una giornata tipica, senza fotografi

My friend Mary Beth asked about a typical day here.  I'm sharing what I wrote to her in case you're interested too.  -Tina

A typical day here... we wake up with the sun around 8. There were no clocks here when we arrived, we have added one in the bedroom, but we don't set an alarm yet. Usually the farmers across the street are already about their work and it is rush hour on the hill, which means there is a car every 15 minutes or so. I can see a lovely mimosa tree (see blog for pics) outside the window and if I stare at it for a while, I can sometimes see hummingbirds and bees getting into it's flowers.

I do pilates or take a walk or both. By the time I'm done, at least Gus is up. We have bread and juice for breakfast and when the bread is old, I make french toast. I use the italian coffee maker to make two cups of espresso-strong coffee and drink it with hot soy milk (easy to find!) and a couple of little sugar cubes.

If we don't get down the hill until noon, all the good bread is gone. I think most people go to the store every day, but we are still in the process of changing our habits and go more like every other day. Groceries are expensive, I think, though some things are much cheaper. Our favorite prosciutto is 48 euro/kg which is like $75/kg or $37/lb. Of course we only use about 50 grams per meal for the 4 of us (maybe $3 worth)- often meat is more for adding flavor, salt, or fat than it is for filling oneself.  Wine costs as little as 1.15 euro/liter, but don't bother because you can get a great bottle of white or red for 3.15 euro (you'd pay $14 in Mpls for the same)

Other things we usually do in the morning include watering either the orto (the fruit/veggie garden) or the flowers. The kids are usually in charge of harvesting- we get about 30 tomatoes (many of which are small cherry tomatoes, but also some romas and bigger ones, too) every day. The kids also take the landlady's dog for a walk, collect chestnuts, snail shells, or hunt grasshoppers or actual snails. We have also found a scorpion and a few praying mantises and many lizards.

We start cooking so that we can eat lunch around 2, when it seems like it's time to eat and there is enough shade on the terraza. We have been having either proscuitto and melon or tomatoes fresh buffalo mozzarella and basil, then pasta and bread. With all this cooking we have lots of dishes to do and we make tons of compost. It is Gus' chore to take the compost down to the compost bin.

Afternoons have been about cooking dinner, cooking down extra tomatoes, trying to learn a little Italian (I can sort of approximate a little lesson for the kids using flash cards some new friends have lent us), watching the olympics (on the neighbor's TV), going to the pool, getting gelato (more on this highlight coming soon), taking a drive in the country, and figuring out when interesting business will eventually be open again (hours are strange here and SOOOO many things are closed for August).

We eat dinner around 8pm, which is a little early for these parts. We went out to eat once and got there at 8:45 starving and feeling like it was pretty late. We were one of the first tables and the room was full until 11:30 and it was a Monday.

After dinner (more salads, bread, pasta or a roast and potatoes or rice with wine for us, juice for the kids) we play cards or read out loud to the kids. We send the kids to bed between 10 and 11 and then relax and listen to music and catch up on email, etc until 11 or 12.

Big changes are coming once we have to start school- a much less leisurely pace awaits, but I don't feel bad about enjoying peace, the countryside, and food since that's what most of Italy is doing right now.