Wrapping up April 2017, Welcome 2018

While I am wrapping up 2017 revisiting all our experiences of last year, I should not forget to be in the now. The beginning of January always felt a little 'boring' to me before.....although living in a warm country I would feel it in a lesser way, just picking up the thread of being outside (especially the winters in the Middle-East were so nice weather wise!) and Christmas and New Year not being national holidays, everybody would continue life as normal.
Now living in the mountaineous area of Italy, where winters can be cool and can be a bit grey, I feel I still need to adjust to that time of year, when everything turns still in nature, gathering energy to wake up in spring. My body does it for me, whether I like it or not......with a pretty persisting headcold I am forced to take it easy, and when I wake up in the morning, much later than I would like to, I feel like a hibernating teddy bear.
Yesterday I decided some fresh air would do me good, so I will go for it and give my body a chance to heal, soon I hope, so I can pick up the threads of my life with full energy.
I enjoyed my morning coffee with Lex, practiced yoga, read my dear friend Kasia's blog and am now ready to revisit April 2017.

I remember the weather being really nice and warm, inviting us to outside activities, just like in March, just a little warmer. I discovered more and more flowers showing their beautiful colours on our morning walks along the little river that crosses our land, grass becoming lush and green, trees adorning themselves slowly with a beautiful, almost transparent green blanket and the container plants starting to show new growth. On our daily walks we passed the neighbours farm and there too spring was obvious. They breed border collies and they had two litters, one an unexpected surprise after one of the females had a romantic encounter with the other neighbours' Australian Shepherd. Of course we had to go and see them (secretly getting warming up to the idea of having a dog again after 7 years without one.........and realizing the danger of not being able to refuse).

Little did we know that this litter holds our future dogs...........

I painted background panels for an upcoming photoshoot to expand my portfolio, my 2nd one only this year. In February after the movie poster shoot I made headshots of the young actress Angelica to go in the International Movie Database. I was very happy with the results en motivated to get more shoots in. I found a hairstylist who trialed with me for this upcoming shoot and was amazed by how well she knew what I needed almost without asking. Not much later I asked a young lady I had met in Marradi if she would model for me and her sister happened to be a makeup artist. Some things are just meant to be and I was over the moon with her too!

Actors' headshot

Alice adjusting my friend and model Kasia's hair in between shots 

Getting ready for a different outfit matched with different hair 

Model: Kasia

Meanwhile at the house.........not everything always goes well.....not even in our little paradise! One day we woke up to a heater that went haywire. Now, heater sounds too simple, many people say we have a nuclear plant downstairs to provide us with warmth in the winter and hot water for those lovely showers in the morning. First call: rescue crew and then try to figure out what went wrong......after a long story that I won't bother you with we managed to get everything functioning properly again before the next winter started.

Apart from this hick up, spring continued and I couldn't resist the abundance of Hydrangea in the flower shop so I bought two and put them next to the entrance of the house. A splash of colour to enjoy while having morning coffee in the sun, when it just rises above the mountains. 

Makeup artist Chiara and model Elizabetta

I am still only in the first two weeks of April and while revisiting all the pictures I have I am amazed how much is going on all the time in the village we chose to become our home. It seems a quiet and insignificant mountain village. Instead that is far from the truth. The winter months are a bit quieter as they are everywhere, when people tend to stay warm in their homes, sharing good times in good company inside. As soon as the sun comes out though and temperatures go up, people appear out on the streets again to celebrate spring, and all the events offered.
April started with the 'Sfilata di Moda', a cooperative returning event, in which all clothing shops in Marradi show have their new seasonal collection, the Marradesi of all ages modeling on the catwalk! A very professionally looking set up makes for an enjoyable evening in the theatre. Too bad I did not bring my camera. It was a beautiful spectacle watching all the tastefully dressed children and adults showing of their best modeling skills.

The next weekend we attended a classical concert in our 'Teatro' and Sunday was the final day of the 'Settimana della Educazione', a festival involving all the school children researching an presenting various subjects and sharing them with the public. The final day is Festa in Piazza with the 'Pompieri' (fire fighters, btw all volunteers!! Bravi!) letting children experience how to douse a 'fire', climbing 'fences' etc. Face painters adorned many children with beautiful 'masks' and of course there was food, presented by students of a cooking school from a nearby city. The sun showed its best side and made for a very comfortable spring day. 

No photos :-(, but very nice and inspiring! 

Our youngest neighbour Guglielmo receiving his diploma as junior firefighter :-) 

No 'festa' without food!! 

Obviously there is no celebration in Italy without good food!! :-)

The plants keep growing, Lex continues cleaning the fields around the house, our cat Sushi finds new ways to quench her thirst and how to get our attention and make us smile, I am mesmerized by the door knockers I find everywhere, the Glicine (Wisteria) are blooming abundantly and we welcome our first guests in our 'B&B Val di Nibbio'. It is not official yet, we consider it a trial year to find out if we would like to continue this as a side business. We are a bit nervous, but connect immediately with our guests, and after a quick lunch they are more than happy to join us on our afternoon hike, so we can show them the beauty of our surroundings.

Of course we do our best to serve them a lovely breakfast before they leave on their exploration of the region. I was not yet ready to record much, what counted was they left happy! 

We were supposed to have other guests at the same time. Unfortunately they had to cancel staying with us when they found out we have a cat, because Nat is superallergic. I had so hoped to meet him, an amazing photographer that I happened to only know through the internet via a friend in Qatar. I was over the moon when he and his wife Ruth decided to pay us a visit while they were exploring Tuscany. We had a very enjoyable lunch together and I am so happy I met this creative couple! You can see Nat's work here: https://www.natcoalson.com and he is also a great teacher and fountain of information on everything photography, but above all a great artist and wonderful person, as is Ruth. 

Bad photo, but it had to be made! Thanks for a great lunch Nat and Ruth.

Easter arrived and tradition has it that we spend Easter Monday with our friends Cinzia and Gianni at their mountain dwelling Il Pozzo, half an hour out of Marradi, further into the mountains. Many a good lunch/dinner has been enjoyed there while being in good company of this warm hearted family Samorì, that has adopted us as part of them. We had no idea it would be the pater familias's last Easter. Yet another reason why I am happy to have recorded that occasion, even if only on my iPhone. 

Dew on Hosta, Easter morning

Pater Familias Angolino

Napping with Maika

Abundance

Women power ;-)

Three generations

The weather suddenly takes an ugly turn the next day with a hailstorm damaging lots of plants, but above all early fruit buds. The sun returns quickly though, Lex goes out to help our friend Susie mowing her lawn, we attend a tennis tournament to cheer Susie on and go visit the puppies at the neighbours.......we kind of almost have been thinking about taking one, maybe even two (jokingly).....but we are not sure yet, yet they are so stinking cute it is hard to resist, as is the neighbours' little boy growing up in the middle of all those puppies, being totally one with them. 

I think this day I decided ............

April also was the month we suddenly and quickly had to choose a destination for a gift from our wedding anniversary a two and a half years before. We had already extended the expiration date once, because we were too caught up in settling. And they wouldn't allow us another extension. Good for us, because now we were 'obligated' to go away for a few days. Life is tough sometimes hahah! We didn't want to go too far, I don't remember why, so we chose Monte Conero, a small promontory near Ancona. Apparently a beautiful area, geologically interesting, and a great place to eat seafood. Now that is a temptation for a girl born and raised near the sea!! So off we went to our booked hotel for two nights! And then a funny story began........we looked up Hotel Conero on Google maps and found it easily. We had booked and left without checking much detail, trusting it would be all good! We checked in on arrival with the friendly ownere, who then showed us our (huuuuuge) appartment, with 2 bedrooms and nice luxurious beds, sea view, right on the beach. Lex and I looked at each other thinking, not bad for that price, it must be because of the low season. 

It was very rainy on arrival, so after putting our suitcases away, we went down for a nice glass of white wine while enjoying the raindrop speckled view. After half an hour the lady from the front desk comes and tells us there is a problem????? After a bit of confusion it turns out she was expecting a German couple and thought we were that couple. She didn't really check our names with the German ones, so let us in their appartment. Oh well, the wine tasted good and we had a good laugh over it. After we took our (still packed) suitcases out of the room, together with the owner we figured out we had actually booked Hotel Conero, but nr. 2!! And that happened to be the sister's business. 

After we finished our wine and some good conversation with the owners of Conero 1 we went off to the sister. We were warned it would not be the same.......

We arrived indeed at a different kind of setting. A small appartment, with beds leaving something to wish for but otherwise great for a short vacation. Very friendly owners, dedicated to their 'wellness' based hotel. Breakfast was abundant with lots of home made marmalades and honey, and lots of rice crackers with curcuma yoghurt, not very filling, but beautifully made up with flowers, a treat to the eye. Actually, they loved curcuma, in the herbal teas, the honey, the dressings. 

Interesting fact, the owner turned out to be a walking encyclopedia of the history of the area! No need to go to the tourist information desk.
Included in the package was a round of sauna and Turkish bath. Because my hubby doesn't like saunas and I did not really feel like saunaing that day, the owner offered me a session to teach me about essential oils and prepare a personalized face cream based on avocado oil and essentials I had to select just by smell. A very interesting experience.......and a very soothing all natural treat for the skin to take home with me. 

In the mean time we decided that an extra day in the area wouldn't harm us. There was so much more to enjoy. At leaving the first hotel we had ourselves informed about the off-season prices and decided we would like to spend one night there, right on the beach. So after our two nights at Conero 2 we headed back to Conero 1 where we were greeted with open arms. A lovely day was spent at the beach, cold but refreshing and sleeping there was a dream! When we left the next day, we were sent off with a nice bottle of wine and a great story to remember.
All in all a wonderful weekend full of information, walks, discovering little gems along the way, changing weather with amazingly beautiful skies and mouthwatering sea food and meeting wonderful people. 

Rock man

Taking a rest after lunch

Enjoying the morning sun

Mermaid. My happy place. Portonovo. 

On our way back, not being in a hurry at all, Lex suggested to pass through his old stomping grounds, Serravalle di Carda, where he spent his first summer of field work as a geology student. He wanted to see if there was still people around that he had met way back when. Being a small mountain village on the outside everything seemed still the same. Even the restaurant where he ate every day for a few lire, was still there.........and open. We entered and the owner looked, and looked again......and then to our surprise said: Alex? L'Olandese?..........we are talking 40+ years ago!!! Once confirmed we were sat down, food and wine were put on the table, stories were shared by this son of the lady that ran the place 40 years ago and was renowned for her canneloni and lasagne. I can confirm. When Lex took me there 35 years ago, I had her canneloni and they were everything you would wish for!

While we were devouring our pasta, the owner disappeared for a while. When he came back in he had picked up a neighbour who turned out to be one of the bunch of friends Lex made at the time. Lots of memories and embraces were shared, photos of grandchildren (his;-)) shown and stories told. It was an emotional encounter. After lunch we had to come share coffee and grappa in the nearby bar owned by the restaurant owner like before, now ran by the son. More people came in with memories of l'Olandese, even now adults, who remembered the blond longhaired Dutch guys on BMW motorbikes! Lex's wish was fulfilled and we left with happy memories and teary eyes.

Enjoying natural features explained by my geologist husband! 

Remembering good times

The famous 'canneloni' restaurant 

Serravalle di Carda

Last but not least we had Lex's cousin Michael and wife Tammy visit us from the US. A few wonderful days were spent at our home in Marradi, between revisiting memories and sleeping off jetlags, and showing off beautiful Brisighella, where I find new details to photograph every time we go there. Another angle, different flowers, 'new' alleys to explore.......Too cold to picknick this time, but nice enough to enjoy the views, and cuddle up afterwards around the fire place. 

And that's a wrap for April! Mike and Tammy headed to Spain and I had to start preparing for our next visitor.