reserved rooms. It's a very nice surprise.

Today I learned two things: 1. You should never put salt into water before it's already boiling because it slows down the boil. Always add salt after the water is already boiling, before adding the pasta (or other foods, but what else is there?) 2. When you chop/crush garlic, do it on top of a little pool of salt. It helps the flavor. I'm not sure why because there were a few Italian words in there I didn't quite get, but I trust Lorena and that's what she showed me. Mom, you're probably nodding your head because you already knew these things... I've watched the cooking channel with you for 26 years, including Giada De Laurentiis in all of her cleavage's glory, but somehow I've missed these two critically important factoids!

So, tonight we made something called "pici"- which is basically just thick spaghetti, and bears a striking resemblance to soba noodles. Anyway, of course, very tasty. Lorena also made fried artichokes and potatoes (aka french fries but fried tempura-style). So good. And I made the bruschetta! Three kinds - pesto, mushroom, and traditional tomato/basil. Also dessert - the same one we had last time, which was delicious yet again.

Please note - it's not all so glam: I did spend an hour today shoveling chicken - um - waste... which we will use as fertilizer for the plants. In addition, Lorena has now lent me a pair of boots to wear while I'm
working near the olive trees so that when the snakes try to bite my feet I will be amply protected. So, let's review... the snakes, who I'm terrified of, will definitely be slithering around near my feet, but I don't have to worry about that anymore because now I have boots to protect me. Green boots. Those boots better be the boots of heros. They better release spikes on demand. I'll let you know how that goes after tomorrow. But anyway, the waste shoveling is definitely worth it when the pay-off is learning how to cook this way, and the snakes just... might be... I can't say more, lest I regret it. While I was walking today (I took a walk without getting tremendously lost! I only walked in the wrong direction for 10 minutes this time...) I was thinking about how maybe the snakes know that I've been saying all of these mean things about them, and maybe they're planning a retaliation. Sorry, snakes. Please don't eat me.

Anyway, basta pasta. Basta snakes. Now sleep. Tomorrow pasta, again.

Have confidence in the zipper!

You know that you're in Italy when you put your jeans on in the morning and don't even bother trying to close the button, you just have confidence that the zipper alone will keep your pants from ending up around your ankles in the middle of the Piazza del Campo. Viva la muffin-top!

Yes, friends. Today, I ate myself into oblivion. And it... was... GLORIOUS. I spent the day in Siena. Emily and I left on the 7:25 AM bus. In retrospect, I'm not exactly sure why I did that. It's soooo early. But we did. I didn't return until 7:45 - so that gave me 12 concentrated hours to prepare for Sputnik. The thing is that for someone who can't eat wheat or a lot of other mainstream foods in the US, but can eat them all in Italy (i.e. someone like me), it's not a "oh, maybe I'll have a pastry once while I'm here." No, it's a "you bet your sweet bottom I'd like a pastry with that, and while you're in there why don't you give me two for later. And a few cookies for the road."And that is how I ended up eating what I think might amount to 4500 calories or more today.

Among other things there was definitely some Panforte - which all you CET ladies will remember I love. And you all hate it. So, more for me. And there is a LOT of panforte in Siena. So you can imagine...  Panforte is a traditional Sienese cake (see Wiki link below...) -like thing but it is made with dried/candied fruit, almonds, and confectioners sugar, which are three of my top ten items for consumption. Plus, one hopes that the dried fruit can help her digest all of the rest of the food she's eating as an American in Siena, which includes, among yet other things: Ricciarelli, another traditional Sienese cookie (see Wiki link below...), made from almonds and confectioners sugar... kind of like really great macaroons. Enough said. And of course there's the pastries, pasta, the pizza, the gelato... etc. etc. etc...

In between my many food stops today, I spent my time sitting in the Piazza del Campo reading, thinking, and people watching. Being alone here can be lonely at times, but it definitely has it's pluses. One of the pluses is that in lieu of focusing my attention on a travel-buddy, I can concentrate completely on eavesdropping on strangers' conversations! The best ones are the conversations between these roving groups of Italian teenagers. I think I've mentioned before that these young people are monsters (Michael Ann, I know you'll back me up...). I was wrong, though. It turns out they're actually vampires. I think that the Twilight series has definitely hit Italy because they are all dressing, walking, and talking like vampires. What I mean is - for the men: sunglasses even in the shade, hair straight up but moussed just a little bit to the side so their entire heads look like one big cowlick, and generally angry expressions. The women are just really petite and skinny but what else is new, they're Italian, they're built to absorb wine and carbohydrates like perfect little machines. But recently I've noticed that they also slouch their shoulders and make themselves look a little bit more fragile and pathetic than can possibly be natural. Who know's what I'm talking about? I know you've seen the Twilight movies, and it's ok to admit it to yourself because presumably you're not reading this in a public setting... Anyway, in addition I listened to some awesome midwestern english conversations about how delicious the gelato is, and I pretended to understand some really juicy french conversations...

So, as ashamed (/secretly sooooooo proud) as I am to admit this, that's all I have to report for the day because literally what I did was eat, and then wait until an acceptable amount of time passed for me to feel like it was okay to make my next food stop. And clearly I planned strategically so as not to be seen too many times by too many people - After one person sees you making your fifth pit stop for something that you are clearly eating "subito," or immediately, it gets kind of embarrassing. I think that's actually why the streets in Italian hill-towns are designed like undecipherable mazes. I think it's less because of medieval/renaissance lifestyle and more because those charming urban planning pioneers made an ingenious, fore-sited decision in order to to protect future tourists from the indignities of being seen eating not a couple of nice treats in one day, but all of them. In one hour. And then on repeat.

Anyway, here's what I can tell you: Clothing can be altered. Thank goodness.

Mama mia! La Pasta!

Yes, we ate the ravioli tonight and it was marvelous! Lorena reported that I am a natural-born pasta maker (applause applause thank you very much) and I'm so pleased to have the compliment because I don't get the sense the she takes food matters lightly. Two of Lorena's Parisian friends are visiting and they ate dinner with us, and both of them speak English fluently (only one of the two speaks Italian). It was a little bit confusing, although admittedly also a little bit very nice, to once again be speaking just a bit of English at the dinner table. 

Oddly, the most surprising thing that's happening during my time here is that I'm developing a real friendship with Emily. I can't explain clearly enough how few words she and I share - probably a handful, and maybe even ten. Our languages truly do not overlap, and the words we're able to communicate with are lavorare, stanca, dove, cuanto, come stai?, ayutare, molto bene, insieme and perhaps a few others. That's to work, tired, where, how much, how are you, to help, very good (because we both say we're good even if we're not --- it's simpler that way), and together. And Emily does not conjugate verbs, and to be fair when i conjugate them I usually accidently make groups singular, males female... the works. Nonetheless we're starting to understand each other based on context and facial expressions. OH. To complicate things, in Bulgaria when they say no, they nod their heads up and down as we do when we say yes in America, and they do the opposite when they say no. It took me a few days to figure that out and I'm sure that Emily wondered why I kept pouring her more water or dishing her more food when she was clearly declining. Not clearly enough! Today, while Emily and I worked together in the vineyards, I was surprised to realize that when I leave here she will be the one who it will be hardest to leave behind. Just about ten minutes after I thought this up, she expressed the same sentiment. She asked how long I would be staying, and when I told her three more weeks she expressed that it's very little time, and she said "Io e lei, insieme, molto bene." That means "you and I, together,  very good." So, Emily and I are buds. I've never before had a friend who I really could not manage to talk to. 

OK off to do my nightly pre-bed snake check, and then... dormire! 

The Sienese Craters

Yesterday was Festa Delle Madre, mother's day. There's also a Festa Della Donne in Italy which celebrates womanhood, however there is only one father's day and no additional day to celebrate men. My mom always told me that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Feed him well and he'll treat you like a queen. In Italy women really know what to do with food, and the men celebrate them not once but twice a year. Plus, the women get to eat too! This is a great country.

Yesterday morning Doro and Cece were with us. We picked edible flowers from the garden (they're purple!) and helped Sergio cover the cherry trees to protect them from the birds. Doro of course conducted a lesson for me on which caterpillars and bugs I should touch and which ones I should "place to the side." I'll just take this opportunity to mention again that she's 6. And my role model. (My other role model is George Burns, and he died at 102. If we average those two ages that makes my amalgamated role model 54 which is almost normal, right?)

In the afternoon, Sergio and Lorena took me and Emily for a "little car trip." As my dad would say, we went on a Sunday afternoon noodle ride, a Friedman tradition! That just means that I got into the car without asking where we were going. I have a hard time knowing what would be considered rude here, so I just get into cars and go places. It turned out that we were driving through the Crete Senesi, which is an area just south of Siena where the landscape is like nothing I've ever seen before - I'll add a link to the wikipedia page below since I didn't have the chance to take any pictures. I thought that Crete Senesi meant "Sienese craters," because the terrain looks a little bit like what I imagine land hit by craters might look and also because my brain sometimes takes small vacations. In fact, it means "Sienese clays." Sergio explained that this area is where the clay for Sienese pottery comes from. A lot of the land in that area is pretty unworkable but people live there nonetheless in beautiful, castle-like villas. I'm not sure what they do when it rains because it definitely looked like a drizzle would make their houses slide down the slopes in their backyards, but I gather that they have somehow arranged for that not to happen. Along the way we stopped at Monte Olivieto Maggiorre where there is a famous and beautiful monastery with frescoes depiction the life of St. Benedict.

The next stop was at a town nearby, I don't recall the name because the town itself was nice but there was nothing specifically notable there and it was very small. HOWEVER, I did have my first gelato of the season during this stop. Sergio suggested it and bought it for me very sweetly. Gelato. Mmm.

After that stop we went to Lorena's mom's apartment for dinner. That was interesting: it turns out that Lorena's mom is only 82. Which is a surprise because I thought until now that Lorena and Sergio where in their 70s, but I was mistaken. Also, Lorena's mom is an excellent cook but she's very traditional and her food tastes nothing like Lorena's although Lorena told me that she learned everything about cooking from her mom. It was a very nice dinner, and when it was over we walked into town where there was a celebration for S. Isadoro with fireworks. We watched together and then returned home around 11.

Today I worked in the vineyards in the morning, and at noon Lorena asked if I wanted a pasta-making lesson! So, I learned how to mix dough for pasta, how to stretch it, and how to make tortellini and ravioli. Sooo cool.

Lunches are usually pretty quiet but not today. Today Lorena explained to me that she has a friend who owns a hotel in Sorrento, and her friend would like to sell the hotel and invest in a place in Latin America. She asked what I thought. I explained that I am the last person to be able to give that kind of advice but that her friend sounds like an interesting person. We started to talk all about life. Yes, an emotional conversation on the topics of life, living life, liberty, confidence, and love. It was a fantastic lesson in communicating in Italian because no matter how good my language was getting for everything farming related, it has been frustrating not to be able to communicate on a personal level. My thoughts and feelings don't revolve much around fennel or gardening tools. And although I've been happy to just be among people who are kind and seem to prioritize their values so respectably, I have found it challenging to be without the ability to connect on a deeper level. How many times can I tell Lorena that the food is delicious and everything smells terrific? It's nice to be able to talk about more complex issues. Among other things, Sergio and Lorena told me that when they decided to give up their lives in cities and buy La Gavina, they were without a lot of support from family and friends. People were sure that it would fail and that the two of them would starve. They were persistent, and they have managed very well.

OK - this is important: Snake watch:

Nothing yet, but this morning Emily asked if there are snakes in the grapevines... She didn't know the word so she drew and 's' shape with her finger. Why are snakes so gross? I actually had a moment of feeling bad for them this morning because they have to live with themselves, but then I remembered that snakes are not people and they don't have to look at themselves in mirrors. Anyway, I haven't seen any snakes in the grapevines yet but I do think it's funny that Emily and I both seem to be checking under our beds for snakes before we go to sleep at night. That's right. Every night the covers come off before I climb in, I shake my pillowcases to see if anything will fall out, and I check the bathroom and the closets. And I live on the second floor.

Also, Sergio told me that the snakes are dangerous to Lana, the little dog (see her picture in the slide show on the upper right of this page). Apparently the little devils bite at dogs's noses when they are sniffing around the ground for food. Well, my new strategy is to carry around a bottle of water AND a machete everywhere I go. Snakes don't like water right? I figure if I see one, I'll squirt him first, then run, then if he catches up with me I'll throw the machete at him...

Festa delle madre!

Happy mothers day mom! I think it's mother's day in the US, and it definitely is here...

Tonight we're off to Lorena's mother's house for a party... ooh lala. Full report later!

Me and the Snakes

Well... snakes on the brain. Yesterday, Lorena and I decided to have artichokes for lunch (pictures of Lorena, Sergio and Emily to follow... I've been told that the names are confusing. I will try to take photographs tomorrow.) Lorena told me that I could pick the artichokes, and subtly mentioned that I should "watch out for the snakes!" So, I asked if she was serious, and she said "yes, of course!" I can't believe it. We proceeded to have a whole conversation about it - there are two predominant species here. There are large ones, those are 'safe'. Yeah. Safe. That's what I'm worried about. Then there are small ones with diamond shaped heads, and vertical slits for eyes. Those are the 'less safe' ones. So, Lorena explained that's why we always wear long pants and watch where we put our hands, where we sit, etc. Silly me - I thought it was because there might be ticks. Lorena told me that I should walk around with a machete whenever I do weeding, gardening, etc. and move all the plants around before I do any serious work. Apparently this scares the snakes away. Yeeeeeeah right. The snakes are not afraid of me. They know I'm coming and they put their bibs on and grab the silverware. I just know it. From now on, I'm sticking with the chickens. They eat the snakes. Gutsy little fellows. At dinner Sergio told me that snakes signify change. I said that's nice, for me they only signify fear.

I had an interesting conversation with Sergio last night: I'm just about at the point where I can manage one on one conversations well, even with confidence. When there are two or more people talking to me, forget it. I need another week. Sergio told me about how they make olive oil and other products. I asked if they make wine and he said that for the past two years it has been too difficult because wild bores have been eating the grapevines. He said he finds them full, sleeping there. This year they're hoping for better luck. We also talked about the chickens, what it's like to raise them and eat them, and the geese. He said that it's difficult now with his grandchildren, who become very attached to the baby animals. He also explained that it's especially hard with geese, who apparently become domesticated when they are raised by people, and are a little bit like larger pets (ie cats, dogs, etc...). This obviously makes it harder to eat them!

Today Lorena showed me how to clean up around the grapevines, and it's extremely hard work. I have to nap for one hour every time I work for two. Doro and Cece are back for another visit - They took me on a walk to their house, which turns out to be about 15 feet down the road. Should have known. These families stick together. Doro led the way, explaining that sometimes there are snakes on the road. I let her lead. She's 6. I'm 26. She's brave. I'm not.

For food we've been eating the same basic products for a week since we never waste leftovers, but Lorena is extremely creative and every time we eat it's as if we're having something entirely new. We ate lasagna which Lorena and I made using the leftover pasta from thursday night's guests' meal. We used ricotta mixed with a variety of greens as a filling, and we topped it with a salsa which we made using the leftover asparagus soup, a little bit of flour, olive oil, and salt. It was delicious. Lorena also asked me whether I like wine, and when I said yes she announced that moving forward we'll have some at every meal. Lorena doesn't ask me anymore what I like eating and what I don't. She has seen enough to know that I like everything.

Emily and I have become so comfortable together even though we don't share enough words to really communicate. She helped me in the vineyards this afternoon, and periodically we took breaks and sat together silently. It's very tranquil here, and it's nice to be alone. But it's nicer to have her company.

So - the snakes. I will persevere. Only because it's worth it. It's a good thing I didn't really know about them before I booked my return flights. I'm going to walk tall, and carry a machete wherever I go. And if any snake wants to pick a fight with me - I'll just run. If it catches up, I'll fight it with the machete. Although it will probably just eat the machete. And then me.

Goodnight serpents of Tuscany, you little devils!

Lost in Tuscany...

Today I found out that there are snakes living around here. Otherwise, it was an almost-perfect day. (Please, read on - it's not as bad as you think.)

In the morning Lorena asked me to do some weeding. I said sure! (Thanks, Dad. "How to pull weeds out of the ground in Teaneck: 101" turns out to be a pretty useful lesson.) As it happened, Lorena was actually asking me to uproot several small trees. Farming is hard work! I only knew that in abstract until today and I have a feeling I'm still pretty clueless about what's ahead... Anyway, it's also very good work, if you like manual labor, which I do! We worked outside for about 4 hours, and then decided to have lunch. For lunch: lettuce and radishes from the garden, a frittato with eggs from the chicken coop and asparagus from the olive groves (it grows like a weed there and I'm the one who picked it so I suspect that we actually ate some grass with it), and... conversation! Which was a nice change from the past two days when I have been pretty shy about speaking very much (Italian or otherwise).

Conversations with Lorena in particular included her asking me if I would tutor her in English for one half-hour a day, which is very exciting although I'm not positive that I'll know how but no matter, I'll improvise. Also, I mentioned that she should write a cookbook for Americans because it's very clear that she knows exactly what she's doing with food all around. She said she'd like to but she doesn't know how to get it published. Anybody happen to know a thing or two about that?

I also asked at lunch where I could take a nice walk in the afternoon. Sergio was headed into Siena, so he suggested that he would drop me off at the abandoned monastery on the way (this is not creepy - it's a tourist site) and I could walk back. The walk would take me under an hour. Terrific! After lunch, Sergio dropped me off at the monastery. He asked the groundskeeper to show me around and then direct me back to La Gavina. The monastery was very cool. After taking a good look around I headed off, map in hand, toward La Gavina. Suffice it to say that the journey back took me about 2 hours and 15 minutes - the map was not very detailed. I got very, very lost. I walked in the wrong direction for about 45 minutes, and asked for directions from 4 different groups of people. And the people were hard to find! Tuscany is underpopulated. Nonetheless, it was an excellent adventure, though I will not be repeating it, and I found my way back to La Gavina. Not in time, though, to miss seeing two dead snakes on the road. At least I did not see any live ones, but those two popped up within the first hour of my little "walk." Need I describe the anxious snake related thoughts that I carried with me for the remaining hour and one-half? I think not.

Snakes aside, the day got funnier when I got back to La Gavina and Lorena mentioned casually that I had uprooted even several trees that, in fact, were not meant to be dug up. The thing is - I did ask many times which ones and Lorena and I just mis-communicated, and she was laughing when she showed me. So all is well. But I was too thorough. I dug up the entire pathway - about 7 different kinds of plants/trees, and actually I was only supposed to remove 2 species. OK - embarrassing, but some things get learned the hard way.

Tonight there are three guests at the bed and breakfast. Lorena, Emily and I made dinner together. Oh! Emily and I are officially friends. She showed me pictures of her two daughters today - (she has two daughters! What? How old is this woman she looks like she's 25!) - They are in Bulgaria. It seems she misses them very much of course, but she was excited to show me the pictures and it was nice to share that with her. We're getting better at yelling the right words ar each other when we talk even though the volume remains the same. Anyway, we made dinner in the commercial kitchen which is soooo cool. It's small and rustic like the one in the house, but everything is fancy and works so quickly! In 1 hour and 45 minutes we made:

Asparagus soup
Fresh salad
Fresh vegetable pasta - this was the highlight for me!
Meat (2 kinds)
Steamed green cabbage
Bread pudding with chocolate, pane, and coffee

I had soup and 3 bowls of pasta for dinner. Still standing.

The highlight of today was definitely the pasta. Also it's so cool that Lorena and Sergio basically only eat things that they have grown. And they do not waste anything. Any water that we don't drink goes to the garden, including the water we use to wash the vegetables. Any leftover lettuce bits or other garbage from food goes to the compost and the chickens eat it. Anyway Lorena showed me how to make pasta and promised to give me another lesson when we're in less of a rush, so mom - yes! We can make pasta together when I'm back. And you know who - you know who you are - get excited. This stuff is waaaay better than what comes out of the bags/boxes that some people buy in endless quantities.

Goodnight! Thanks for reading!

La Gavina = Tower of Babel

Day 2: VACATION DAY! I've barely done any work yet but I'm in Italy where vacation days are encouraged! I traveled to Siena (what what!) with my co-boarder, Emily/Emilia/Emiliana. I include three /s because frankly, I can't tell what her name is even though I've asked. Her answer was a shrug and a "tutto."  For the purpose of this blog let's go with Emily because it's the fastest one to type. Emily is Bulgarian and she does not speak Italian. Somehow she and Lorena manage to communicate nonetheless. She is lovely - I'm not sure how lovely because we can't manage to converse, but she always smiles and she invited me to join her today which is good because without her I never would have found my way to the bus.

The bus stop is about 1/2 mile from La Gavina. It's a direct walk (thank goodness) so I know I'll be able to find it again. Of course I did not have a ticket for the bus... but maybe less predictable was the fact that the driver didn't have any either. OK, this is when behaving like a tourist comes in handy. "What? No tickets?! NON COMPRENDO." So, he let us on. And cleaned his glasses while he snorted at me. The bus ride to Siena was incredibly scenic and a little bit nauseating because it was fast and curvy, and in a manual transmission... but it was well worth it. Endless green! I think rolling hills is an odd way to put it, but actually it's completely accurate.

Emily and I arrived in Siena, had a coffee, and parted ways after painstakingly agreeing to meet back at 2:15 PM. (So far our conversations involve a lot of pointing and yelling random Italian words.) I headed toward the Piazza del Campo, the central square in Italy, and there began a day of reminiscing, feeling so happy to be back, but missing my CET friends! (BTW - Ladies - I think I spotted some of this years CETers and we were WAAAAAY cuter.  And we also had a higher rate of buzz cuts... Sukester...)

So, I walked all over the city. Visited with L'Elephant. You know who I'm talking about. Li'l ole' Torre! OH, of COURSE! I stopped first at Nannini for Ricciarelli. I almost forgot! Sheesh. I missed those little puppies. Flour-less carriers for endless amounts of powdered sugar, this girls dream. I also went back to the Cathedral, which by the way is definitely not in use at the moment and I can't remember whether it was in use while we were here --- Also, they are "restoring" the mosaics on the floor, and their technique is to cover them with cardboard and tape, but remove the restrictive ropes around them so that now these monstrous Italian teenagers just step right over them! (I have no idea how those horrible teenaged boys become 50-year-old men who live with their moms and then grow into the old, strong Italian men who like to stroll around, "take a little bit of sun," and who I love so dearly.)

Anyway, at 2:15 Emily and I met at the bus to return to La Gavina. I forgot to mention that we left at 7 am this morning for some reason that is unclear to me - but I actually had amount of time in Siena. As we sat down on the bus, I realized that although Emily, Lorena and I can only use a handful of Italian verbs to converse, we're likely to become increasingly comfortable as a group over the next month, and even to thoroughly enjoy each others company. However, I was also thinking how difficult it is that we don't all speak a universal language. And that's when it occurred to me that during this May, La Gavina = Tower of Babel.

Oh, on that note I should also mention that last night after I wrote, I discovered that Sergio and Lorena's grandchildren are named Doroeta (Doro for short) and Cesare (Cece for short). I had dinner with them while Lorena and Emily helped the B & B guests. When Sergio left me alone to supervise them he did not warn me that his grandson doubles as some kind of spiderman/batman amalgamation. Within 15 seconds Cece was rolling around the floor of the kitchen and spilling yogurt on the couch. Let me just say - it's VERY difficult to discipline the grandson of people you have just met, in their house, in a foreign language! Cece had the time of his life. Luckily, Doro is extremely sweet and she helped me out, and made a large effort to make conversation with me. I think she was a bit confused about why I was speaking so slowly. She took a hanging album off the wall to show me, and she was very pleased that we'll be seeing each other again next week. Unfortunately, I must have misspoken at one point because when I asked her how you say "grandmother" and "grandfather" in Italian, she thought I was asking her what Sergio and Lorena's names were. Let's hope they didn't hear about that on the car ride home.

OK! That's it for now. The real work starts tomorrow, very exciting.

Sono Arrivato. (5/2/2011)

I arrived in Siena yesterday... Took a 3 hour plane ride from Ireland (stopped to see Michael Ann and Michael!) and then arrived into Rome, Fiumicino airport. I've missed the Italians; in the bathroom a 65 year old woman dripped water all over my suitcase. Fair enough - benvenuto a italia! However, a nice Italian gentleman helped me carry my suitcase up two flights of stairs. If there was any doubt that I'd arrived in Rome, these two incidents reassured me quickly.

I took a train from the airport to Roma Tiburtina, the bus station. There I caught a bus to Siena. Unfortunately I got off at the wrong stop... and when I asked my bus driver whether we arrived at my destination he said si! si!. But he was perhaps distracted... because I was in fact not at the correct location. After 15 minutes of waiting for my host at the central bus station in Siena, I decided I must be at the wrong place and asked for directions. This time I received the information I needed and took a taxi to my destination, where I was greeted by Sergio.

Sergio is a warm Italian man, probably in his 60's although I can't say that I'm sure - Farmers are so healthy! Either way, he did smile and hug me immediately when he realized it was me. He had been getting ready to call the bus company and find out what happened to me when I appeared. After we hoisted my luggage into his car, we drove in silence to La Gavina. A combination of factors kept us quiet - first, I was exhausted and the language was too much for me to handle. Sergio speaks a bit of English but he's shy about it. Second, as it turns out, Sergio does not speak much at all. Still, he smiles whenever he has the opportunity and takes care to make me feel at home here.

We came to the agriturismo - we had to drive a distance to get here as the farm/bed and breakfast is pretty buried in the Tuscan hills. Sergio explained that he worked in a refrigerator factory for years, and then at a hotel, and 25 years ago decided to buy his own farm. 5 years later he and Lorena decided to open a bed and breakfast here.

Sergio showed me my room - also carried my heavy suitcase up two flights of stairs in typical Italian older man fashion - I've seen this done so many times now - I'm pretty sure that Italians have something unique in their water that makes the older generation particularly strong. These men can carry and lift anything. After that, Sergio showed me the grounds.

Here's what they have: Endless herbs, vegetables (including asparagus and artichokes!), baby geese (so cute! won't be so cute when they grow up - ehem, Aroni, you know what I'm talking about thank yoooou Frisch parking lot). They have a little dog named Lana who is my favorite. There's a chicken coop, there are rabbits and bunnies who are very sweet. There is also an olive grove and more.

The olive grove was where I met Lorena who greeted me with a welcoming smile and a strong handshake. Lorena seems to be the talker in the house, and also the do-er. When we found her she was up in an olive tree cutting out dead branches. Lorena speaks no English, but is very patient with me when it comes to speaking Italian slowly and rephrasing if necessary. The first thing she said was "che giovane!" So, like everyone else I've ever met, Lorena was surprised that I'm so young.

Ok - now that I've introduced everyone and everything, I think I will just provide simple information moving forward. This is a lot for anyone to read about my travels! So, here's today:

Morning: Cut and trimmed stalks of bamboo. It was a lot of fun! It was sunny in the morning and I was outdoors and it turns out that I really like a reasonable amount of manual labor, so it was very nice. After that I helped Lorena trim the olive trees and clean the groves. We had a chance to talk a bit about family, and life here.

We ate lunch together - cold pasta (so far I feel fine!) with carrots and apples and a nice salad from the garden. I have no idea what kind of lettuce we're eating but it's delicious. Also, amazing radishes just taken out of the ground. Lorena and Sergio recycle as much as possible so the water that we use to clean vegetables will be taken out again and used to water the gardens.

After lunch I walked - there is plenty of walking to do around here but I'm not familiar with the area yet so I'll have to explore. Hope the wolves don't eat me. Just joking, Mom and Dad.

In the afternoon I prepared another unidentified lettuce for dinner (removed the stalks). We are waiting to prepare dinner because there will be guests at the bed and breakfast but Lorena is unsure about their arrival time and the number of guests that we are expecting.

The best thing that happened today is that Lorena and Sergio's grandchildren have come for a visit. Cesere (sp?) Must be 4 or 5, and Lorietta is probably 8 or 9. The are sweet - they walk up to me and smile, and stand in front of me so we chat as much as I can manage. Cesere just brought a baby chicken into my bedroom, one that just hatched. He just stood here holding it out to me without saying a word. It is the cutest thing - I've never held one before. He is very sweet with it as well.

Ok that's all for now! If you made it this far thank you for taking time to read about my travels!