The home stretch of domestications

Entering a new phase

It has been two and a half months since we started moving in, not counting the time we had to go to the US for my brother's funeral. I am not sure we could have done it much quicker in the US, except perhaps for the fact that we know better where to look for things and how to ask for what you want. Still we have had lots of help from our Italian friends and could not have done this without them. 

So my deepest gratitude and thanks go to Rosa and Gennaro who are patient and persistent helping us get the good "stuff", and who are great moral support when things don't happen like they are supposed to (which is almost always in Italy).  Many thanks to Dino who toured us tirelessly to find the right villa in the first place, helped with the stairlift approval process, set up Johnnie with a vehicle, got us introduced to Mercogliano, and worked to get us setup and moved in. Also thanks to Carlo who made many calls to repair people and our landlady to get the services in the house working.

Also Elena and Francesco were so great advising us in our search and helping us to make wise choices. Then Michelle was a big help with arranging furniture, shopping and ideas on decorating. Kandy was also another great source of encouragement and ideas as she had already gone through setting up their house a few months earlier. Then there are our long distance advisors via email and FB who have reviewed the photos and made suggestions. Lynda, my friend from Bainbridge Island, and my sister, the Tres Amiche and my daughter Connie. There are too many other friends to name who have helped with one thing or another during this process.

I guess it "takes a village" to set up some poor, slightly passed middle aged Americans with a villa in Italy!

A new range

One of the final purchases is a new range since the one we had was impossible. The Landlady had it repaired once but the burners still were hard to light and you practically had to gas yourself before it would light. So, we now are the proud owners of a new range! It lights beautifully and is so nice. Since it takes so long to get the electrical technicians to come out, Johnnie decided to tackle the installation itself. Turned out to be an easy job as all the ranges come in three standard sizes and they all connect the same way. Easy to pull out one, drop in another.

Proud chef with the new range

Voila! No, that is French. How about Qui!

Backside of the old one

The rest of the curtains

Once again we are on Friday night night before a party on Saturday getting the rest of the curtains hung. The upstairs curtains turned out to be equally beautiful to the downstairs ones, although we went with simpler styles for the bedrooms. Now at least, no more sun in my eyes at 4:30am on a Saturday through our south-facing french doors! Here is the result of our last batch of tendre (curtains):

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom French Doors

Master Wardrobe

Guest Bedroom

Stairwell

An Unwelcome Guest

We were greeted by the "remains" of a rather unwelcome guest at our place. After consulting the neighbors and several other Italians, they have concluded that is a harmless "serpente" that is good for eating moles and mice and such. We should really like having him! Hm. I am not so sure about that but as long as he doesn't come in the house and I don't see him ever, I guess I'll let him live peacefully in my yard.

3ft long shed snake skin by our garden steps

The Garden
Johnnie's green thumb is paying off and the flowers are really beautiful. We have roses that were already here that just needed some TLC. He has weeded and pruned and they are blooming beautifully.

BBQ Party Kansas-Italian Style

This was the last big party before Johnnie leaves for the summer, and also the chance for me to invite my Italian friends. Three weeks ago we had the Boeing party which was primarily expats, so this was my time to welcome my Italian friends and neighbors.

The Night Before
Rosa and Gennaro helped us get ready for the party the night before. We tried to cook as much ahead as possible and get the house organized. Things went pretty smoothly and when we were finished, they prepared Lupini and pasta for us for dinner. Lupini are like small clams, very tasty and tender. Gennaro bought the lupini and soaked them in sea salt for an hour or so, then rinsed them. Then he put them in a deep skillet with olive oil and sautéed them, shells and all. He added some fresh parsley and a couple whole cloves of garlic. While they were cooking (maybe 10 minutes or so with the lid on), Rosa made spaghetti. At the end they tossed the drained spaghetti into the skillet with the lupini, added a little more fresh parsley and that was it. It was quite delicious!

Enjoying lupini Friday night

Lupini

Menu
Johnnie grilled hamburgers and chicken on his new grill. It took a while to find what we wanted but he likes his new grill and I will be able to use it while he is gone this summer.

Porch and the new grill

I made potato salad, deviled eggs, and baked beans. We purchased antipasti that included potato chips, olives, seafood salad (Italian style Insalata di Mare), pretzels, marinated mushrooms, celery and ranch dressing, and assorted other munchies.  Our guests brought lots of desserts that were amazing: incredible cakes, pies and other frozen delights. We had some prosecco, limonata, tea, and coca cola for beverages.

Buffet

Desserts

At first the Italians were leary of the deviled eggs as that is not anything they normally eat. But when I explained what is in them, they started trying it and they were all gone by the end of the evening. The baked beans were popular also. The potato salad was not as popular. I had a lot of it leftover. The chicken and hamburgers were gone too, and we could have cooked more hamburgers but Johnnie was tired of grilling so we just let it be.

Rosa and Giuliana

I was so happy for Johnnie to meet some of the people from the office that he hears me talk about. The Italians I work with are mostly engineers at Alenia, and then a few of the Boeing people who were not able to make the last party. We also had our neighbors Emmanuele and Giuliana, our estate agents Sabina and Mario, and surprise guests included Father Phil from the Navy base and two new expats to Italy, Jorge and Carlo who work for a  pharmaceutical company. Jorge just moved to an apartment and Carlo is still in a hotel . Then Mo brought a couple friends with him that are friends he made playing sports. They are from Brazil and spoke Italian with a strange accent that I had a difficult time understanding. I think in all we had about 30 people including quite a few children that played in the yard and buddied up together.

Father Phil

Joe, Rosa

L-R Angelo, Jenny

Angelo and Fabio in foreground

Dino on the right, Brian in the foyer, back of Sabina's head

Francesca and Giuliana

Antonio and AnaLesa

Ciro

Rosella entertaining us with jokes

Angelo and his daughter, Rosella

Joe and Johnnie and Gennaro

Jenn Anderson and Johnnie

Johnnie, Maria Teresa, Gianpiero

Gennaro

Fabio

Emmanuele (against the wall)

Spring in Mercogliano

Getting Mail
The first real mail we received in Italy was a momentous occasion! It took a couple of months for the landlady to get us a mailbox key and in the meantime we missed several utility bills and who knows what else! Once we got the mailbox open, we cleaned out months worth of rotting, wet ads and circulars. So the arrival of real mail was quite an occasion!

We are now "on the  map" with the post office and receiving regular mail. It costs $1 for a card or letter from the US. It costs us 1,60 Euro to send a letter to the US. That is about $2. Go figure.

First mail

Johnnie has a friend visit


The first part of May, Johnnie's fishing buddy Mike came from the US for a visit. They toured Rome together and then around the Naples area. Since both of them are walkers, they did quite a bit of exploring around Mercogliano. Mike had difficulty finding food he likes here but they did find a pizza place that became their regular spot. The owners got to know them and what they wanted every time. They also made the gelateria a regular stop as well.

L-R Mike, Johnnie in Rome at the Colliseum

 They did the hike to the top of Mt. Vesuvius to get a look inside the crater of the volcano. From the description of their trip, it was a pretty strenuous hike. They jeep/buses take you part way up narrow winding roads, then you hike the rest of the way.

Looking into the mouth of Mt. Vesuvius volcano

Another view of the volcano

Johnnie's Wheels


We leased a car for Johnnie so he has transportation. He is not a car kind of guy -- he is a truck guy. Don't think he ever had a car since he was a teenager. No sooner did he get the car home, it died on him and had to go into the shop to replace one of the injectors. It was in the shop about a week but seems to run fine now. It is a 2007 Audi A3 with about 100K kilometers on it. It was previously leased by another Boeing expat. As you all know my husband, he immediately started polishing and working on his "new" car. It has "Napoli kisses", so will never be the perfect shiny specimen like his truck in Everett, however, it drives and handles nicely and the price is right!

Johnnie's ride

Of course, he had to get a GPS as well, or be perpetually lost. He had two different TomToms before he got one that worked. Must have been a bad batch. He managed to navigate everywhere while Mike was here and only got lost a few times. All part of the driving experience in Italy!

More flowers
In the bed between the stairs we have more flowers planted. With all the nice rain we are having, things are looking very pretty.

Cinco de Mayo Party in Italy

Hosting a party at the Villa

I intended on having a housewarming party several months ago but that never happened, so then it was to be a Cinco de Mayo party but there was a conflict with a Boeing event in Grottaglie, so finally on May 19 is the party. It is still a Cinco de Mayo party, just delayed a bit. This was for the Boeing expats that live in the Naples areas and the Italians that work for Boeing here. We try to have monthly events so that the spouses and families are able to connect.

I have been hoarding Mexican food ingredients for months now, and having everyone who comes from the US stash a few ingredients in their bags for me. Things that are hard to get in Italy are cheddar cheese, sour cream, refried beans, corn tortillas, salsa, Mexican seasonings and limes. Some of these things you see occasionally and in small quantities, but not regularly.

So stayed with the tried and true menu of Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas, Refried Beans, Nacho Cheese Dip, and cut up veggies for appetizers. Other people brought chips and salsa, a pot of chili, and beer.

Friends in the dining room

Hanging on the front porch

The most fun was the piñata we got for the kids. A friend at the Navy base was able to find one that looked like cowboy boot.

Our youngest competitor

The boot was swinging wildly

At last one of the older children got it down!

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.