Fall is in the air in Italy

All the normal activities of Fall are going on. The leaves are starting to turn sooner in the mountains than in the city and we already have cool evenings were a jacket or sweater is needed.

Johnnie brought in several of the more tender flowers and herbs to the winter garden. We are starting to look like a tropical jungle in there.

Burning
The nasty burning is going on in the mountains around us where the farmers rake and burn the dead grass and underbrush. It fills the air with noxious smoke and the environmentalists say there is no good reason to do it, but people do it anyway. Tradition!!

Firewood
We ordered wood for the fireplace and got a prodigious quantity of cut firewood, a combination of oak and beech in various sizes. We paid 280 Euro, so about $330 for the wood which I considered fair in a part of the world where wood is precious.

Castagne
This is also Chestnut season and they are being sold and roasted everywhere. Several towns actually have fairs based on Chestnuts. At my hotel this past week, the chef was roasting Chestnuts at the buffet table.

I am not a nut eating person but I tried one and the meat is white and surprisingly sweet. The Italians have a special skillet with holes in the bottom (we wondered what in the world it was for) and then put a panful on a medium high gas flame and let them char. The outside skin blisters and is easily peeled away. I guess they roasted for a good 15 - 20 mins. being tossed around lightly from time to time.

Guest at the hotel, helping out the chef roasting chestnuts

Nothing added, just Chestnuts

Chef (in the suit) acted a little embarrassed that the guest was "helping" however, I agreed as they were starting to burn!

Residency - finally!
After 14 + months of living in Italy we are finally bonafide residents. The process is lengthy and has four main steps. We might have completed a few months ago but it is not always convenient to drop everything to make an appointment in the middle of the day at the Questura,(police station) or Immigrazione (Immigration office), or the Comune (City offices).

We also have the Italian medical cards now which entitle us to use the public health care system. I am not sure if I will use it or not but have to do that so I can apply for a handicapped parking sticker.

The Million Euro Get Rich Quick Scheme

We finally found it! How can you get rich quick? Read on and you will find out.

This story started a few years ago when we moved to Everett, WA and a girlfriend of mine came out so spend a few days and help me decorate.

Both Johnnie and I are totally worthless when it comes to home decor; it's just not our thing. So we need all the help we can get.

So my girlfriend was suggesting I take some of the shells and polished rocks and beach glass and display them on pretty plates on the coffee table. Scatter a little sand, and, voila! you have a nice coffee table conversation piece (after all what else do you do with the flotsam you collect while roaming the world?!)

Johnnie laughed and gave my girlfriend a hard time about decorating our house with rocks. He offered to go into the garden and get her all the rocks she wants to decorate the whole house with rocks.

Well, this is for you Charna! I know you are smiling now when you see what has happened with your idea.

Selling bags of rocks at Ikea, Napoli

Shelves full of rocks in pretty containers

 So now, guess what? I am not going to bother painting rocks like we did in the 70's. Or putting them in little boxes or naming them. Remember that? Pet Rocks? No, no, why bother?

Now I will just collect rocks to sell, plain old ordinary rocks. And I will market them as "Rocks from Italy". What do you think of that? Now I can retire early in style and own my apartment on the Amalfi coast as a business write off so I can go and replenish my collection of rocks!


Remember the movie The Long, Long Trailer with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez? Well if you haven't seen it I won't spoil the movie for you except to say, I am going to be like Lucy with my rocks!

The Long, Long Trailer (1953)

Iron fences and railings of Italy - Part 1

Think of a country with very little wood and building materials that are usually concrete, stone and tile.
When wood is used, it is very beautiful and for decorative purposes. What amazes me is the wonderful things done with wrought iron here: Fences, gates, railings and window grates -- all manner of decorative ironwork. I am going to show you what I see here.

Front fence of the Hotel Caterina, Mercogliano

Front entrance, Hotel Caterina, now closed

Another fine example of ironwork is the Park Hotel San Michele in Martina Franca. I love staying at this hotel as it is a grand old place with elegance you don't find in modern hotels, and beautiful gardens.

Stair railing with marble stairs

Originally closed over the exterior dining room doors, now just left open for decoration

Sights of Southern Italy - Trulli

One of the most interesting type of residence is the trullo. They were originally rural houses in the Puglia and Murgia regions of Italy. Today, most have been modernized on the inside to look like any other home. They fascinate me as they are scattered all around Martina Franca, Locorotondo, and Alberobello which I pass by every time I go to Grottaglie to work.

The original trullo is round although sometimes several are connected with modern day room additions

The room is characteristic and there are still craftsmen to repair them when needed

Saga of the Spare Tire - when will I really get a spare tire?

Driving between the locations in Italy puts me in desolate areas where even cell phone service is sparse. It could be miles in between rest stops. I have a continual concern about car trouble along these remote stretches since I tend to be driving in the early morning or evening. Also, not having very good Italian fluency, I dread the prospect of having to call for help.

In the back of my new 2011 Audi A3 is an air pump and a few tools with instructions all written in Italian, of course but in a pinch I could figure it out. Hopefully, it will not be dark, raining, or me in my dress clothes when this happens and I have to use it.

Even with the air pump, that doesn't help a blow out situation, so I decided to request a spare tire. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

Well, let me tell you, nothing is easy in Italy! Especially working through the leasing company that my employer has hired, their local servicing company in Napoli, and  my company's International business office in Rome.

I first requested the spare tire a couple weeks ago and had to provide the vehicle license number and the numbers off the tire. Not too hard. Then they needed to know what kind of wheel well my car has since they vary a bit by year and model. So I took photos.

Spare tire well in back

Close up of the foam "plug" and tools

 Turns out there is a place for a spare when you remove the molded foam "plug" that is back there. So I went for a week and did not hear any more.

Johnnie was washing my car and discovered I have a bulge on the right front tire. He is very concerned this can lead to a blow out and so I contact my Rome office and request that the leasing company replace/repair the tire.

Bulge in right front tire

 At this point, I request my DSP (Destination Service Provider) to help me get the tire changed as it involves taking the car during business hours. So he is on the phone all day long back and forth between Rome and the local service shop and finally about 4:30pm he takes my keys to go get the tire replaced. Four hours later, he returns with a tire on the right front. It is not the same make and model as the other tire, but at the time it is late and I am ready to go home. So I do.

Two days later, I get a note from the Rome office that says my spare tire is available. So again I ask my DSP go get it for me since it involves a trip into the service location in Napoli during business hours. So he takes my keys and three hours later returns, this time all hot and sweaty and exasperated.

Now I will tell you he is a native of Napoli and should be very familiar with dealing with car repair shops. Even this situation frustrated him. Turns out, they did not have a spare tire for me; they had two new tires for the front of my car. The one they put on the front two days ago was a temporary tire and new ones were ordered that matched. Apparently this is very critical to have matching tires and part of the reason it took four hours the previous time was because they could not get the new temporary tire to balance correctly with the other original tire in front. Johnnie verified this is true, especially on these type cars running at high speeds on the autostrade. He thought it was odd the other day when they put on the mismatched tire in the first place, but this is Italy, so we have learned to just shrug and go on.

Hm, then after it is all done and they put on the new tires,  but they will not give me the original good one as a spare. This is because my wheel well in back is only big enough for a "donut" size tire, not a regular tire. I said "I don't care!!! Just put the tire in back. It is better to have a spare than no spare". But they won't do it, not even temporarily until my donut tire arrives. My DSP argued with them, with Rome and with the leasing company but they wouldn't budge. So now I am still driving around with no spare tire. Mama Mia! I guess the good thing is I have two new tires on the front for my next 300 KM trip on Monday.

Homecoming in August - Surprises await me!

Invasion of the carpenter bees
I was greeted by a host of dead bees by the doors and windows. Very strange. I had noticed one of two before and assumed they came in from the outdoors. The teenager that was watering for me says they had a nest in the chimney and came through. With the house shut up and no access to water, they all died. This is good they are all dead except there maybe more larvae in the house. I will be calling an exterminator.

Dead bees

Bee or  in Italian ape

I also found chimney debris on the hearth in the den fireplace. It was clean when I left. Now Johnnie had this blocked off with cardboard so we didn't lose heat up the chimney last winter (no damper). One edge of his cardboard plug was loose and that is obviously where the debris fell through. I will definitely ask the landlord to get a chimney sweep out to clean the chimneys before winter so we can safely have a fire.

Charcoal from the chimney

In addition to the dead bees I find evidence of something eating wood in the house. The baseboard trim in one place is severely eaten as well as the beautiful old bookcase in the studio. If we were in the US I would say termites although I don't see some of the typical signs of terminates. But these homes have very little wood so termites are not very common in Italy.

Wood dust in bookcase

More evidence of wood dust

Bookcase damage

Baseboard trim eaten by something

Getting someone over to look at this is a priority now. I am not anxious to meet the next generation of these bees or whatever is eating the wood in the house.

Garden update
My Italian friends faithfully watered while I was gone and managed to keep most of our garden going in spite of the terrific heat in Italy. I am playing catch up this week on dead-heading the flowers and doing extra weeding. The gardener needs to mow. We have lots of apples and pears on the trees now.

Resident cat
Our little stray that lives in the garage is still around. I have not put out food for a couple months but he/she still sleeps in the garage. That is really fine with me as it will keep down the rodent population I hope. Since we are on the edge of the city right next to the woods, mice are a constant reality. Poor thing looks so skinny -- we suspect he/she probably has worms and fleas and ticks. Wish I could get close enough to him/her to administer Advantix drops.

Electricity update
The good news is, it seems our electricity stayed on the entire time without tripping the main breaker. What little food I left in the frig seems to be fine. Yea! I celebrate all the victories, little and big!

Summer vacation in the USA

Who would think that 20 days in the US would yield so much blogging material! Ha! With travel, there is always a story to tell.

Wheelchair service and Paris
My deteriorating knees has caused me to start requesting wheelchair assist in the airports. I don't always need it but, I don't usually know how far I am going to have to walk, or if there are stairs required. So, I have found it is best to request it so I am covered for all events.

Atlanta, Naples, Seattle and Wichita airports all had fine, efficient wheelchair assist programs. I found very nice people who helped me with my carryon bags and check bags through customs, security and immigration.

Not so in Paris! That place is a mess! Let me be clear; it is not the individual people I dealt with -- they were all very nice. It is their system of hand offs that is really uncoordinated and totally disorganized. I missed my connecting flight going to the US because one wheelchair assistant left me parked and it was 20 min. or more before the next person came to get me. Air France ended up paying for my stay overnight in Paris to catch a flight out the next morning, and they were all very concerned about understanding what happened. I was handed off to a total of 5 different groups for that one transfer and that was the problem -- too many cooks in the kitchen!

Paris is a huge airport and even if you are a fast, athletic walker you might miss your connections going from one terminal to another. You have to go through security every time you re-enter another terminal, so that is a line there. For someone like me, walking is not even an option in Paris. The distances between terminals is huge.

Returning, I almost missed my connection in Paris again for the very same reason. The first group that took us off the airplane left us at the wrong terminal. So we waited while Air France representative got another shuttle that took us to the correct terminal. Then when we arrived there, someone came to escort us but never did get me a wheelchair. There was another couple going to Naples also, and the three of us had to walk the rest of the way through Passport control, security and to the gate. I don't know what they would have done if we couldn't walk at all, but we were not willing to miss our connection by insisting on wheelchairs and having to wait again.

I paid for that last bit of walking too, with swollen knees and lots of pain but I got the flight!

Doctors, dentists and tests
Happy to report I got a clean bill of health from all the tests and exams. Yea! It was rather intense cramming all those appointments into a three-day window, but it is done. The only wrinkle in the whole deal was the flu shot I got. Had a reaction to it with mild flu symptoms and a rash that lasted about two days. Very strange as I never had that before. Took the MRI in Wichita as I didn't have time to get it in Everett. The Open MRI office in Wichita is pretty good for this girl that is claustrophobic! I closed my eyes and prayed the whole time. Will take those result to the Italian doctor for follow up.

The fun of reconnecting with friends
I should have taken more photos but didn't. Don't know why -- guess I was enjoying the being and not thinking about it.

In Everett

Once again I was hosted by our close friends. They had us in March when we were in the US and now again Johnnie for two months this summer and me for the week I was in Everett. How awesome to be blessed by friends with such open hearts and great hospitality!

They spoiled me with good home cooked meals and allowed me to organize some visits from other friends at their home. One evening we indulged in a coffee tasting session along with blueberry pie, of course!

We scientifically recorded our ratings without knowing which cup was which coffee. This is so we are not prejudiced by the look of the label and package, or the catchy sound of the name.

A

B

C

Water for each type was precisely measured and heated

D

Actually I am not even sure which we voted the best coffee after all. But we had a good time!

Good visits and meals were part of my week in Everett. I was able to meet with my Women's Bible Study group, several friends from our Monday night small group, girlfriends from my church, from the volunteer group that supports the homeless and from my tea leaf collecting club. I collected hugs where I could and several promises of visits to Italy next year. 



In Wichita
Lunch with a few friends, a hair appointment with another long time friend, and a dinner out the last night with friends from our former church, and I felt that we saw who the Lord had planned for us to see. After living in Wichita for so many years, there are always people you don't get to see each time but over the years we put a priority on family and those friends that make the effort to stay in touch with us and visit us when they can.

The fun of reconnecting with family
In Everett
Deanie and Bill came over Saturday and we visited, ate Thai Food (again -- have to get my fill before I leave), and then took me to the airport to fly to Wichita. It was good to see them just for a little bit.

In Wichita
We went to Connie's Mexican food restaurant in Wichita, the original from the 1940's and with awesome authentic and delicious Mexican food. Sigh! How delicious and how fun to be with our children and grandchildren.

L-R Jarric, Curtis and Courtney

L-R Johnnie, Gabriella, Michelle

Then we also got together at our daughter's house and had a family dinner of traditional American picnic food: ham sandwiches, potato salad, pasta salad, cole slaw, and delicious desserts.

Cody, our budding web designer

Yummy meal, Courtney guarding the desserts!

Sisters Michelle and Stephanie hanging out

Courtney, Gabriella, Connie

Grandbaby time
Getting to spend time with my grandchildren was very special. Here are the two youngest.

Ronnie Wayne, age 2 weeks and Gabriella, age 3 (almost 4) with Nonna Jenny

We had Gabriella with us at the hotel two nights. We took her to Exploration Place on Friday and she enjoyed it. She was quite a handful, bouncing with energy and we loved every minute of it. The hotel had a pool and we swam with her also.

Drury Broadview Hotel, Wichita

Recently remodeled, the hotel still preserves much of the old charm

Ella and Johnnie riding the elevator at the hotel

Ella and Grandma Jenny being Queen and princess at Exploration place

Grandpa Johnnie digging into a hot fudge sundae at Braum's (Ella took this photo)

Ronnie's baptism
We were pleased to be in Wichita for Ronnie's baptism at the Lutheran church where Michelle and Jarric worship. After the church service, we had all the family over to Michelle and Jarric's house for a yummy lasagne dinner and home made ice cream.

Daddy Jarric and Ronnie

Special cake for the baptism Ronita made

Priest pouring the water on Ronnie's head -- he was not all that happy about it!

Seeing the world through different eyes
We'll be returning to the US in another year or so but life will be different. You never move back to a place and expect to pick up where you left off; people change and move on, and things are never the same again. This I have learned from moving many times in my life. The experience of living in a foreign culture definitely gives me a different perspective on American life and culture than I have ever had before. This trip I have noticed things I never noticed before about life in the USA and I imagine after another year abroad more things will pop out at me in sharper contrast.

Beyond the obvious things like language, climate, food, dress, etc. there are more subtle things about the differences that really strike me: attitudes towards friendship, family, God, resolving conflict, money and power, what gains you status and respect, and the entire cadre of issues about the environment and natural resources. In another blog in future I will comment more about these and the differences I see. Sometimes when I share my observations people feel it necessary to defend their culture -- either American or Italian, depending on who I am talking with -- but that is not necessary. Culture is not bad or good, it just is different with elements of bad and good blended in all.