Yesterday we decided it was time to get in the car and go. We weren’t sure where, but that car and the road were calling our names and we were ready. Armed with books and maps we headed out not planning to go very far and only certain that we wanted to stay on the small back roads and watch the landscape go by as we traveled from place to place.
Almost immediately we encountered olive groves and vineyards. We drove down into the valleys that we had observed from our garden view, close to the farms and fields of sunflowers and tobacco plants, along the winding roads that pass towns too little to even be on the map. Our first destination was a beautiful little town called Bevagna, which we have been told has been "discovered" by the British and Germans and therefore you find English spoken by the people living there and see high prices for purchasing homes on the signs in the real estate office windows. It’s no wonder really; it’s such a charming town. Flat, so people ride bicycles and just a pretty, pretty town. We found a shop called "La Valchiera," a "Cartari" where they make paper using medieval methods and equipment and I bought a stack of it for my watercolors. It’s beautiful and very much like the kind of paper in the journals I like so much so I’m anxious to paint on it. The "Mastro" or master papermaker, Francesco Proietti, asked me to come back and tell him how I liked it. We had a little conversation in Italian, which was fun and it was also exciting to find, so unexpectedly, this beautiful place. I’ve been searching for good paper sources for my watercolors so this was quite the discovery!
At the outskirts, outside the main porta there’s a beautiful park with tall trees and benches and a very nice children’s playground. We bought a few things for a picnic lunch and walked down a sun-dappled path, noticing that there was a sort of bandstand area where we imagined people dancing during summer festivals. The day was overcast. We had left Perugia in the rain, searching for the sun. We found it in Bevagna, enjoyed our lunch, walked around the town for a while appreciating it’s beauty and then got back in the car for more discoveries.
We made a very brief stop in Foligno, a much more modern town with a small historic center. We noticed that the centro was decorated for a festival starting on Friday but nothing much was happening yesterday so we did not stick around.
Next stop was Trevi, a town that spills down the hillside in colors of pink and gold and brown, famous for its olive oil. It’s a very steep town with narrow streets and tall buildings that at times felt very claustrophobic and I became anxious at one point that it would be like one of those mazes where you get lost and cannot find your way out! We liked the city though and I sat and painted while Bob took off to take some photos. I really enjoy painting these vertical slices of a city where you just catch a glimpse of the architecture and in Trevi I found a little spot I couldn’t resist.
The sky was darkening and rain seemed imminent so we got back in the car, just before a downpour and headed towards Montefalco, a town famous for both olive oil and wine. By this time it was getting late, and we were getting tired and hungry but it was too early for the restaurants to be open for dinner so, just to tide us over, we again picked up some snacks which we ate in the car as we drove back to Perugia. The sun was starting to set and the sky was filled with storm clouds and pink streaks. We stopped to photograph some fields of sunflowers against this setting sun and I roughed in a painting which I would have to finish later, as the rain came down and we were forced back into the car! The storm seemed to be keeping a few steps behind us as we continued down the road and came upon a field of corn - it’s golden cobs glistening in the colors of the setting sun and once again we stopped to try to capture the scene. I worked very quickly, fearing the rain and put down a very fast impression of the golden corn, its brown and green leaves turned down below the cobs, row after row disappearing into the distance, the sky a glorious pink and purple.
We didn’t get home until almost 9 and parked the car in its little place in the garden, locked the gate and walked over the get a pizza and share a quarter liter of wine in one of our favorite little pizzerias close to home. A very fun day, we are excited to have this little car and to be able to just pick up and go wherever and whenever we decide. We feel as if we have turned a page and started a whole new chapter to this adventure and can’t wait to tell you how it goes!
Buona sera,
Rosemary & Robert
(photos to follow)
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
September’s Neighbor Came & Went 9.20.05
Before Doug and Esther left, Rita told us we would be getting a new neighbor in September who was a famous American writer. She said something about a book he had written being made into a movie with John Travolta but I wasn’t sure that this was something about to happen or that had already taken place. So we waited until he moved in and could ask him ourselves. His name is Jonathan Harr and we learned that he had written a book called “A Civil Action” that was on the best seller list for two and a half years and that they had made a movie based on the book starring John Travolta. He lives part of the year in Rome and part in Massachusetts where he teaches at Smith College. He came to Perugia to have a little time alone before embarking on a 14-city author tour to promote his latest work “The Lost Painting” about to be released. He was very unassuming and seemed shy and introverted but friendly to us as he passed our window each morning to go out for his morning cappuccino and cornetto at the corner coffee bar. We tried to stay out of his way and allow him the quiet he had come here to find.
One day we invited him in to dinner, which he graciously accepted and we enjoyed talking with him and learning about his career and what he was doing. I was goofy enough to ask him “What was it like working with John Travolta?” and I could have kiked myself for being such a dork. But he was gracious enough not to roll his eyes at me and said he was very nice and he enjoyed the process very much. His wife Diane, a visual artist came down from Rome for a few days (it rained most of the time she was here unfortunately) and he suggested perhaps we could get together while she was here and we hosted a wine and cheese get together in our apartment. We had intended to do it in the Garden but it was raining. It was a pleasure meeting both of them and sharing conversations about Italy, life and art.
Yesterday morning before we left for a little spin in our car we stopped to ask if he minded if I wrote about him in our blog and gave his book a plug. He didn’t and actually thanked me and gave me his advance uncorrected proof - marked inside with his corrections - but that he wanted to get it back. I asked what time he was leaving the next day and he wasn’t sure. I promised to return the book before he left. We started reading in the car and became very intrigued. We ended up coming home at almost 9 last evening to find Rita at John’s apartment cleaning up a bit. We were surprised to learn that he had decided to leave early and found, on our doorstep a very nice note along with some language books and the umbrella we had lent him one rainy day.
Bob became so absorbed in the book that he finished it all in one day, not being able to put it down! So, I’d like to recommend that you look for Jonathan Harr’s intriguing new book, the true story of a lost Caravaggio painting and the quest to find it. It’s being published by Random House.
It was really fun for us to meet John and his lovely wife and we feel fortunate to have been able to spend some time with them over a few bottles of wine in our tiny apartment in this Italian city at this moment in our lives.
Rosemary & Bob
One day we invited him in to dinner, which he graciously accepted and we enjoyed talking with him and learning about his career and what he was doing. I was goofy enough to ask him “What was it like working with John Travolta?” and I could have kiked myself for being such a dork. But he was gracious enough not to roll his eyes at me and said he was very nice and he enjoyed the process very much. His wife Diane, a visual artist came down from Rome for a few days (it rained most of the time she was here unfortunately) and he suggested perhaps we could get together while she was here and we hosted a wine and cheese get together in our apartment. We had intended to do it in the Garden but it was raining. It was a pleasure meeting both of them and sharing conversations about Italy, life and art.
Yesterday morning before we left for a little spin in our car we stopped to ask if he minded if I wrote about him in our blog and gave his book a plug. He didn’t and actually thanked me and gave me his advance uncorrected proof - marked inside with his corrections - but that he wanted to get it back. I asked what time he was leaving the next day and he wasn’t sure. I promised to return the book before he left. We started reading in the car and became very intrigued. We ended up coming home at almost 9 last evening to find Rita at John’s apartment cleaning up a bit. We were surprised to learn that he had decided to leave early and found, on our doorstep a very nice note along with some language books and the umbrella we had lent him one rainy day.
Bob became so absorbed in the book that he finished it all in one day, not being able to put it down! So, I’d like to recommend that you look for Jonathan Harr’s intriguing new book, the true story of a lost Caravaggio painting and the quest to find it. It’s being published by Random House.
It was really fun for us to meet John and his lovely wife and we feel fortunate to have been able to spend some time with them over a few bottles of wine in our tiny apartment in this Italian city at this moment in our lives.
Rosemary & Bob
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
We have a car! 9.16.05
This morning we gathered our documenti (basically our identity cards and our visas/passports) and met Sergio down in the garden. We had arranged the day before for him to drive us to meet Fernando, the guy we were buying the car from at the Fiat dealership where there is an office that handles the paperwork for buying and selling used vehicles. Thank goodness for Sergio who helped answer any questions we did not understand. It turned out we also needed our Permesso di Soggiorno, which we had not brought with us, thinking all the necessary information was on the identity card. We were wrong in this assumption and ended up having to return later in the day for them to record the numbers from this document. Not a big deal, but something that could have been avoided had we brought the Permesso with us on the first go round.
At any rate, we had the money for the car and enough for the taxes/fees involved. When we learned of the amount of the fees, Sergio reached into his pocket to help us out, not expecting that we would have enough to cover it, but we did and so he didn't have to rescue us. It was a nice feeling though, that he would do that for us.
After the car purchase and hands shaken all around, the next step was to make sure we had insurance before we drove off in our car. Again, Sergio spoke with the woman there at the dealership/car sale office and they gave us a quote for insurance. Sergio wanted to check with his insurance company to see if they would give us a better rate and he drove us there and we got a quote on the spot. It turned out the first one was better, less money for more coverage; so back we went to sign those papers. There was another fee involved here - the first 6 months coverage and for this we did not have quite enough, but Bob went down the street to find an ATM machine and came back shortly to tie up all the ends
The sale and insurance in place, Sergio left us and we were on our way, driving through Perugia in our brand new 5-year-old forest green Toyota Yaris and it felt pretty good! Later, we met him in the garden where he showed us our own private parking place and put our little car there for safekeeping. Now we have keys to the big door and the gate to the garden and a really great place to keep our car, with no parking fees and we couldn't be happier about that. Sergio has been amazing throughout this entire process and we will be forever grateful to him for his generosity and his graciousness. The amount of time he spent helping us find and buy our car was monumental to us and we once again feel completely fortunate to have met him.
Now, the possibilities for where we can go are endless and we can't wait to tell you all about the adventures we'll be having driving around Italy and off the beaten path!
Buona notte,
Rosemary e Robert
At any rate, we had the money for the car and enough for the taxes/fees involved. When we learned of the amount of the fees, Sergio reached into his pocket to help us out, not expecting that we would have enough to cover it, but we did and so he didn't have to rescue us. It was a nice feeling though, that he would do that for us.
After the car purchase and hands shaken all around, the next step was to make sure we had insurance before we drove off in our car. Again, Sergio spoke with the woman there at the dealership/car sale office and they gave us a quote for insurance. Sergio wanted to check with his insurance company to see if they would give us a better rate and he drove us there and we got a quote on the spot. It turned out the first one was better, less money for more coverage; so back we went to sign those papers. There was another fee involved here - the first 6 months coverage and for this we did not have quite enough, but Bob went down the street to find an ATM machine and came back shortly to tie up all the ends
The sale and insurance in place, Sergio left us and we were on our way, driving through Perugia in our brand new 5-year-old forest green Toyota Yaris and it felt pretty good! Later, we met him in the garden where he showed us our own private parking place and put our little car there for safekeeping. Now we have keys to the big door and the gate to the garden and a really great place to keep our car, with no parking fees and we couldn't be happier about that. Sergio has been amazing throughout this entire process and we will be forever grateful to him for his generosity and his graciousness. The amount of time he spent helping us find and buy our car was monumental to us and we once again feel completely fortunate to have met him.
Now, the possibilities for where we can go are endless and we can't wait to tell you all about the adventures we'll be having driving around Italy and off the beaten path!
Buona notte,
Rosemary e Robert
A Misty Morning 9.15.05
The other morning we got up early to go to the garden. Rita had told me on Monday that they were ready to begin harvesting the grapes and I imagined a huge operation of gathering and talked Bob into getting up early to come with me to see what they were doing. Around 7am we made coffee and gathered cameras and art supplies and went down to watch. There was no one in the garden but us and, it seemed there would be no major harvest that day. What we did have the pleasure to see was an incredibly beautiful scene. The day before there had been a storm. Great claps of lightning and thunder and torrential downpour at times. We had the pleasure of spending a few hours with Art and Shea, American friends who live in Italy near Lago Bolzeno who had come to see us in Perugia to have lunch and to shop for some bicycle clothes that Art needed and couldn't find where they live. We had lunch at a wonderful little restaurant near our house (in fact, the one that our friends John and Sally had enjoyed when they were in Perugia). We had a fun time getting to know them better and they headed home around 6pm.
Back to the Garden: When we got down in the garden there was a large layer of fog in the valley to the east, with Assisi completely shrouded in it and only a few cypress trees on the hills in between sticking up through the low lying clouds. The light reflecting off the clouds created some rainbow effects beautiful to see. It was not very cold but still I was wearing a turtleneck and sweater and the sun felt warm after the heavy rains and the chilly day it had turned into the day before. Bob spent the longest time taking photos and I did a sketch in my journal. After a while Rita came down and snipped a few bunches of grapes for us and said that some of the grapes were ready and of course some were not. It was not to be a dramatic and large harvest, but a slow and steady collecting of the ripe ones, as they needed to be taken. I realize now that some of the grapes are purple and some green. The ones that were to be purple turned colors early on. Most of the grapes are green. I have a nice big bowl of them sitting next to me as I write and plan to try a recipe that uses grapes with sausages that we had at lunch the other day and enjoyed very much. The fog continued to roll in and out of the valley below for some time that morning and we enjoyed the view, feeling very fortunate to have been there to watch this incredible show of nature at its most dramatic.
We hope you like the photos Bob took that morning.
Buona giornata,
Rosemary e Robert
Back to the Garden: When we got down in the garden there was a large layer of fog in the valley to the east, with Assisi completely shrouded in it and only a few cypress trees on the hills in between sticking up through the low lying clouds. The light reflecting off the clouds created some rainbow effects beautiful to see. It was not very cold but still I was wearing a turtleneck and sweater and the sun felt warm after the heavy rains and the chilly day it had turned into the day before. Bob spent the longest time taking photos and I did a sketch in my journal. After a while Rita came down and snipped a few bunches of grapes for us and said that some of the grapes were ready and of course some were not. It was not to be a dramatic and large harvest, but a slow and steady collecting of the ripe ones, as they needed to be taken. I realize now that some of the grapes are purple and some green. The ones that were to be purple turned colors early on. Most of the grapes are green. I have a nice big bowl of them sitting next to me as I write and plan to try a recipe that uses grapes with sausages that we had at lunch the other day and enjoyed very much. The fog continued to roll in and out of the valley below for some time that morning and we enjoyed the view, feeling very fortunate to have been there to watch this incredible show of nature at its most dramatic.
We hope you like the photos Bob took that morning.
Buona giornata,
Rosemary e Robert
Buying a Car in Italy 9.13.05
We are buying a car. We knew we would want to eventually but in the spirit of living cheap and making art, we wanted to first experience what life would be like without one. I have to say that for the most part it has been a wonderful experience, with only ourselves to worry about, not having any large material possessions to call our own. Footloose and fancy free as it were. And we have been so many places! Traveling throughout Umbria and into some of the surrounding regions has been quite easy and inexpensive. We learned how to read the "orario", the bus or train schedule and how to ask the formerly grumpy guy at the bus station questions (I wrote about this experience in a previous blog!) and it was relaxing to just sit on the bus or train and not have to navigate our way or deal with the frustrations of traffic and parking a car in the cities. However, the trade-off of this freedom from traffic anxiety was that we were bound to someone else's schedule, often being forced to leave earlier than we would have liked and not free to really roam about and stop wherever we wanted to, along the road. At the same time, we feel that we spent more time in each city than we would have if we had driven there because inevitably we would have made many stops along the way and divided our time more between the getting there and the being there. So it will be interesting to see how our lives change once we have our own mode of transportation and we will let you know how it goes.
In any case, we are excited about this change in our status and so far, the experience has been painless. Bob did a lot of research on the different banks here, since we decided we needed to open an account at an Italian bank, so that we could have immediate access to our money once we found a car. With the help and advice of Giovanna (our friend with the Internet café) we chose the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Sienna because, in her opinion, they had the least amount of fees (although we have heard different opinions about this) and from what we were told by the very kind young man named Christian who spoke English, they were very willing to work us and help us through this process. Giovanna even offered to come with us to the bank if we had any problems but everything went fairly smoothly. First Bob went and spoke to them, they said we could open a "Pensioner's" account so the fees would be lower and we signed all the application forms necessary. There was a little snag in that we went down there on Wednesday, about a week ago, and Christian informed us that the manager, the person who knew the most about what we wanted to do, was on vacation still and would we mind coming back on Monday. Surprised at this, we agreed to come back and, as it turned out, on Monday the manager was still not in when we got there, and Christian ended up being able to handle our needs with a little help from someone else there at the bank. Not totally sure what had changed, and not in a big hurry since we hadn't found our car yet, we went along with the situation. He was so sweet and tried so hard, it was difficult to be annoyed, even though we were puzzled at how this played out. Nevertheless, since we had all of our ducks in a row - Permesso di Soggiorno, Codice Fiscale, and our Identity Card - it was a relatively easy and painless process. The next step was to have our funds transferred from Wachovia to our bank here in Perugia.
One of the minor problems was just the time difference - there is a 9-hour time difference between Italy and Arizona, so that complicated the process a bit and made for some interesting calls back and forth.
We want to say a few words about Dee Ann Griebel, of Wachovia, in Phoenix who has been our financial advisor for several years now, whom we trust immensely, and her very competent and helpful staff. (A big note of thanks goes to Judy Smith who I worked with at P.S. Studios who recommended Dee and to whom I will always be grateful for this fact.) They have been so responsive to our questions and our requests, it has been a complete pleasure doing business with them and we appreciate their help so much. All the transfers occurred as promised and they always returned our calls promptly and went out of their way to make sure we were satisfied and that our needs were met. We are by no means a big account for this company so we appreciate being treated as if we were important to them.
Account open, funds in place, we were now ready to hand it over to someone else in exchange for a car. We had already looked around and had an idea of what we wanted. We talked with Sergio, our landlord and asked if he would mind coming with us to look at some cars and maybe helping us out with the language and customs. Sergio went above and beyond the call of duty. He took this as his personal mission: finding us a car. His wife Rita said he enjoyed doing this and we hope so because we know he spent a good deal of time on it. Last week he came over to our apartment and showed us several options he had looked into from one of these Auto Trader-type publications and why one was better than another and finally presented us with his best recommendation - a Toyota Yaris, just the right size for us (a little smaller than my VW Jetta) but large enough to hold our luggage). He arranged for us to look at it a few days later and we took a test drive. It's a 2000 model but looks and acts like a new car. The guy selling it and his wife recently had a child and it is too small for them, which is why they are selling it. It doesn't have a lot of miles on it - 67,000 km (x.6 for the miles = around 40,000 - pretty good we think for a 5 year old car) since it wasn't their primary car. It has been meticulously maintained with all the paperwork to prove it and Sergio felt that it was a good deal for us. In fact he likes the car so much he said if we took good care of it that he would buy it from us when we leave Italy! And, we were thrilled that he will also let us park the car in the garden, where there is a small parking area behind a locked gate. This is tremendous for us because parking can be a big headache in a city like this. We have so much to be thankful for.
We will pick up the car on Friday and we'll let you know how it goes. We went to the bank this morning and withdrew our money. Tomorrow we hand it over to Fernando and arrange for the insurance etc. We can hardly wait.
Buona notte,
Rosemary
In any case, we are excited about this change in our status and so far, the experience has been painless. Bob did a lot of research on the different banks here, since we decided we needed to open an account at an Italian bank, so that we could have immediate access to our money once we found a car. With the help and advice of Giovanna (our friend with the Internet café) we chose the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Sienna because, in her opinion, they had the least amount of fees (although we have heard different opinions about this) and from what we were told by the very kind young man named Christian who spoke English, they were very willing to work us and help us through this process. Giovanna even offered to come with us to the bank if we had any problems but everything went fairly smoothly. First Bob went and spoke to them, they said we could open a "Pensioner's" account so the fees would be lower and we signed all the application forms necessary. There was a little snag in that we went down there on Wednesday, about a week ago, and Christian informed us that the manager, the person who knew the most about what we wanted to do, was on vacation still and would we mind coming back on Monday. Surprised at this, we agreed to come back and, as it turned out, on Monday the manager was still not in when we got there, and Christian ended up being able to handle our needs with a little help from someone else there at the bank. Not totally sure what had changed, and not in a big hurry since we hadn't found our car yet, we went along with the situation. He was so sweet and tried so hard, it was difficult to be annoyed, even though we were puzzled at how this played out. Nevertheless, since we had all of our ducks in a row - Permesso di Soggiorno, Codice Fiscale, and our Identity Card - it was a relatively easy and painless process. The next step was to have our funds transferred from Wachovia to our bank here in Perugia.
One of the minor problems was just the time difference - there is a 9-hour time difference between Italy and Arizona, so that complicated the process a bit and made for some interesting calls back and forth.
We want to say a few words about Dee Ann Griebel, of Wachovia, in Phoenix who has been our financial advisor for several years now, whom we trust immensely, and her very competent and helpful staff. (A big note of thanks goes to Judy Smith who I worked with at P.S. Studios who recommended Dee and to whom I will always be grateful for this fact.) They have been so responsive to our questions and our requests, it has been a complete pleasure doing business with them and we appreciate their help so much. All the transfers occurred as promised and they always returned our calls promptly and went out of their way to make sure we were satisfied and that our needs were met. We are by no means a big account for this company so we appreciate being treated as if we were important to them.
Account open, funds in place, we were now ready to hand it over to someone else in exchange for a car. We had already looked around and had an idea of what we wanted. We talked with Sergio, our landlord and asked if he would mind coming with us to look at some cars and maybe helping us out with the language and customs. Sergio went above and beyond the call of duty. He took this as his personal mission: finding us a car. His wife Rita said he enjoyed doing this and we hope so because we know he spent a good deal of time on it. Last week he came over to our apartment and showed us several options he had looked into from one of these Auto Trader-type publications and why one was better than another and finally presented us with his best recommendation - a Toyota Yaris, just the right size for us (a little smaller than my VW Jetta) but large enough to hold our luggage). He arranged for us to look at it a few days later and we took a test drive. It's a 2000 model but looks and acts like a new car. The guy selling it and his wife recently had a child and it is too small for them, which is why they are selling it. It doesn't have a lot of miles on it - 67,000 km (x.6 for the miles = around 40,000 - pretty good we think for a 5 year old car) since it wasn't their primary car. It has been meticulously maintained with all the paperwork to prove it and Sergio felt that it was a good deal for us. In fact he likes the car so much he said if we took good care of it that he would buy it from us when we leave Italy! And, we were thrilled that he will also let us park the car in the garden, where there is a small parking area behind a locked gate. This is tremendous for us because parking can be a big headache in a city like this. We have so much to be thankful for.
We will pick up the car on Friday and we'll let you know how it goes. We went to the bank this morning and withdrew our money. Tomorrow we hand it over to Fernando and arrange for the insurance etc. We can hardly wait.
Buona notte,
Rosemary
Banners coming up the hill
The man on the left with the sash across his chest is the mayor of an Italian city. For almost every city's banner there was a mayor.
Buying a Car in Italy 9.13.05
We are buying a car. We knew we would want to eventually but in the spirit of living cheap and making art, we wanted to first experience what life would be like without one. I have to say that for the most part it has been a wonderful experience, with only ourselves to worry about, not having any large material possessions to call our own. Footloose and fancy free as it were. And we have been so many places! Traveling throughout Umbria and into some of the surrounding regions has been quite easy and inexpensive. We learned how to read the "orario", the bus or train schedule and how to ask the formerly grumpy guy at the bus station questions (I wrote about this experience in a previous blog!) and it was relaxing to just sit on the bus or train and not have to navigate our way or deal with the frustrations of traffic and parking a car in the cities. However, the trade-off of this freedom from traffic anxiety was that we were bound to someone else's schedule, often being forced to leave earlier than we would have liked and not free to really roam about and stop wherever we wanted to, along the road. At the same time, we feel that we spent more time in each city than we would have if we had driven there because inevitably we would have made many stops along the way and divided our time more between the getting there and the being there. So it will be interesting to see how our lives change once we have our own mode of transportation and we will let you know how it goes.
In any case, we are excited about this change in our status and so far, the experience has been painless. Bob did a lot of research on the different banks here, since we decided we needed to open an account at an Italian bank, so that we could have immediate access to our money once we found a car. With the help and advice of Giovanna (our friend with the Internet café) we chose the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Sienna because, in her opinion, they had the least amount of fees (although we have heard different opinions about this) and from what we were told by the very kind young man named Christian who spoke English, they were very willing to work us and help us through this process. Giovanna even offered to come with us to the bank if we had any problems but everything went fairly smoothly. First Bob went and spoke to them, they said we could open a "Pensioner's" account so the fees would be lower and we signed all the application forms necessary. There was a little snag in that we went down there on Wednesday, about a week ago, and Christian informed us that the manager, the person who knew the most about what we wanted to do, was on vacation still and would we mind coming back on Monday. Surprised at this, we agreed to come back and, as it turned out, on Monday the manager was still not in when we got there, and Christian ended up being able to handle our needs with a little help from someone else there at the bank. Not totally sure what had changed, and not in a big hurry since we hadn't found our car yet, we went along with the situation. He was so sweet and tried so hard, it was difficult to be annoyed, even though we were puzzled at how this played out. Nevertheless, since we had all of our ducks in a row - Permesso di Soggiorno, Codice Fiscale, and our Identity Card - it was a relatively easy and painless process. The next step was to have our funds transferred from Wachovia to our bank here in Perugia.
One of the minor problems was just the time difference - there is a 9-hour time difference between Italy and Arizona, so that complicated the process a bit and made for some interesting calls back and forth.
We want to say a few words about Dee Ann Griebel, of Wachovia, in Phoenix who has been our financial advisor for several years now, whom we trust immensely, and her very competent and helpful staff. (A big note of thanks goes to Judy Smith who I worked with at P.S. Studios who recommended Dee and to whom I will always be grateful for this fact.) They have been so responsive to our questions and our requests, it has been a complete pleasure doing business with them and we appreciate their help so much. All the transfers occurred as promised and they always returned our calls promptly and went out of their way to make sure we were satisfied and that our needs were met. We are by no means a big account for this company so we appreciate being treated as if we were important to them.
Account open, funds in place, we were now ready to hand it over to someone else in exchange for a car. We had already looked around and had an idea of what we wanted. We talked with Sergio, our landlord and asked if he would mind coming with us to look at some cars and maybe helping us out with the language and customs. Sergio went above and beyond the call of duty. He took this as his personal mission: finding us a car. His wife Rita said he enjoyed doing this and we hope so because we know he spent a good deal of time on it. Last week he came over to our apartment and showed us several options he had looked into from one of these Auto Trader-type publications and why one was better than another and finally presented us with his best recommendation - a Toyota Yaris, just the right size for us (a little smaller than my VW Jetta) but large enough to hold our luggage). He arranged for us to look at it a few days later and we took a test drive. It's a 2000 model but looks and acts like a new car. The guy selling it and his wife recently had a child and it is too small for them, which is why they are selling it. It doesn't have a lot of miles on it - 67,000 km (x.6 for the miles = around 40,000 - pretty good we think for a 5 year old car) since it wasn't their primary car. It has been meticulously maintained with all the paperwork to prove it and Sergio felt that it was a good deal for us. In fact he likes the car so much he said if we took good care of it that he would buy it from us when we leave Italy! And, we were thrilled that he will also let us park the car in the garden, where there is a small parking area behind a locked gate. This is tremendous for us because parking can be a big headache in a city like this. We have so much to be thankful for.
We will pick up the car on Friday and we'll let you know how it goes. We went to the bank this morning and withdrew our money. Tomorrow we hand it over to Fernando and arrange for the insurance etc. We can hardly wait.
Buona notte,
Rosemary
In any case, we are excited about this change in our status and so far, the experience has been painless. Bob did a lot of research on the different banks here, since we decided we needed to open an account at an Italian bank, so that we could have immediate access to our money once we found a car. With the help and advice of Giovanna (our friend with the Internet café) we chose the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Sienna because, in her opinion, they had the least amount of fees (although we have heard different opinions about this) and from what we were told by the very kind young man named Christian who spoke English, they were very willing to work us and help us through this process. Giovanna even offered to come with us to the bank if we had any problems but everything went fairly smoothly. First Bob went and spoke to them, they said we could open a "Pensioner's" account so the fees would be lower and we signed all the application forms necessary. There was a little snag in that we went down there on Wednesday, about a week ago, and Christian informed us that the manager, the person who knew the most about what we wanted to do, was on vacation still and would we mind coming back on Monday. Surprised at this, we agreed to come back and, as it turned out, on Monday the manager was still not in when we got there, and Christian ended up being able to handle our needs with a little help from someone else there at the bank. Not totally sure what had changed, and not in a big hurry since we hadn't found our car yet, we went along with the situation. He was so sweet and tried so hard, it was difficult to be annoyed, even though we were puzzled at how this played out. Nevertheless, since we had all of our ducks in a row - Permesso di Soggiorno, Codice Fiscale, and our Identity Card - it was a relatively easy and painless process. The next step was to have our funds transferred from Wachovia to our bank here in Perugia.
One of the minor problems was just the time difference - there is a 9-hour time difference between Italy and Arizona, so that complicated the process a bit and made for some interesting calls back and forth.
We want to say a few words about Dee Ann Griebel, of Wachovia, in Phoenix who has been our financial advisor for several years now, whom we trust immensely, and her very competent and helpful staff. (A big note of thanks goes to Judy Smith who I worked with at P.S. Studios who recommended Dee and to whom I will always be grateful for this fact.) They have been so responsive to our questions and our requests, it has been a complete pleasure doing business with them and we appreciate their help so much. All the transfers occurred as promised and they always returned our calls promptly and went out of their way to make sure we were satisfied and that our needs were met. We are by no means a big account for this company so we appreciate being treated as if we were important to them.
Account open, funds in place, we were now ready to hand it over to someone else in exchange for a car. We had already looked around and had an idea of what we wanted. We talked with Sergio, our landlord and asked if he would mind coming with us to look at some cars and maybe helping us out with the language and customs. Sergio went above and beyond the call of duty. He took this as his personal mission: finding us a car. His wife Rita said he enjoyed doing this and we hope so because we know he spent a good deal of time on it. Last week he came over to our apartment and showed us several options he had looked into from one of these Auto Trader-type publications and why one was better than another and finally presented us with his best recommendation - a Toyota Yaris, just the right size for us (a little smaller than my VW Jetta) but large enough to hold our luggage). He arranged for us to look at it a few days later and we took a test drive. It's a 2000 model but looks and acts like a new car. The guy selling it and his wife recently had a child and it is too small for them, which is why they are selling it. It doesn't have a lot of miles on it - 67,000 km (x.6 for the miles = around 40,000 - pretty good we think for a 5 year old car) since it wasn't their primary car. It has been meticulously maintained with all the paperwork to prove it and Sergio felt that it was a good deal for us. In fact he likes the car so much he said if we took good care of it that he would buy it from us when we leave Italy! And, we were thrilled that he will also let us park the car in the garden, where there is a small parking area behind a locked gate. This is tremendous for us because parking can be a big headache in a city like this. We have so much to be thankful for.
We will pick up the car on Friday and we'll let you know how it goes. We went to the bank this morning and withdrew our money. Tomorrow we hand it over to Fernando and arrange for the insurance etc. We can hardly wait.
Buona notte,
Rosemary
The Peace March 9.11.05
Sunday was September 11, 2005. It's been very easy for us to live in our lovely garden of eden here in Perugia and not really know day to day what is happening at home in the U.S. We try to keep current with the important breaking news of the day on the Internet, like the death of William Rehnquist and the Pope, the Hurricane and the ongoing war in Iraq. We don't have satellite TV so all our news programs are in Italian. We understand only a certain amount of what is being said and we occasionally pick up an English language paper like USA Today or the Herald Tribune from London. Wanting to improve our language skills we read the Italian paper sometimes but mostly I have to admit we are oblivious of the day to day frustrations of being democrats in a country currently dominated by an ultra-conservative group of republicans whose politics we find completely disturbing and alien to many of the values we hold dear. I am certain that Bob's blood pressure has been at an all time low since coming to Italy. We have found many kindred spirits in the Americans we have met here and there have been very lively discussions on the state of affairs at home.
All that being said, we learned of a Peace March being held on Sunday, September 11 and discussed the feasibility of our joining the 18 mile walk from Perugia to Assisi for a peaceful demonstration and wanted to add our voice to those seeking peace and justice in the world and an end to poverty and hunger. All goals we very much agree with. Those of you who know us well know that we have had "feet issues" and the idea of us walking that far did was not a good idea for us but wanting to take part in some way, we decided to take the train to Assisi to meet the marchers there.
Leaving Perugia from the main train station we could see the long line of people heading out, carrying and draped in flags of peace - "Pace" in Italian (those of you who came to our Farewell Party may remember the "PACE" flag with the rainbow colors we hung from the ramada at Deck Park in Phoenix), many wearing white shirts and carrying signs. It was an impressive sight as we rode past. Arriving in Assisi early we boarded a bus for the Basilica of St. Francis, beautiful and gleaming white against the overcast sky and began walking towards it, passing people already in the town and headed in the same direction. People of all ages and nationalities, from all over Italy and different parts of the world, carrying signs and wrapped in flags quietly voicing their opposition to the war and the inequalities of poverty in a world where there is still, in spite of that, more wealth than we can even comprehend. We passed a couple of Italian men about our age, one of them carrying the peace flag with another tied on like a cape that said "Democratici ai Sinistra" (democrats of the left) and we asked where he bought it. (Dove hai comprato?) to which he responded that he had bought it in Empoli, where he was from and we moved on. Moments later he caught up to us, removed it and offered it to Bob as a gift. We were so amazed and thrilled, we thanked him emphatically and were so impressed by this generosity of spirit and expression of friendship he so freely offered.
Continuing on our way, we approached the Basilica where a group of young men had hung an enormous peace flag from the wall where steps lead up to a view of Assisi and people were adding their names and signing this piece of cloth. Eagerly, we added our names to the banner. I wrote, "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me." Bob wrote "What have you added to the world today?" and it was an emotional moment for us.
We walked around the center of Assisi for a while and then headed up to the Rocca Maggiore, the massive remains of the fortress on the hill where the rally would take place. I planted myself on the grass to sketch the scene and Bob wandered around taking photos of the steady stream of people arriving, including representatives of each town and region from all over Italy carrying their city's flag up the hill. The band playing music was I think from Palestine although I am not certain, the music had a haunting Middle Eastern, yet modern sound and people were listening and dancing and talking in groups.
I think also that one photo is worth a thousand words as the saying goes and that Bob's capture the flavor of the day better than all my words so I will let them speak for me.
Later in the afternoon, before any of the speeches began, the sky grew even darker and rain began to fall complete with enormous claps of lightning and thunder. Being on this high point in the city with such a storm did not seem a safe place to be so many of us headed down, umbrellas now unfolding as flags had been earlier, hurrying down out of the rain and to the waiting buses and trains and home again. By the time we reached the train station the deluge had slowed to a drizzle and, soaked, inspite of the umbrellas, we fell into our seats on the train and I slept as we made our way back to Perugia, the train car filled with other tired, wet souls bound for Perugia and beyond, the day having come to a premature end for us.
We saw on the news later (and learned from Sergio, our landlord, that he had seen Bob on TV!) that many people stayed, standing with umbrellas on that rain soaked hill, listening to the speeches that surely followed and seeing the day on to its natural conclusion.
Our day ended with a pizza at one of our favorite restaurants here, close to our apartment and a discussion about the day's events. We watched a program on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and how that catastrophe was unfolding, shocked to have learned earlier that our nation was being offered money from countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - much to their credit, and our embarrassment. We were astonished at how little prepared our country was for a large-scale disaster after four years of focus by our "Homeland Security" team. And we wondered how the future of our country will play itself out in the days ahead as we continue to be distant but very much connected to our United States and can only try to hope for the best in these very uncertain times.
Peace to all of you,
Rosemary & Bob
All that being said, we learned of a Peace March being held on Sunday, September 11 and discussed the feasibility of our joining the 18 mile walk from Perugia to Assisi for a peaceful demonstration and wanted to add our voice to those seeking peace and justice in the world and an end to poverty and hunger. All goals we very much agree with. Those of you who know us well know that we have had "feet issues" and the idea of us walking that far did was not a good idea for us but wanting to take part in some way, we decided to take the train to Assisi to meet the marchers there.
Leaving Perugia from the main train station we could see the long line of people heading out, carrying and draped in flags of peace - "Pace" in Italian (those of you who came to our Farewell Party may remember the "PACE" flag with the rainbow colors we hung from the ramada at Deck Park in Phoenix), many wearing white shirts and carrying signs. It was an impressive sight as we rode past. Arriving in Assisi early we boarded a bus for the Basilica of St. Francis, beautiful and gleaming white against the overcast sky and began walking towards it, passing people already in the town and headed in the same direction. People of all ages and nationalities, from all over Italy and different parts of the world, carrying signs and wrapped in flags quietly voicing their opposition to the war and the inequalities of poverty in a world where there is still, in spite of that, more wealth than we can even comprehend. We passed a couple of Italian men about our age, one of them carrying the peace flag with another tied on like a cape that said "Democratici ai Sinistra" (democrats of the left) and we asked where he bought it. (Dove hai comprato?) to which he responded that he had bought it in Empoli, where he was from and we moved on. Moments later he caught up to us, removed it and offered it to Bob as a gift. We were so amazed and thrilled, we thanked him emphatically and were so impressed by this generosity of spirit and expression of friendship he so freely offered.
Continuing on our way, we approached the Basilica where a group of young men had hung an enormous peace flag from the wall where steps lead up to a view of Assisi and people were adding their names and signing this piece of cloth. Eagerly, we added our names to the banner. I wrote, "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me." Bob wrote "What have you added to the world today?" and it was an emotional moment for us.
We walked around the center of Assisi for a while and then headed up to the Rocca Maggiore, the massive remains of the fortress on the hill where the rally would take place. I planted myself on the grass to sketch the scene and Bob wandered around taking photos of the steady stream of people arriving, including representatives of each town and region from all over Italy carrying their city's flag up the hill. The band playing music was I think from Palestine although I am not certain, the music had a haunting Middle Eastern, yet modern sound and people were listening and dancing and talking in groups.
I think also that one photo is worth a thousand words as the saying goes and that Bob's capture the flavor of the day better than all my words so I will let them speak for me.
Later in the afternoon, before any of the speeches began, the sky grew even darker and rain began to fall complete with enormous claps of lightning and thunder. Being on this high point in the city with such a storm did not seem a safe place to be so many of us headed down, umbrellas now unfolding as flags had been earlier, hurrying down out of the rain and to the waiting buses and trains and home again. By the time we reached the train station the deluge had slowed to a drizzle and, soaked, inspite of the umbrellas, we fell into our seats on the train and I slept as we made our way back to Perugia, the train car filled with other tired, wet souls bound for Perugia and beyond, the day having come to a premature end for us.
We saw on the news later (and learned from Sergio, our landlord, that he had seen Bob on TV!) that many people stayed, standing with umbrellas on that rain soaked hill, listening to the speeches that surely followed and seeing the day on to its natural conclusion.
Our day ended with a pizza at one of our favorite restaurants here, close to our apartment and a discussion about the day's events. We watched a program on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and how that catastrophe was unfolding, shocked to have learned earlier that our nation was being offered money from countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - much to their credit, and our embarrassment. We were astonished at how little prepared our country was for a large-scale disaster after four years of focus by our "Homeland Security" team. And we wondered how the future of our country will play itself out in the days ahead as we continue to be distant but very much connected to our United States and can only try to hope for the best in these very uncertain times.
Peace to all of you,
Rosemary & Bob
Friday, September 09, 2005
"ExPats" gathering
Here we are at Larry & Shelley’s home in Umbria. That’s them on the left; Barbara & Art, Rosemary, Shea, Isabelle, Art, Judith and Bob on the right, at the end of a lovely day.
Woman in the piazza
Bob has been photographing people in the streets and in the piazzas, walking, and men working in and around the cities. Here's a few of them.
Dahlias in the garden
One of the bright pinky-purple dahlias growing in the Giardino dell-Usignolo (our secret garden).
Changing Grape Leaves
The grape leaves in the garden are starting to turn the colors of fall as the grapes become ripe for eating.
More Ex-Pat Adventures 9.05.05
We have had lots of opportunities recently to get together with some of the Americans here and had some fun times. A new person arrived, Nedra, who is only in Perugia for the month of September and studying at the Università per Stranieri. She rented an apartment in Perugia and got in touch with us before she left home, arranging to meet us when she arrived. Art and Barbara (of "Barb and Art Live in Italy" fame) were their usual generous and helpful selves and invited her to stay at their home in San Venanzo for a few days until she could move into her apartment on the first of September driving her to Perugia the next day to get all settled in and we were able to join in and get to know Nedra a bit in the meantime. They even picked her up at the train station in Orvieto. We invited them to have lunch here at our apartment so that we could meet Nedra and we all escorted her around the city, pointing out the landmarks. That night we tried a restaurant called Torta al Testo that specializes in the "torta" the typical Perugian flat bread that is a cross between the tortilla and the pita and is best when heated and filled with meats and cheeses; and crepes, also filled with delicious things - like the desert one I had with vanilla gelato and shaved coconut - yummm. We had previously planned with Art & Barbara to go to the Zampano, the outdoor summer movie theater to see Al Pacino's Merchant of Venice (which we all really enjoyed) and Nedra had her first taste of a chilly summer night here in Perugia as we 5 nestled under our big quilt to keep warm. She then remained with them in San Venanzo until the 1st when they brought her back with her luggage and helped her get settled into her apartment. It also gave us the opportunity to visit a museum here in town they had not seen and have a nice lunch together. We continue to be impressed by their generosity and helpfulness, which many of us have now experienced and are grateful for.
On Monday Larry and Shelley, who own a borgo (a cluster of stone buildings that is too small to be called a town, but more than just a single house in the country), in Massa Martana, surrounded by fields of sunflowers and olive trees, invited us to join some of the expats we had met before for lunch. The sandy colored stone buildings stand out with their interesting architecture and dark wood accents and it is breathtaking to drive up to the retreat they have created for themselves in the Umbrian countryside. We are absolutely the poor relations to these folks who have carved out their own piece of paradise here in Umbria but they never make us feel that way. All of them are so friendly and gracious and just so delighted to be living in Italy that it is fun for us all to share the stories of our experiences and to want to help each other in whatever way we can. Lots of tips and advice are asked for and given freely. Everyone has something they need to find and someone else who is willing to help them find it. There is talk about home repairs, insurance, buying a car, buying groceries, how to say things in Italian and what NOT to say (for instance, one of the women recounted the story of how for two years she used an expression she innocently thought meant that the weather was so hot, she was feeling all sweaty, saying "Sono bagnato" but it turned out she was telling people that she was sexually aroused and we all had a good laugh about it. The food was wonderful as it always is: roasted vegetables, caprese salad, an assortment of the most delicious cheeses and fresh fruits with figs right from their trees, an entire table with this terrific spread of fresh salads and meats and wine that didn't stop flowing. Some of the folks we had met before, some were new to us. There was lots of conversation also about the tragic situation in New Orleans and how we feel about the Bush administration and stretching our American dollars here in Italy. I think we all had to drag ourselves away when it was time to go, it was such a nice time. Art and Barbara, lovely people, drove us home to Perugia, which was not at all on their way home, and we shared a pizza with them before they headed back to San Venanzo. They invited us to come to a sagra (a small town festival with food and music) last night but we are working with Sergio, our landlord, who is helping us buy a car and had to decline. Art left us a message telling us how much fun it was and that he was sorry we had to miss it.
On Sunday we invited Nedra over to our apartment for dinner and were happy to hear that she is settling in very nicely and had already found some shortcuts to her daily travels and we learned a few things from her about getting around that we had not discovered on our own!
There's a garden tour we hope to attend with Art and Barbara in a week or so and Shea and her husband Art are coming to Perugia on Monday to go to a bicycle shop we found for them here. Art is an avid rider and is looking for some bicycle clothes and accessories. We will probably have lunch together and show them around our garden.
On September 11 there is a planned peace march from Perugia to Assisi - further than we can walk but we are going to go to Assisi to be there when the marchers arrive and take part in some way.
It's just interesting to think that here is a group of people who never would have met in the U.S. since we all live in various cities with no reason for our lives to overlap. But since we are sharing the same dream of living in Italy we are finding friendships and common ground. Fascinating indeed and very enjoyable.
Buona giornata,
Rosemary e Roberto
On Monday Larry and Shelley, who own a borgo (a cluster of stone buildings that is too small to be called a town, but more than just a single house in the country), in Massa Martana, surrounded by fields of sunflowers and olive trees, invited us to join some of the expats we had met before for lunch. The sandy colored stone buildings stand out with their interesting architecture and dark wood accents and it is breathtaking to drive up to the retreat they have created for themselves in the Umbrian countryside. We are absolutely the poor relations to these folks who have carved out their own piece of paradise here in Umbria but they never make us feel that way. All of them are so friendly and gracious and just so delighted to be living in Italy that it is fun for us all to share the stories of our experiences and to want to help each other in whatever way we can. Lots of tips and advice are asked for and given freely. Everyone has something they need to find and someone else who is willing to help them find it. There is talk about home repairs, insurance, buying a car, buying groceries, how to say things in Italian and what NOT to say (for instance, one of the women recounted the story of how for two years she used an expression she innocently thought meant that the weather was so hot, she was feeling all sweaty, saying "Sono bagnato" but it turned out she was telling people that she was sexually aroused and we all had a good laugh about it. The food was wonderful as it always is: roasted vegetables, caprese salad, an assortment of the most delicious cheeses and fresh fruits with figs right from their trees, an entire table with this terrific spread of fresh salads and meats and wine that didn't stop flowing. Some of the folks we had met before, some were new to us. There was lots of conversation also about the tragic situation in New Orleans and how we feel about the Bush administration and stretching our American dollars here in Italy. I think we all had to drag ourselves away when it was time to go, it was such a nice time. Art and Barbara, lovely people, drove us home to Perugia, which was not at all on their way home, and we shared a pizza with them before they headed back to San Venanzo. They invited us to come to a sagra (a small town festival with food and music) last night but we are working with Sergio, our landlord, who is helping us buy a car and had to decline. Art left us a message telling us how much fun it was and that he was sorry we had to miss it.
On Sunday we invited Nedra over to our apartment for dinner and were happy to hear that she is settling in very nicely and had already found some shortcuts to her daily travels and we learned a few things from her about getting around that we had not discovered on our own!
There's a garden tour we hope to attend with Art and Barbara in a week or so and Shea and her husband Art are coming to Perugia on Monday to go to a bicycle shop we found for them here. Art is an avid rider and is looking for some bicycle clothes and accessories. We will probably have lunch together and show them around our garden.
On September 11 there is a planned peace march from Perugia to Assisi - further than we can walk but we are going to go to Assisi to be there when the marchers arrive and take part in some way.
It's just interesting to think that here is a group of people who never would have met in the U.S. since we all live in various cities with no reason for our lives to overlap. But since we are sharing the same dream of living in Italy we are finding friendships and common ground. Fascinating indeed and very enjoyable.
Buona giornata,
Rosemary e Roberto
Diary of an American Woman in Italy 9.08.05
Diary of an American Woman in Italy
I cannot believe that we are now into the second week of September, the 6th month of our two years in Italy! The days seem to be flying by and we are at the one-quarter mark. I have been frantic to paint this city. I have actually filled one of my journals with paintings and I'm well into the second one. All the little impressions of things I have seen since we left Phoenix. It has been an amazing experience. In Phoenix, the month of September would only be more of the same heat, knowing full well that there was still a whole month at least to go before the weather cooled down. Here, it is a different story. Already the days are getting shorter. The sunrise that a few weeks ago was well before 6 am is now inching towards 7. Of course, this is when the sun makes it way over the mountains in the distance, so I am not sure what the exact time is. I can tell that the sky is brightening long before I see the sun pop up over our horizon. The month of August brought a lot of rain and cooler temperatures and I was sure that fall had arrived - which seemed like a very abbreviated summer. But then this past week has been quite gorgeous, warm summer weather with blue skies and women in bare, sleeveless tops, the young ones with their stomachs out (at the very least), in their low-cut tops that almost expose everything and low-slung bottoms on the other end! I have noticed that the ones with really nice figures looked terrific, showing off their lovely tiny waistlines and I wish I could perfect "the walk" these Italian women have as they sashay down the street, hips swaying and breasts bouncing - it's quite a sight. Unfortunately, not everyone looks good in this style and we have seen far too many young women with "dunlap" (when the belly dun lap over the belt" and this is not exactly a pretty sight. Where are the Fashion Police??
Anyway, what I meant to say was that summer did indeed extend itself and I have enjoyed being in the garden every day painting in my journal which I have called "The diary of an American Woman living in the Giardino dell-Usignolo, in Perugia, in the year 2005" after the diary that Rita, my landlady, lent me of a woman - Edith Holden, in the beginning of the 1900s, who kept a diary of the flora and fauna near her home in England. The title in Italian is: Il Diario Di Campagna di una Signora Inglese del Primo Novecento." (The Country Diary of an English Woman in the Early 1900s) She died young and, from what I understand, (this version is printed in Italian) it was discovered after her death and published. It reminded Rita of my journals, she said, and I was quite flattered. It's a beautiful book with this woman's paintings and sketches and lovely longhand writing, in the old style, documenting the changing seasons and the things she encountered each day. I began to feel worried that I would leave this place not having captured enough of it and so this journal is of the little things - the rose buds, the way the ivy grows around the bench, the way Giovanni, the gardener has tied up some little trees, grapes and dahlias, little flowers growing up between the stones, the sage and rosemary by the wall. I was quite overwhelmed by it and could not seem to focus on what it was I wanted to paint and then I decided that the garden is really a sum of its parts, all the wonderful flowers and plants that grow there. It is my Secret Garden. And that if I had a little book, page after page of all the beautiful things there, that perhaps I would be painting a bigger picture in reality of a garden simply brimming with color and shape and texture. I hope to continue to document this place until the moment I leave it and to watch the changing colors as fall overtakes summer and the days grow shorter still and the temperatures drop. I only hope it doesn't become too cold for me to paint outdoors but I'll just have to deal with that when the time comes! Already the leaves on the grape vines are turning shades of yellow, red and purple in places. The grapes are a bit tart still but I suspect they will be sweeter soon and ready to pick and eat right off the vines. We always feel a bit like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, picking fruit right off the trees to eat. The way it was intended I think.
I vacillate between being absolutely euphoric to be here and sad that the days are just going by too quickly for me to do all the things I had hoped to do here in Perugia. I hope that we have taken enough photographs to provide me with reference material for future paintings and that I am able do it that way. I always like to paint the things that are right in front of me and not usually from a photo so we'll see how it goes. In the meantime I will be desperately trying to put down on paper the things that I see and hope I can do justice to this wonderful city I have enjoyed so much.
Ciao,
Rosemary
I cannot believe that we are now into the second week of September, the 6th month of our two years in Italy! The days seem to be flying by and we are at the one-quarter mark. I have been frantic to paint this city. I have actually filled one of my journals with paintings and I'm well into the second one. All the little impressions of things I have seen since we left Phoenix. It has been an amazing experience. In Phoenix, the month of September would only be more of the same heat, knowing full well that there was still a whole month at least to go before the weather cooled down. Here, it is a different story. Already the days are getting shorter. The sunrise that a few weeks ago was well before 6 am is now inching towards 7. Of course, this is when the sun makes it way over the mountains in the distance, so I am not sure what the exact time is. I can tell that the sky is brightening long before I see the sun pop up over our horizon. The month of August brought a lot of rain and cooler temperatures and I was sure that fall had arrived - which seemed like a very abbreviated summer. But then this past week has been quite gorgeous, warm summer weather with blue skies and women in bare, sleeveless tops, the young ones with their stomachs out (at the very least), in their low-cut tops that almost expose everything and low-slung bottoms on the other end! I have noticed that the ones with really nice figures looked terrific, showing off their lovely tiny waistlines and I wish I could perfect "the walk" these Italian women have as they sashay down the street, hips swaying and breasts bouncing - it's quite a sight. Unfortunately, not everyone looks good in this style and we have seen far too many young women with "dunlap" (when the belly dun lap over the belt" and this is not exactly a pretty sight. Where are the Fashion Police??
Anyway, what I meant to say was that summer did indeed extend itself and I have enjoyed being in the garden every day painting in my journal which I have called "The diary of an American Woman living in the Giardino dell-Usignolo, in Perugia, in the year 2005" after the diary that Rita, my landlady, lent me of a woman - Edith Holden, in the beginning of the 1900s, who kept a diary of the flora and fauna near her home in England. The title in Italian is: Il Diario Di Campagna di una Signora Inglese del Primo Novecento." (The Country Diary of an English Woman in the Early 1900s) She died young and, from what I understand, (this version is printed in Italian) it was discovered after her death and published. It reminded Rita of my journals, she said, and I was quite flattered. It's a beautiful book with this woman's paintings and sketches and lovely longhand writing, in the old style, documenting the changing seasons and the things she encountered each day. I began to feel worried that I would leave this place not having captured enough of it and so this journal is of the little things - the rose buds, the way the ivy grows around the bench, the way Giovanni, the gardener has tied up some little trees, grapes and dahlias, little flowers growing up between the stones, the sage and rosemary by the wall. I was quite overwhelmed by it and could not seem to focus on what it was I wanted to paint and then I decided that the garden is really a sum of its parts, all the wonderful flowers and plants that grow there. It is my Secret Garden. And that if I had a little book, page after page of all the beautiful things there, that perhaps I would be painting a bigger picture in reality of a garden simply brimming with color and shape and texture. I hope to continue to document this place until the moment I leave it and to watch the changing colors as fall overtakes summer and the days grow shorter still and the temperatures drop. I only hope it doesn't become too cold for me to paint outdoors but I'll just have to deal with that when the time comes! Already the leaves on the grape vines are turning shades of yellow, red and purple in places. The grapes are a bit tart still but I suspect they will be sweeter soon and ready to pick and eat right off the vines. We always feel a bit like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, picking fruit right off the trees to eat. The way it was intended I think.
I vacillate between being absolutely euphoric to be here and sad that the days are just going by too quickly for me to do all the things I had hoped to do here in Perugia. I hope that we have taken enough photographs to provide me with reference material for future paintings and that I am able do it that way. I always like to paint the things that are right in front of me and not usually from a photo so we'll see how it goes. In the meantime I will be desperately trying to put down on paper the things that I see and hope I can do justice to this wonderful city I have enjoyed so much.
Ciao,
Rosemary
Conversations in Italian 9.08.05
Last week when I was wandering around the city looking for subjects to paint I noticed a young woman painting a ceramic bowl in a small shop. I stopped in to ask her about what she was doing and she very sweetly stopped and we chatted for a while. It seems she is a law student (I hope I have understood that correctly) but that she really wanted to learn to paint on ceramics and had asked the woman whose studio it was if she could teach her. The woman agreed and now Carla goes to her studio and paints. I loved seeing all the jars of colori she was working with and the big kiln/oven and how they fill it with all the painted pieces and then fire them. The studio/shop was filled with these bowls and plates and pitchers that had been painted with scenes of the Umbrian countryside in miniature, its rolling green hills, sunflower fields and poppies dancing around the edges of these plates in a fanciful way.
She asked me if I would like to get together with her so that she could practice her English and I could have some conversations in Italian. I agreed most eagerly and we arranged to meet on Wednesday at 2:30 in the afternoon and exchanged phone numbers. Yesterday came, the day of our meeting, and around noon it began to rain. A very heavy steady downpour but at almost 2:30 I put on my raincoat, picked up my umbrella an went out to meet Carla in front of the coffee shop (café) minutes away from our apartment.
What a delightful young person she is! Beautiful, dark curly hair and dancing eyes and a warm, inviting smile. We met for around 1-1/2 hours and I have to admit that she spoke too quickly for me to always understand but I tried my best to keep up. At several points I had to just say "NON CAPISCO!" (I don't understand!) and I had a big headache by the end, trying so hard to follow her train of thought! We decided to meet again next week and I decided that I would ask her to keep the conversations a bit more simple and slow moving. Sometimes I'm trying so hard to follow and act as if I understand, that I am really only fooling myself!
We've had more opportunities to talk with Rita and Sergio lately and that has been fun. We took them to dinner last week as our way of saying thanks for all their kindness since we arrived here. They speak a bit of English but mostly the conversation is in Italian and we understand a lot, but a lot of it goes through our ears and over our heads. Yesterday morning they offered to drive me to an art supply store for some paper and we talked together on the way there. It's easier to follow a conversation, we have found, when we ask questions and listen carefully to the responses. That way we at least know what we are talking about, which is half the battle! We have been talking with Sergio also about buying a car and making arrangements to look at one he found for us. When it's clear we are not following what he is saying he does his best in English and little by little we are communicating! I was feeling a bit more confident about my ability to have more than "where is the bank" conversations as Rita and I discussed our children and the differences in growing up when we were girls and the way things are now. We are both around the same age so it's interesting to hear about how things were similar in Italy to my experiences growing up in New York and then raising my children in the U.S. Her sons are younger than my kids - handsome identical twins in their late 20s, and when they are not standing side by side it's hard to tell them apart.
But talking with Carla sort of shot me down again and I realized how much I still have to work! I had a huge headache after that and I'm glad Bob was spearheading the conversations about the car with Sergio because my brain was fried by the end of the day!
After we said Ciao I walked over to the Pasticceria and the rain had stopped but there was a layer of what I thought was fog hanging in different places in the city. I walked over to the viewpoint at Piazza Republica and could barely see beyond the railing! The air was heavy with moisture and it felt really good on my skin, like a cool mist. I practically ran home to get Bob to have him experience this strange weather. He was already heading out the door to come out and we hurried back down into the square. We realized that it was not fog, but low hanging clouds and that we were IN the clouds! Fast moving they were and had already moved out of the streets and into the lower parts of the city, thick and white, they hovered around Santa Giuliana and kept moving. I think the rain stopped during the night but the sky still looks grey this morning, but maybe it will clear and I can go down to the garden to paint. Or perhaps I will have to be content to sit and read or do some practice sketching on my new paper or study my Italian. Tonight we have our lessons with Roberta, our tutor and I'm almost finished with my homework.
We are very excited about Chris and Jessica coming to visit in about one month. After they leave, the next week in fact, our good friends Art and Chris from Phoenix will visit us for a few weeks so we should have a lot of fun. Hopefully we will have our car by then and can show them around Umbria and Tuscany in simple style and moderate comfort, as much as a small foreign car will allow, but on our own time schedules, traveling the back roads and big highways, showing them the cities we have enjoyed and maybe exploring a few new ones together.
And hopefully speaking more Italian!
Ciao,
Rosemary e Berto
She asked me if I would like to get together with her so that she could practice her English and I could have some conversations in Italian. I agreed most eagerly and we arranged to meet on Wednesday at 2:30 in the afternoon and exchanged phone numbers. Yesterday came, the day of our meeting, and around noon it began to rain. A very heavy steady downpour but at almost 2:30 I put on my raincoat, picked up my umbrella an went out to meet Carla in front of the coffee shop (café) minutes away from our apartment.
What a delightful young person she is! Beautiful, dark curly hair and dancing eyes and a warm, inviting smile. We met for around 1-1/2 hours and I have to admit that she spoke too quickly for me to always understand but I tried my best to keep up. At several points I had to just say "NON CAPISCO!" (I don't understand!) and I had a big headache by the end, trying so hard to follow her train of thought! We decided to meet again next week and I decided that I would ask her to keep the conversations a bit more simple and slow moving. Sometimes I'm trying so hard to follow and act as if I understand, that I am really only fooling myself!
We've had more opportunities to talk with Rita and Sergio lately and that has been fun. We took them to dinner last week as our way of saying thanks for all their kindness since we arrived here. They speak a bit of English but mostly the conversation is in Italian and we understand a lot, but a lot of it goes through our ears and over our heads. Yesterday morning they offered to drive me to an art supply store for some paper and we talked together on the way there. It's easier to follow a conversation, we have found, when we ask questions and listen carefully to the responses. That way we at least know what we are talking about, which is half the battle! We have been talking with Sergio also about buying a car and making arrangements to look at one he found for us. When it's clear we are not following what he is saying he does his best in English and little by little we are communicating! I was feeling a bit more confident about my ability to have more than "where is the bank" conversations as Rita and I discussed our children and the differences in growing up when we were girls and the way things are now. We are both around the same age so it's interesting to hear about how things were similar in Italy to my experiences growing up in New York and then raising my children in the U.S. Her sons are younger than my kids - handsome identical twins in their late 20s, and when they are not standing side by side it's hard to tell them apart.
But talking with Carla sort of shot me down again and I realized how much I still have to work! I had a huge headache after that and I'm glad Bob was spearheading the conversations about the car with Sergio because my brain was fried by the end of the day!
After we said Ciao I walked over to the Pasticceria and the rain had stopped but there was a layer of what I thought was fog hanging in different places in the city. I walked over to the viewpoint at Piazza Republica and could barely see beyond the railing! The air was heavy with moisture and it felt really good on my skin, like a cool mist. I practically ran home to get Bob to have him experience this strange weather. He was already heading out the door to come out and we hurried back down into the square. We realized that it was not fog, but low hanging clouds and that we were IN the clouds! Fast moving they were and had already moved out of the streets and into the lower parts of the city, thick and white, they hovered around Santa Giuliana and kept moving. I think the rain stopped during the night but the sky still looks grey this morning, but maybe it will clear and I can go down to the garden to paint. Or perhaps I will have to be content to sit and read or do some practice sketching on my new paper or study my Italian. Tonight we have our lessons with Roberta, our tutor and I'm almost finished with my homework.
We are very excited about Chris and Jessica coming to visit in about one month. After they leave, the next week in fact, our good friends Art and Chris from Phoenix will visit us for a few weeks so we should have a lot of fun. Hopefully we will have our car by then and can show them around Umbria and Tuscany in simple style and moderate comfort, as much as a small foreign car will allow, but on our own time schedules, traveling the back roads and big highways, showing them the cities we have enjoyed and maybe exploring a few new ones together.
And hopefully speaking more Italian!
Ciao,
Rosemary e Berto
The Computer, The Polizia, Fighting Terrorism and our Continuing Technological Challenges
We just wanted to let you know that we are expecting a few more challenges as we continue to write and post our images and stories on our blog. We learned from Giovanna at our Internet Point that we would no longer be allowed to use our laptop at her Internet Point. A week or so ago she had everyone give her their identity numbers from either their passports or other pertinent documenti (we have our identity cards as residents now which we provided to her). It seems that the Polizia, in an effort to crack down on terrorists using these internet sites to plot their schemes, have required that all of our information would be encoded in the little credit card-like cards we use to access her computer system. She was very anxious to tell us that we were not to share these cards with anyone since all of our private numbers would be stored on these cards. We helped her write a notice in English so that everyone would understand why she was asking for this information and was clear about saying that she would not be keeping a record of these numbers but that they would only be encoded on these cards. To be completely honest we're not sure how this really prevents terrorism since there is no place to key in or double check that we are actually the owner of the card and the numbers it holds. We do not have any kind of password that identifies us as the cardholder and we're not sure how they know who is using it. I suppose the computers must hold onto some bits of what we've been doing, sites we've visited or what have you, but we don't really know.
Then next she was informed that we could no longer use our own laptops there, which is what we have been doing. We write the blog stories and gather the photos at home and then we just download when we connect to the Internet. So now there will have to be an interim step of copying our stuff to a storage device of some sort and bringing it there. We're sure it will all work out but it makes our lives a bit more complicated. The one thing we do wish we had was an Internet connection here at our apartment but since that was not possible we will just have to do our best. At any rate, the point I suppose I am making is that we may not be able to post as often so we hope that whoever out there is still reading this will bear with us as we work through this.
Grazie,
Rosemary & Bob
Then next she was informed that we could no longer use our own laptops there, which is what we have been doing. We write the blog stories and gather the photos at home and then we just download when we connect to the Internet. So now there will have to be an interim step of copying our stuff to a storage device of some sort and bringing it there. We're sure it will all work out but it makes our lives a bit more complicated. The one thing we do wish we had was an Internet connection here at our apartment but since that was not possible we will just have to do our best. At any rate, the point I suppose I am making is that we may not be able to post as often so we hope that whoever out there is still reading this will bear with us as we work through this.
Grazie,
Rosemary & Bob
Friday, September 02, 2005
Esther & Doug
This is Douglas and Esther. They were our neighbors for the month of August. We enjoyed very much their company and friendship.
Sunrise iin the Garden August 31, 2005
It's the last day of August. I got up this morning at 5am and since I couldn't fall back to sleep, I slipped quietly out of bed, pulled on my jeans and grabbed a sweater and my corduroy jacket, so I could go down to the View terrace to watch the sunrise. Since it was chilly last night, I figured at that hour of the morning it would be too, so I was ready. I took our little flashlight, my journal and my bag of watercolor supplies. I could see that there were stars in the still dark sky so I killed a little time before venturing out. At almost 6 am, it still felt like night and a sliver of a crescent moon still hung in the deep blue sky. I heard the sounds of a few trucks on the roads below and the awakening sounds of the cleaning crews making their way around the city. A pinkish tint was starting to form just above the horizon and a haze lay over the valley below, the mountains and hills mere shadows in the darkness. It was cool and a breeze was blowing. The scent of lavender was strong as I brushed past it there at the furthest tip of the garden where the grape arbor/terrace is.
Last night we sat there at the big stone table with Doug and Esther, having our final impromptu dinner of meats and cheeses, a caprese salad I made and the wonderful frittata that Esther threw together. We finished off 3 bottles of red wine and talked until almost midnight under the light of a single large candle. Stars twinkled around us and we all wondered what we had done to deserve this piece of paradise we live in. Today they will leave Perugia for Pietrasanta, near Pisa where they will spend the next couple of months carving marble into sculptures. They are talented and excited about what they will be doing. We have so enjoyed this young couple. Having them as our neighbors this past month has been such a wonderful gift. Friendly and outgoing, interested in what we were doing and in what they could share with us, we had many conversations as they passed our door. Several times we shared wine on the View terrace, borrowed staples or offered to pick things up for each other at the market, discussed this Italian language we are all trying to learn and the joys of living in Italy. We are sad to see them go but we promised we would try to get up to Pietrasanta before we leave Perugia and keep in touch. They live part of the year in Italy, working on their art and part of the time in Berkley, California, not a bad gig we think! We wish them all the best and say Arrivederci and Buona Fortuna.
By 6am, the sun was still not above our horizon, although the sky had turned a lighter shade of blue, and the stars were fading. A rooster began to crow and a dog started barking somewhere in the distance. The greens in the hills below became more distinct and the streetlights started to go out. By 6:30 a bright pink spot was glowing just above the horizon and all the hills became visible, layering their way back towards the light. The breeze picked up and birds starting chirping. Suddenly, there it was: a bright orange slice rising up out of the darkness. Crimson, tinged with pink and orange, the giant ball rose up into the morning and the light spilled across the rooftops and the Etruscan wall. Church bells chimed somewhere and the houses glowed in shades of pink and tan and gold - the colors of Perugia - the red tile roofs soft and warm.
I took a few photos of the grapes and the flowers and did some painting before coming up to see if Bob was awake and ready for coffee and breakfast. I have been recording the little things in the garden in a new sketchbook I absolutely love. These past few days I've been enjoying painting flowers and leaves and stones and putting them in this watercolor journal as a remembrance of our time here at Via dell'Aquila and the incredible Giardino dell'Usignolo, and counting myself so lucky to have landed here.
We are heading into month 6 now. Unbelievable. I am so aware of the time flying by and wanting to make the most of every minute before it slips through my fingers. But I have to tell you that we are more relaxed, more peaceful and happy than I can put into words (although I certainly have tried!).
Thanks for caring enough to follow along with us.
A presto,
Rosemary & Berto
Last night we sat there at the big stone table with Doug and Esther, having our final impromptu dinner of meats and cheeses, a caprese salad I made and the wonderful frittata that Esther threw together. We finished off 3 bottles of red wine and talked until almost midnight under the light of a single large candle. Stars twinkled around us and we all wondered what we had done to deserve this piece of paradise we live in. Today they will leave Perugia for Pietrasanta, near Pisa where they will spend the next couple of months carving marble into sculptures. They are talented and excited about what they will be doing. We have so enjoyed this young couple. Having them as our neighbors this past month has been such a wonderful gift. Friendly and outgoing, interested in what we were doing and in what they could share with us, we had many conversations as they passed our door. Several times we shared wine on the View terrace, borrowed staples or offered to pick things up for each other at the market, discussed this Italian language we are all trying to learn and the joys of living in Italy. We are sad to see them go but we promised we would try to get up to Pietrasanta before we leave Perugia and keep in touch. They live part of the year in Italy, working on their art and part of the time in Berkley, California, not a bad gig we think! We wish them all the best and say Arrivederci and Buona Fortuna.
By 6am, the sun was still not above our horizon, although the sky had turned a lighter shade of blue, and the stars were fading. A rooster began to crow and a dog started barking somewhere in the distance. The greens in the hills below became more distinct and the streetlights started to go out. By 6:30 a bright pink spot was glowing just above the horizon and all the hills became visible, layering their way back towards the light. The breeze picked up and birds starting chirping. Suddenly, there it was: a bright orange slice rising up out of the darkness. Crimson, tinged with pink and orange, the giant ball rose up into the morning and the light spilled across the rooftops and the Etruscan wall. Church bells chimed somewhere and the houses glowed in shades of pink and tan and gold - the colors of Perugia - the red tile roofs soft and warm.
I took a few photos of the grapes and the flowers and did some painting before coming up to see if Bob was awake and ready for coffee and breakfast. I have been recording the little things in the garden in a new sketchbook I absolutely love. These past few days I've been enjoying painting flowers and leaves and stones and putting them in this watercolor journal as a remembrance of our time here at Via dell'Aquila and the incredible Giardino dell'Usignolo, and counting myself so lucky to have landed here.
We are heading into month 6 now. Unbelievable. I am so aware of the time flying by and wanting to make the most of every minute before it slips through my fingers. But I have to tell you that we are more relaxed, more peaceful and happy than I can put into words (although I certainly have tried!).
Thanks for caring enough to follow along with us.
A presto,
Rosemary & Berto
Massimo, Il Magnifico August 31, 2005
Everyone who has been reading our blog knows that we have had some technical problems with the computers. Bob has been tearing his hair out over the problem with his RAW images. The computer either did not recognize them or they would come up as little thumbnails, occasionally a full size version would be there but often not. He tried everything he could think of and we tried everyone we knew that we thought could help and got nowhere. We went to the local camera shops, he checked Nikon's and Apple's websites with no success, we tried asking for help from ExPats in Italy's forum and several people offered suggestions that we had already tried. It has also been a challenge just to find technical people here in Perugia who work on Macs and who know Photoshop AND Nikon! So, to say that it has been frustrating is an understatement. This has been the single most stressful part of being here - the technical problems with the computer and more than once I thought we should just throw the damn thing out and forget using digital images! But then of course I came to my senses, realizing we would not be able to communicate like we do and that the cost of film and processing for all the images we want to shoot would far exceed our budget!
And then we found the guys at All Media Services - Massimo (the Magnificent) and his partner Federico. We knew they existed and had even tried to tell them about our problem but their opening times and our visits to their shop never seemed to coincide! Businesses here do shut down between 1 and around 4 and theirs is no exception but it also seemed to us that their other hours were arbitrary. It turns out that they make house calls to businesses and are often out doing just that. It's a pretty long walk to their shop to get there and not find them in (which we did several times) so we would try to call them on the phone, and most of the time they didn't answer! But last week the stars were in alignment, we got them on the phone and ran over there immediately with our laptop, all the possible connections, Bob's cameras, our full size dictionary and a lot of hope in our hearts.
Massimo (the Magnificent) does not speak English. This was exciting for us, because we had to use our Italian and we actually were able to communicate with him all of the problems we had been having and he understood! He was adorable! He listened intently to us as we described all the things we had experienced and determined that the Photoshop program was corrupted and he reinstalled it, added an essential plug-in that was missing, then closed his eyes and stretched out his arms towards the computer, waving his hands and shushing us so we would not break his magic spell and voila! the computer worked like a charm. All our filters were there and the RAW images looked like they were going to be OK too. He made a few other moves and fixed a few things to make it all run more smoothly. At one point he lifted the keyboard to get to the "guts" and pulled out a RAM chip and exclaimed "CENTO VENTOTTO! (meaning a 128 RAM chip instead of the 512 chip which is what we had paid to have installed by the Apple store in Phoenix just before we left) to which Bob replied "CENTO VENTOTTO??" and Massimo responded "Sì! Cento Ventotto." For some reason we did not have what we thought we had, which we are sure contributed to our ongoing problems. Of course, Massimo fixed everything. He is Magnificent!
He was all finished by the time 1pm rolled around and just in time for the "riposo" and their closing time! We practically kissed his feet! He is ordering some more RAM for us and we will pay him for his services when it comes in. While we were there one of the other people in the office brought in some of these Italian cookies and they all got excited (these are called Ringos and they are just a packaged sandwich cookie, but clearly their favorites) that we decided when we go back we will bring a big box of them with us as our way of saying thanks. We asked him his name and he said "Massimo" and of course I couldn't resist saying "...il Magnifico" and he laughed but we knew he truly was!
The computer works great now and no more problems with the RAW images. Bob also figured out that one of the download settings was not correct so that helped too. I'm just delighted that he still has some hair left!
Buona sera,
Rosemary & Bob
And then we found the guys at All Media Services - Massimo (the Magnificent) and his partner Federico. We knew they existed and had even tried to tell them about our problem but their opening times and our visits to their shop never seemed to coincide! Businesses here do shut down between 1 and around 4 and theirs is no exception but it also seemed to us that their other hours were arbitrary. It turns out that they make house calls to businesses and are often out doing just that. It's a pretty long walk to their shop to get there and not find them in (which we did several times) so we would try to call them on the phone, and most of the time they didn't answer! But last week the stars were in alignment, we got them on the phone and ran over there immediately with our laptop, all the possible connections, Bob's cameras, our full size dictionary and a lot of hope in our hearts.
Massimo (the Magnificent) does not speak English. This was exciting for us, because we had to use our Italian and we actually were able to communicate with him all of the problems we had been having and he understood! He was adorable! He listened intently to us as we described all the things we had experienced and determined that the Photoshop program was corrupted and he reinstalled it, added an essential plug-in that was missing, then closed his eyes and stretched out his arms towards the computer, waving his hands and shushing us so we would not break his magic spell and voila! the computer worked like a charm. All our filters were there and the RAW images looked like they were going to be OK too. He made a few other moves and fixed a few things to make it all run more smoothly. At one point he lifted the keyboard to get to the "guts" and pulled out a RAM chip and exclaimed "CENTO VENTOTTO! (meaning a 128 RAM chip instead of the 512 chip which is what we had paid to have installed by the Apple store in Phoenix just before we left) to which Bob replied "CENTO VENTOTTO??" and Massimo responded "Sì! Cento Ventotto." For some reason we did not have what we thought we had, which we are sure contributed to our ongoing problems. Of course, Massimo fixed everything. He is Magnificent!
He was all finished by the time 1pm rolled around and just in time for the "riposo" and their closing time! We practically kissed his feet! He is ordering some more RAM for us and we will pay him for his services when it comes in. While we were there one of the other people in the office brought in some of these Italian cookies and they all got excited (these are called Ringos and they are just a packaged sandwich cookie, but clearly their favorites) that we decided when we go back we will bring a big box of them with us as our way of saying thanks. We asked him his name and he said "Massimo" and of course I couldn't resist saying "...il Magnifico" and he laughed but we knew he truly was!
The computer works great now and no more problems with the RAW images. Bob also figured out that one of the download settings was not correct so that helped too. I'm just delighted that he still has some hair left!
Buona sera,
Rosemary & Bob
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