Part 8, Wrapping up August 2017, Making room for 2018

January 16, 2018

Part 8, Wrapping up August 2017, Making room for 2018

Looking back at August, we were really enjoying the summer. It was mostly warm and beautiful weather, except one very unexpected storm that locally turned into an almost tornado and did quite a bit of damage. Above all it was scary, very scary. I have never seen such a sudden change of weather with so much wind force! Fortunately it lasted only one day.

Midday storm

........and the result thereof on the terrace

The result of the storm could have been a lot worse. Fortunately no physical damage on our house. A few lighter items were blown away, I have seen bushes flying through the air, but after all we only had to clean up the terrace from all the mud.......and it is sticky mud, so not an easy job.

A lot of time though was spent in different spots along the river enjoying the cool water an shade.

Meanwhile I managed to convince Hanneke to model for me in order to not lose my skills in making beautiful portraits. Even though 'she doesn't like to be photographed' like many of us, because we think we are not photogenic, I love to show that being photogenic is not a talent you are born with, but the skill of the photographer to direct you in such a way that you feel comfortable in his or her hands. There is no greater compliment for me than to hear afterwards, that my 'model' had fun and is actually surprised and happy with her portraits.
We had a lot of fun while playing hairdresser and makeup artist, especially when Hanneke saw her hair curled and remembered that is what her hair used to like. I love those little 'surprise' discoveries.

A few days earlier I had a photoshoot with our neighbour Martina in the last weeks of her pregnancy. She was radiant and could not wait to welcome her little girl. We were just in time to find a few hours in her busy schedule and I was looking forward to add some maternity photos to my portfolio.

With Jan and Hanneke we ventured out to the Passo della Sambucca and had a beautiful walk overseeing the valley of Palazzuolo. We paused at I Dacci, a newly renovated refuge, with a nice bar/restaurant and to our big surprise a dutch speaking waitress. We became very curious when we were first being helped by an Italian guy, who guessed whether we were German. When we said no, Dutch, he hurried inside and came back with the radiant Virginia, who started talking the most perfect Dutch I have heard in a long time. It turned out she is the child of a Dutch mother with Indonesian blood and an Italian father. She had lived in Holland for her last three elementary school years and had then moved back to of all places Razzuolo, a tiny little mountain village on the road from Marradi to Florence, with all of 98 inhabitants. They brought their Dutch/Indonesian grandmother who still lives next to Virginia. That way she has kept up her perfect Dutch, as that is what she speaks with 'Oma', grandmother in Dutch. It was such a lovely encounter, and we quickly figured out how small the world in this area is. The only bar/shop in Razzuolo is owned by the sister of one of our best friends in Marradi. Virginia was excited to meet with us and so were we, more so when she had told us what she missed most of Holland: drop and vanillevla! I promised her I would ask my son to bring some 'drop' for her.........vanillevla would have to wait as it only comes in packages you cannot take on the plane ;-).

Lola at only 5 months old is a brave little hiker

Boris and Lola desperately hoping for some salame.....while we are having lunch

Tolkien's forest

Pausing near a ruin

There is always an outcrop waiting for explanation by Lex

Unfortunately even in these remote areas sometimes cars pass

Afterwards we had a great dinner out on the terrace of Ristorante La Colombaia. In the summer they do special menus on Thursdays, accompanied by live music. Lex's brother Marten had arrived for a few days and joined the 'party'.

Food and music.....and people who wanna dance

One of the 'highlights' nowadays at Val di Nibbio is that our neighbour has sheep and they find our grass greener than his. So every now and again I get to train my herding skills and bring them back home😎, when we find them in the fields around the house.

After herding sheep and many other activities in the early evening there is little more delicious than a glass of wine, fresh goat cheese and figs.

On the 15th of August a group of friends from Marradi and Faenza comes over for Ferragosto (Maria Hemelvaart in Dutch), which is a holiday in Italy. For the fourth time in a row our shadowed field near the house is the location for a beautiful day, everybody brings food and drinks, relaxes, chats, plays cards and games with the kids. Usually everyone stays until the evening and what is left over from lunch serves as a light dinner.

Early morning walk

With view on the blooming chestnut trees. It promises to be a beautiful day

My griller man in action

Just checking..........the meat

Ferragosto party

Exhausted dogs after a deer hunt

Later in the month we make a trip to Valli di Commacchio, the old delta of the river Po. A beautiful natural reserve that makes me think of the Dutch lake areas and harbours a mere 16.000 flamingos. This time though we go visit our friend Piero at his 'Padellone', a small wooden fishing hut where we will watch him fish with the large fishing nets that are typical for a Padellone. It gets mechanically lowered into the water, and after a while pulled up, if you are lucky, filled with little fish that are delicious when fried.
Boris and Lola take their first bath in salty water which they find rather strange ;-), mostly because they don't dry afterwards.

Often the Paddelone is built on old boat bottoms

Confused after his first salt water bath

Special entrance, only the guard is missing

The view from neighbour Vincenzo's Castagneto when walking the dogs, never bores, especially looking down on our house. We are nearing the end of the month, the weather is still extraordinary beautiful and warm. A lot of people are starting to worry though about the harvest of chestnuts, because it has been really dry too. By now it hardly rained significantly since April. The waterdelivery truck comes fill up the cisterna for the valley almost every day now, because almost all the wells and deposits in the mountains have dried up. Every little drop becomes a rarity and reason for a picture.

To top of the month our friend Susie invites us to come and taste wines she brought from Puglia, Joren and Willeke return from their trip from the south for a day and a night before they head back to work and study and our niece Elleke comes vacationing for a week, just like last year.