Wednesday 29th May

Wednesday 29th May - Buon Compleano Stefania.

We got up in time to put up a ‘Happy Birthday’ streamer in the outside porch and then found her in the kitchen working on another batch of cherry jam which she had boiled and was about to sieve through a grid before bottling. We wished her a very happy birthday. Then it was back down to Ulivo for breakfast.

Among the animals here, there are a number of cats and a litter of kittens. One multi-colored cat which MAC has named ‘cativacat’ is very friendly and seems to want to come into the house which Stefania discourages. There is also an alpha-male cat who dominates al the rest, a black and white one  and an all black one. The cativacat called on us this morning as we were sitting outside and we gave it some of the fish from the last night’s dinner which it ate up very quickly. The remains of the cleaned calamari we put out last night and they had been cleaned up by this morning. I think the cats survive mainly on kitchen left-overs and do not get much actual cat food but then all seem to be healthy enough.

CativaCat

Our 'goat friends' who come out twice a day for a quick run around and then rush back home for food!!

 The weather here has been very untypical for May with frequent rainy, sometimes windy days and cool temperatures. Much in the way of clouds most days with very few days when the weather was the clear blue sky one comes to expect of this part of the world. Even so, as the clouds move across the hills to the west, they alternately light up the slopes with sunshine and then shade it again providing a moving picture of the countryside in varying shades of green. The green is interspersed with the red roofs and white walls of the houses which dot the landscape. There are always the sounds of the area with dogs barking, cocks crowing, tractors and other equipment buzzing, all of which have a lulling effect on the listener. Still, the cool temperatures suit me very well although we hardly came prepared clothes-wise for these conditions we have managed OK so far. The extremely hot temperatures we experienced in June and July last year were more difficult to cope with. The colder, late spring has tended to delay planting and the growth of the vegetables in the kitchen-garden. Nevertheless, all the rain has left everywhere looking very green and fresh. What it has done to the grape and olive harvests later in the year, we will have to see.

The few other visitors who have stayed during our time here have had very mixed results!! A German couple who were here earlier had almost continuous rain for the days they were here. Another German couple who left today came with bicycles on the back of their VW car. They had intended to bike around the surrounding countryside but found that wherever they went on their bikes, they were chased by the local dogs!! This made cycling very much less than enjoyable and they found that they had to go to most places in their car which was disappointing for them and somewhat defeated the object of their vacation!! Otherwise, they said that they enjoyed their stay here. They completely kept themselves to themselves and prepared their own meals in their house. Stefania offers various levels of service and prefers the accommodation-only option where the visitors have their own house and kitchen and can feed themselves but she can cater for breakfast, lunch and dinner if asked. This full-board option is probably what is wanted by those with children who may stay on the property during the day letting the children play in the pool and generally run around the farm.

The main event today will be a dinner to celebrate Stefania’s birthday which Bruno has arranged at a restaurant called ‘Il Pilota’ at Francavilla al Mare which is just south of the city of Pescara and on the coast. Their daughter Emanule her partner Alfredo and grand-daughters Elisabetha, Camilla and Beatrice will also attend. Unfortunately, Daniela their other daughter and the mother of Beatrice, is away in Germany at the moment.

Around lunch time we decided to go out and visit the small town of Penne about 40 minutes drive away. We passed through Cepagatti and some other small villages such as San Pellegrino (NOT the home of the sparkling water!!) until we reached Penne which is quite a large town with some large churches and a castle.

We parked in a small square and tried once again to get some money from a bank ATM. MAC was successful, again I was not. So, we walked a bit further and I tried two more banks still without success. So, again, we called Chase and despite the efforts of the Fraud Prevention Dept to re-activate my card we gave up and came to the conclusion that the card’s magnetic strip has somehow been compromised and the bank will issue a new card which i will pick up when I get home. This is very frustrating,

We could see the large Duomo building up on the hill so moved the car and parked in a very tight spot by a water fountain on a hill approaching the Duomo. Then, we walked up the narrow steep street towards the Duomo. I thought that we could probably have driven up and, in fact many cars passed us in the tiny street and when we got to the top there was quite a large parking area!! 

The Duomo is huge and very impressive dating from the 9th century or even earlier. It was closed as was the attached museum. Adjacent to the Duomo there is a very large rehabilitation center which must be one of the most difficult to access in the world! While we were there one of the patients was picked up in a minibus which had some small space to maneuver. Many people were walking their dogs in the area and one notable lady who had two Jack Russell terriers was dressed in silver stiletto heels which looked rather precarious on the cobblestone street. Fashion wins out again. After spending a few minutes in the area we started our walk back down to the car. When we got there we found it blocked in by a delivery van which was delivering some large item to a nearby house. How on earth this van had made it up here, we wondered aloud. We waited for about 15 minutes and after the delivery was complete, we were able to extricate ourselves and get on the way home. By this time the weather had deteriorated and we drove back through a heavy rain storm with thunder. 

The narrow and steep streets of Penne

A rather modernistic sculpture outside the very old cathedral

A description of the campanile at the Cathedral San Massimo

A rehab center adjacent to the cathedral

Italian Style!!! A lady walking her dogs on the cobbled streets in silver stilettos. Magnifique!!

Think of living and parking on this street every day!!

Our car, to the right of the van, isn't going anywhere for a while until they have finished their delivery, shooting the breeze with the customer and leaving.

We arrived home at about 5 p.m. had a rest and then got changed to go out to dinner in Pescara.

By now the rain was almost torrential and Bruno drove into Pescara where in places the water was almost wheel deep as it had not had time to drain away.