Saturday errands

 

A quick stop at nearby Ca'Basso to stock up on a bit of everyday table wine, quickly changed to . . . "So tell me again just how I can bottle your wine and make my own Prosecco." And if we can find the time, we intend to do just that. 

weekend (-ing)

Visiting with friends, 

afternoon napping, 

laundry hanging, 

early morning walking, 

football watching, 

cookie baking, 

sidewalk sweeping, 

market shopping, 

jazz listening in the paese, 

movie watching,

scooter riding,

reading, 

music making...

The days were long and slow. The sun was glorious.

Truly & thankfully.

walk with me

Went for a walk with my main man.
Brought my DSLR.
Man, I live in a beautiful place.

summer 2014 snapshots | festa time

Festa del Pescegatto in Mossano

One of those times that was prettier than a postcard or a Hollywood version on film.

Yes. We sat under the vines.

Yes. We were among mostly Italians, with no tourists.

Yes. It was pretty cool.

Yes. We ate catfish.

No. It was nothing like the catfish we all grew up eating in Louisiana.

It didn't matter.

Italy, in the middle of a vineyard, & vino and laughter with friends & family.

That mattered.

What a lovely night!

pescegatto = catfish

makin' groceries on a Sunday

Yesterday we needed to get a few things from the grocery store.

And, yes, quite unbelievably, there is a fabulous grocery store open on Sunday morning in these parts.

This is our ride back from the store, which is about 8 km away, taken mostly while in motion with my iPhone, of course. We bought prosciutto crudo di San Daniele, melon, Saturn peaches, goat cheese, and cucumbers. (Because I thought you needed to know. Our urgent need to visit the store was for lunch, specifically for the prosciutto and melone.)

I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did. Making a run to the grocery store, even on Sunday, ain't so bad, is it? 

................

Have a great week! We have officially started the countdown to the end of the school year: two weeks!

this weekend

Things were hopping in the paese this weekend, and there were a few very specialized pop up shops to take advantage of the extra visitors. Nice. 

corner view

corner view :: taste

This is the time of year that people flock to the paese for a taste of the local peas and cherries. If only someone had invented "taste-o-vision," then you could understand the reason and you would certainly be among the mass of visitors.

If you are local, don't despair, there are a couple of festivals for the remaining weekends in May where you can go for a taste, too. Though, both products are for sale directly from the farmers in the area. Just look for signs.

Festivals
Sagra dei Bisi (peas)
Festa dea Siaresa (cherries)

(Confused with those titles? The good folks in the paese love their dialect!)

And yes...it doesn't get much cheesier than words like "taste-o-vision." Some days I like cheese. What can I say?

Corner View is a weekly appointment shared by people around the globe, an appointment started in the spring of 2009 by Jane in Spain and currently hosted by Francesca over at Fuori Borgo. We welcome you to join us.

a poem... sort of

There is nothing like spring in the paese.
Okay.
So maybe there is.
It's fall in the paese.

But in the fall there are no peas.
And no cherries, blossoms or lip-staining fruit.
Or wisteria.
Or hills dotted with trees rich with purple.

No eager vines already bursting with this fall's harvest.

No glorious fields of gold.
(Think Sting was referring to rapeseed or wheat?)

So.
There is nothing like spring in the paese.
No place with as many dandelion wishes, for sure.

Nothing that gives me quite the headache,
Or causes quite the itch in my throat.

Ah, such is spring in the paese!

And there is
Nothing
Like spring
In the paese.


.........
And that is as close as I am going to get to poetry, my friends.
Don't forget, April is National Poetry Month. Have you selected a poem to share on Poem in My Pocket Day? April 24.

corner view

corner view :: close by

Even though we live out in the country, right in the middle of fruit orchards, olive groves and vineyards, we do not have a yard. It's a bit odd to consider...country living with no yard...but it is our reality.

We do have a couple of postage stamp-sized plots of land just behind our house, plots just the right size for an olive tree in one and for attempts at gardening in the other. And we have a lovely outdoor patio in the front where we spend lots of time in the warm months. But no yard or giardino. Our child plays in the blacktop public parking lot behind our house.

Even so, we never, ever lament the fact that we don't have a yard. Okay...at times, when I dream of having a dog, I do wish we had a yard...and then I don't adopt that dog that we don't have time to take care of anyway (or so I tell myself) because we have no yard for him. And all is well that ends well. Without a yard.

What we do have, though, is access to all that you see pictured here real close by, as in a minute from my lovely patio gate. And for us, this has proven to be a much better deal than a yard, a yard with a fence and a ton of grass to mow.

Now, my daughter, she has a different opinion about this, without a doubt: Grass, Mamma, I just want grass at my house!

Corner View is a weekly appointment shared by people around the globe, an appointment started in the spring of 2009 by Jane in Spain and currently hosted by Francesca over at Fuori Borgo. We welcome you to join us.

corner view

corner view :: the colors of January

Monday I found a break in the incessant rains in these parts for a walk in the paese in a different area from my usual excursions but still within a few miles of our home. I went out in search of the "colors of January," expecting to find brown, brown, and more brown, with a touch of grey.

And there was certainly a fair share of shades of brown and grey, but a closer look quickly revealed much more green than I expected to see at this time of year.

And now I can't remember if this is normal, all this green, green grass, or if it's directly related to the incessant rains and warmer-than-usual temperatures.

But I do know that after taking in these views on foot, views that I normally only see from the car window, I will change the destination of some of my walks in the paese. Wouldn't you?

Corner View is a weekly appointment shared by people around the globe, an appointment started in the spring of 2009 by Jane in Spain and currently hosted by Francesca over at Fuori Borgo. We welcome you to join us.