The rhythm of everyday life

Shopping for drapes and curtains
I am so blessed to have an Italian friend who is willing to help me shop for window coverings. It is a daunting task in a house with 12 windows and 4 french doors, and with precious little time to shop, and even less time to consider making them myself, or even to install the rods myself. So I determined to just buy ready-made drapes or get some made and installed and be done with it.

Now this may seem extravagant to some of you (and in other circumstances it would seem so for me too) but at this moment in time, it is the only thing that makes sense. I am so glad to have my friend who can help guide me to reputable people, help translate and explain the options I have, and then she also has excellent taste and a good eye for design so I am in good hands.

I have now selected the drapes for the two living rooms downstairs; I am still mulling over the options for the bedrooms upstairs. The shop where we went is owned by someone that my friend knows. The wife runs this shop with the fabrics for the drapes, and other assorted household soft goods. Her husband runs a warehouse showroom with the rods and other drapery hardware that primarily sells to retailers. Because of my large purchase and the friendship with my friends, I got a good price, really nice fabric and a custom design. Another one of those "first and last time" experiences for me having custom made drapes

Den area

Living Room

The Spring Garden
With the advent of nice weather, we are busy putting out flowers and vegetables in our large garden. We have yet to locate the full service greenhouse (like a Flower World or even Lowes) as it seems that Italy is geared more toward the smaller places specializing in certain things. We have the Alberoso which specializes in trees and large shrubs but doesn't have bedding plants of seedlings of any kind. Then the grocery stores have lots of flowers that are bigger than bedding plants but not yet full size so we have been getting those a few at a time to fill up our balcony railing baskets.

Flowers in the Winter Garden

Then for gardening tools and sacks of manure and potting soil, we are going to a place called Happy Casa which is kind of like a Dollar Store and Wal Mart combination. A friend at work brought me a few Eggplants that are already over a foot tall. We got tomato and pepper plants at another place a friend took Johnnie. So here, there and everywhere we are finding things.

We also started some seeds of our own but probably too late for a very good crop. Here the seedlings should be transplanted outdoors in February for the cool crops like broccoli,
cauliflower and leafy vegetables. Our seeds are just now coming up and are still a couple weeks away from moving to the garden so, there is always next year! We also might try a Fall crop when we get back from the US in late August as that will be the time for the cool crops again.

The villa already has some beautiful roses planted in the beds around the house. All they need is some TLC. When the weeds were removed and they got a little sun, they really came back.

Front porch

Upper story balcony railing

Johnnie also loves putting flowers along the porch and the balcony. This is very Italian having the flowers trailing from the balconies. Gernamiums are the most popular, probably because they tolerate the hot, dry weather. It is not as hot here as in other parts, but they also seem to tolerate the cool evenings as well.

I also have my herbs sitting on the ledge of the porch and our seedlings are there as well.