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Well, it’s been almost three months since I last posted. And, it’s been a year since I moved into my apartment in Poppi. A lot has changed in this year. I’ve made a few friends, some German, some Italian, an American family who lives in Florence and a British couple Vicki and I met in Venice that I’ve been keeping in touch with. My Italian is improving. I wish I could say by leaps and bounds but in honesty it’s more like in inches!

My walnut harvesting has begun again! I ran out in the spring of the ones I picked last year so I’m glad I can replenish. When the dogs and I walk we are always near blackberry bushes so that has become my daily treat. I eat as we walk!

As you can see, I also bring them home to eat here.

My garden is finished now for the most part. I’ve picked the last of the tomatoes, kale and onions. I still have a good bit of lettuce that I’m picking and eating. It’s now time to plane the fall crop. Carrots, broccoli, spinach, more kale, and snap peas. Unfortunately, my blueberries bushes (after yielding only a little more than a pint of berries) succumbed to the scorching sun and heat. I know that I’ve lost 2 of the bushes but the others seem to be holding on. They’re not much more than sticks at the moment but I’m hoping spring will see them revive. I’m considering putting up a small portable greenhouse somewhere next spring to start seeds a bit earlier. In the meantime, I’m still growing basil, chives and mint in the house.

I went to a concert by myself in Florence, well really in Pratolino, in July. I had 2nd row seats at the Il Volo concert which was amazing. I’ve been following this trio for almost 10 years now so it was a real treat the experience them in person. My ticket included a tour of the Medici Gardens (incredible!) and dinner under the night sky. I had a great time even though I was by myself.

I’ve noticed that the walking route the dogs and I have taken for the last year seems to be becoming a bit harder to manage, both for me and Henry and Polly. I’ll be turning 75 in January and they’re already 7. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone. We’ll see how the walks go when it cools off. It’s still in the 80’s and 90’s here during the day right now. Maybe cooler weather will make it more manageable.

My landlord sent his son over with some fresh picked figs the other day, and my German neighbor generously shares the figs off her trees with me too. They are so good!

For those of you in Spain reading this – I found a Chinese shop! Can’t tell you how exciting that was and I’m becoming a regular customer there. You all know what I mean!

I don’t think I have anything more of note to add right now. I’ll try to keep you up to date on the rest of my “gathering”, although at the moment there are no rocks in my future!

Wow, I knew it had been some time since I posted but I didn’t realize it had been 3 months. I guess its time to catch everyone up.

At long last, I’m officially a resident of Italy! Yippee!! I even have a small car to get around in so I’m not so isolated anymore. It’s so nice not to have to ask someone to take me grocery shopping or whatever.

My almost daughter/niece Vicki came to stay with me for two weeks in May. We absolutely exhausted ourselves traveling all over Italy while she was here and eating a lot of gelato! We spent time in Rome visiting the Vatican then took a really long day trip to Pompeii, along the Amalfi Coast to Naples and Positano. We were able to see Mt. Etna over the Bay of Naples. Sampled all kinds of limoncello (melon, pistacchio pronounced Pis-tak-io, cream, to name a few) and got slightly hysterical when we found a giant glass shaped penis and testicles filled with lemoncello for sale in one of the shops! The Pompeii trip was fantastic with all the history there. We were able to take pictures of some of the preserved bodies (now plaster casts) of people that had died in-situ when the volcano erupted. Archeologists have uncovered some well preserved wall murals in what used to be villas in Pompeii and there were poppies blooming everywhere we went. All in all it was a good day.

Our next jaunt was to Venice. We had a gondola ride with an extremely entertaining gondolier who kept singing “I a-love a youuuuuu 🎶” and then discussed the economy with us! Vicki’s favorite place was the island of Murano. We did a tour of one of the glass factories and watched as they made large glass leaves, curled, for a chandelier. Incredibly hot near those furnaces but such talented people. Of corse, we had to visit the showroom and indulge in a bit of buying too. Fabulous lunch in an interior garden in one of the restaurants. We met a really delightful couple from England at our hotel and breakfasted with them for two days. We’ve even managed to stay in touch since we all went home.

Our last stop was in Florence as that was where Vicki was flying home from. Had a lovely day there including meeting with an old friend of mine who is a tour guide there. Got Vicki into the Galleria d’Accademia to see the David statue. Fabulous food every day of the whole trip.

Then it was back to reality again! Summer has finally arrived in Tuscany, though it took a while. I was very fortunate in meeting neighbors I hadn’t seen before. A German couple my age who own the house around the corner from me, the Gassner’s. They have another home in Berlin as well, and they speak English which was nice for me. They graciously invited me to participate in the celebration of their fortieth wedding anniversary with a group of friends and family who were coming from all over to be there fir their celebration. Over forty people ended up coming – all German speaking, from Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, etc. it was crazy! There was an outdoor concert by 3 of their friends (violin, bass and guitar) one evening that was amazing. On the Saturday, there was another piano concert at the little church here on the grounds followed by a huge luncheon. It was quite an experience and I was made to feel completely welcome by everyone. Apparently they all get together here every year for a week for this anniversary celebration and have been doing so for many years.

My grow towers are doing very well. I’ve been eating salads out of my own produce for several weeks as well as strawberries. My four blueberry plants are loaded with fruit that’s almost ready for picking and my squash and zucchini are in full bloom and starting to produce. I also have four tomato plants that are starting to scare me. They’re so full of ripening tomatoes that I don’t know what I’ll do with them all. My neighbors have at least a dozen plants so they won’t want any of mine!

The walnut trees are loaded with green walnuts so I’ll be back to walnut picking in the fall! Also, having to wait for at least another month before being able to gather any blackberries.

My Italian is getting better every day and I can now carry on a basic conversation. Still learning vocabulary and verbs but I know it will come in time.

I’m sure there are other things I wanted to share but I can’t remember them right now. Besides, this is probably more than enough for now. Ciao!

Oh, yeah – I got my first ever tattoo!!o

Of course, it’s a poppy!

I pray that all my family and friends have a joyous, loving and peaceful Easter!

Daylight Savings has finally come to Italy. We managed the transition quite nicely though a bit tired today.

Henry, my little hunter, has flushed three pheasant out of the farmer’s field on three different days this week. Pheasants are somewhat majestic looking birds as they fly of. I’ve also recently some some Monarch butterflies this week. This is my first spring in Tuscany and I’ve been amazed at the numbers of various wildflowers and trees that either have already bloomed or are blooming now. I’m going to try to add a couple of pictures at the end. Of course that also means my allergies are absolutely making me miserable.

It would be really warm here today if not for the wind. Even so, it was over 70 degrees (or 21-22 centigrade). The wind has been very strong this week. In fact, last Monday night the wind was so strong it toppled over one of my GrowTowers. Unfortunately, I lost all the seeds planted in that one. I had broken up the one large tower into two smaller, 5 tier towers so I only lost what was in one tower thankfully. I still have strawberries, onions and tomatoes but I’ll have to start over again with the rest. We’re still getting rain about every other day along with the wind, but I’ve been told that after April that’s pretty much it for the rain until the fall. Once it really warms up I’ll have to be more diligent about keeping an eye on Henry and Polly when we’re walking in the woods. They love poking their noses into holes in the old stone walls, under fallen trees, in the ground, etc. Unfortunately that’s also where the snakes will be hanging out!

I finally got my wrought iron and tiled patio furniture unpacked and outside. I’m really happy that I decided to bring that set with me in spite of the weight.

Well, Happy Easter to everyone!

I don’t know what these beauties above are called

The tree below is blooming in front of my door

This is the spring wreath I made for my front door

The sheep are our today grazing. It’s the first time I’ve seen them in awhile with all the rain we’ve been having. Those guys are really noisy! I don’t know what they’re baa-ing about but they certainly have a lot to say.

It was nIce today. Partly cloudy but not cold and not wet. We’re expecting more rain tonight though. I try to schedule our walks either before or after the predicted rain so we can stay as dry as possible.

Lately there have been so many deer tracks going to and from the river. Big ones, too. I expect in a couple of months I’ll start seeing small ones as the babies will arrive sometime next month.

Everything is blooming! There are cherry plum trees and apple trees in bloom and daffodils. Wild daisies are everywhere and pink, purple, blue and yellow wild flowers, or maybe weeds? I don’t know which. My mouth is watering for all the blackberry bushes that are everywhere. I know it will be later in the summer before they’ll be ripe but I can hardly wait.

The other apartment is shaping up nicely. There’s now a microwave, coffee maker and tea kettle installed. I bought some new towels for the bathroom, too, and new sheets for the bed. Now it just needs someone staying there!

I stared a subscription with HelloFesh a couple of weeks ago but I’m going to have to cancel it. It’s just too much food for one person, although I’ve enjoyed the recipes. Such a shame there’s not a plan for smaller portions or just a single person. One delivery per week with 3 meals turns into 6 meals for me for about €45 a week, which I don’t think is bad. That works out to about €7 per meal which I’d probably spend anyway at the grocery store. Most of the recipes are pretty good too. It’s just too much food.

Well, so much for walking between showers. We got caught in a drenching downpour yesterday afternoon. Even Henry and Polly couldn’t wait to run home! Today has been better, though. It’s going to rain again soon but we’ve already finished our walk today, thank goodness.

I had to go to go the cell phone company last week and I’m so proud of myself! I was able to hold a complete conversation in Italian with the woman behind the counter. My language skills are really getting better. I still have a tendency to default to Spanish when I get stuck for a word, but definitely not as much as before. Maybe by the time I’ve been here a year or so I’ll actually be pretty fluent. I hope so because I found out that I have to take the Italian drivers license exam within 1 year of obtaining my residency which is now just over 6 weeks away. Got to get cracking!!

I’ve bought myself a ticket to a concert in Florence in July. It’s in the Medici Gardens and the trio Il Volo is performing. I started following these guys when they were kids, like mid-teens, over 10 years ago. I’m so excited to see them. I hate that I’ll be going alone but it is what it is. I expect to go to Florence by train and spend the night there after the concert. Really looking forward to it!

Feel free to drop me a message if you want to comment on anything. I know some people are having trouble using the “Post” section here on WordPress to comment, so FB or Messenger is fine.

I’ve been out walking with the dogs every day as usual. We’ve had a lot of rain lately and our normal route takes us through the woods and down by the Arno River. It rained so much Monday night that about one-third of our route was under water where the river had flooded its banks. There have been lots of ducks on the river so Henry splashed right into some of the flooded area to let those ducks know that if he could only swim or fly they’d be in big trouble! The current is very strong right now so I’m glad he didn’t decide to go into the water after them or he might have been swept away. We’re supposed to get more rain for the next four or five days so even though the water has receded a bit by today, I expect it will be rising again before the weekend and beyond. Thankfully the temperatures are not very cold but it is quite damp and a bit bone chilling. I would say I miss sunny Spain but I have to admit that I love all the green around me in the trees and grass.

Well, it’s been a couple of days since I started this post. It has rained every single flipping day this week and is forecast to rain through most of the coming week. I am thoroughly sick of it. ☹️ Everything feels damp and chilly. Ugh!! My neighbor tells me that the weather will start warming up my the end of this month, however. I’m really looking forward to that.

My GrowTower is two-thirds set up and ready for seeds/plants. I’ve used 200 litres of soil already, and I need about another 100 litres to finish. My composter is fabulous! All my kitchen scraps except protein go into it for a couple of days and then I run the composter overnight. In the morning I have beautiful compost to add to my vegetables’ soil. Both of these items have turned out to be really good investments.

I’m working on crocheting and knitting baby blankets. My upstairs neighbor is expecting her first child in June and my dog sitter is expecting her first child in July. Thankfully that gives me plenty of time to get two blankets done, along with some booties.

My neighbor has graciously agreed to take me to get some groceries so I’ll stop here. Maybe I’ll actually have something interesting to share next time!