Winter Task of Others...

The Stone-mason Guy called this afternoon. The new wall is done!!!

Get ready for another More Before & Afters. I have anticipated the event by starting with the Before. I am so excited. However, he mentioned that there is some work to fill in behind the wall. Who cares? I got a new concrete re-inforced stone-faced wall, where previously, there was just ad hoc junk stone work. I love the activity of erasing the cheap construction of the previous tenants/owners. Progress with a capital "P"!!! Gads.

Paint Jobs...

These painted boards for the color trials were nicely arranged in an "upright" position for a photo session until I notice the paint was slowly oozing down them. Now flat and taken with an auto-flash... blasted digital camera!!!... the five examples look pretty much all the same. Well, one is brighter and is actually destined to be A Candidate for what will be either a kitchen or my bedroom in La Casa Grande...

we must find another name for this part of the house. The current one sounds like a retirement home in some grotesque urban sprawl of Southern California or, an I-talian restaurant on Hwy. 41 outside Marietta, GA. I am open for proposals, folks.

We are still debating the issue about this Little Room. Well, Mr. You is debating. I am refusing to talk about it at all. That is my New Tactic. I hope to one day be victorious though ONLY if I can learn to keep my Big Mouth shut when the other one opens his. It needs two to debate. Ha!

The inspiration of the Acqua-marine Blue comes from the old trim in the Debated Little Room... or, D.L.R... once painted in a similar color. Personally, it works ONLY as a trim color. The walls ought to be Toast. Nevertheless, if I win and the D.L.R. becomes my cozy night-time harbor of repose with bath, I envision a bright Geranium-red. And why not? Mr. You has a Terra-cotta bedroom so, I ought to be able to have a bright Geranium red one. Oh! How about if I were to threaten a color... say, Mauve... maybe he'd leave well enough alone for me to decide the outcome for the D.L.R. What do you think, folks?

The blue examples do not render well in this photo. Sorry. The one I prefer... standing it in front of me... is in the middle row, on the right, next to the bird-houses. It's not too dark, not too Purple, not too Blue-green, not too dull. You'd never know that from the photo. All of boards could do with another couple of coats of paint. Thickens the impression, you know. Well, that and standing them upright. Walls are upright, aren't they? Gads.

More Before & Afters...

The Kitchen before... well, more like during... and in a very fine state for "during"...

and the Kitchen after.

The Portico during...

and, after. I seem to be hung-up on the Portico. I'll stop now. Gads.

Paint Jobs...

More Before & Afters...

This Before photo is looking up at the upper terrace and the Madonnina... a little sanctuary to the Virgin Mary on the path up to the Castle of Codiponte. It was taken right after the guy had blown away The Jungle with a gas-powered saw... or two.

An After view of the upper terrace taken from the Spianata... or, grassy plateau. The Madonnina is slightly hidden behind the branches of the nocciola tree in the foreground & to the right of some cement blocks.

Ahhh... the isolation ditch. I do not have fond memories of this scar in my Garden.

An After shot taken last week when the fierce NE winds had abated. Better, no? Gads.

Mr. You-know-who...

Here is Mr. You working in The Garden... back when it was nothing more than a scuzzy, disorganized & ugly construction site. Ditto for what plants were left after the guy came to clear out The Jungle... lo' those two years ago.

Another fan asked me who Mr. You is. Well, he's Mr. You-know-who. Simple. And, that is as far as I can go with it. You see, Mr. You has vehemently PROHIBITED me to EVER divulge his Name, Rank & Serial Number... ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYHOW!!! Oh! Come to think of it, I've never seen his Serial Number. Gosh. And I have seen him in his Birthday Suit!!! He's got lots of Ranks, for sure, but maybe, he has no Serial Number. The other two I cannot write about. This is thanks to the stringent Privacy Laws the European Community has written and seeks to enforce with vigor. They have a partner with Mr. You-know-who. He wants to be anonymous. I told him that would be impossible. Especially, if he continued to Speak His Peace about The This's & That's of Il Poggiolo. Mostly the location of the Kitchen in the heart of La Casa Grande and the arrangement of the Bathroom in the Upstairs Apartment. Those two are enough. So, as a compromise... though Mr. You has yet to sign a written agreement with me & tough beans to him... he is & will be always referred to as Mr. You-know-who. Mr You, for short. If he doesn't learn to say... Yes, Sir!!! Anything you say, Sir... to my splendid ideas for renovating Il Poggiolo, he may become just You! Anonymous and impersonal. Gads.

Stressed...

I put it down as stress. Blocked Stress. Acute Blocked Stress. About the house. Last night, I dreamt about Jamie Lee Curtis & Roberto Downey Jr. Two people I do not normally think about during my day... at all... EVER... practically. And, they wouldn't go away either. I'd wake-up. I'd go back to sleep. And guess who I'd find galavanting again in My Dream World? Jamie & Robert.


This night-time aggravation is like The Wait for Our Geometra to compile Our Builder's costs for a detailed estimate to fit-out the Upstairs Apartment. If & when, then... you knows?... we might begin the work. I have given over the floor plans, electrical plans, even the schematics for the Kitchen & Bathroom et al, yet, in the meantime, I am passing my time waiting with nifty little pass-time projects... painting bird-houses & putt-zing in the Garden.
Since September, have I seen anything like an estimate? Yes, well... there was that dinky one I did A Happy Dance in Our Geometra's office. Mr. You was present too. He gave me his... Sit-down Now Look. It was ONLY for Euro 13,000. I was elated. A big shift from spending Euro 137,000 for roofs & things. Does anyone need me to translate these figures into $$$s? It's a lot more in our decrepit currency. We did have had a Big Meeting about the Plumbing Plan. I'd kind-of-like to REALLY know now what all I am going to have to spend to have running water, working toilettes & serviceable kitchens throughout Il Poggiolo AND still be alive to enjoy the seeming luxury of them all.
Still No Word as yet. Gads. 

Sorry for our mess...

It rained today. I painted.

Two candidates for the kitchen color of La Casetta... SENAPE YELLOW and OLIVE GREEN. Now, they grace the bird-houses. So, what color for the roofs? Oh, the stress! Gads. 

Rock Thief...

Shhhhhh! Don't spread this around but, I have taken to stealing stones & rocks. Well, no boulders. I can't lift those. And, Mr. You would raise a beeg steenk, if I were to destroy his beat-up ol' AUDI hauling anything larger than my Scottish cullo... or, butt. Think bread-box size. 

Besides the above mentioned dimensions, the other criterion is the shape. Very critical. I need nice, regular AND rectangular shaped stones for the two impending wall projects on the docket. One I will do, which I have not spoken of, and the other is, hopefully, going to be built by the local bravo stone mason + helper and just posted on this blog.

Now, the word out about stealing rocks is NOT TO EVER STEAL THEM FROM THE RIVER!!! The local environmentalists would raise Hell. And, one signora too, who lives in a house with a fantastic view of the Aulella...
By the way... I was grossly misinformed and, I do apologize. One, I've gotten the spelling all WRONG!!! It's NOT Aullela, but Aulella. Wouldn't just one "l" in each place do? Then, it ain't a river. NO!!! It's a torrente. That means the water goes real fast down hill and it gives the impression... to one who understands Italian... that flooding is a key element of all that rushing O2. This is true, in light of our torrential rains of the past six months. Oh! See? Torrente... torrential!!! I FOUND ALL THIS INFO ON THE FRIGGING INTERNET!!!
The Signora has not one, not two, but three high-powered binoculars on her kitchen counter. I learned about this equipment when Mr. You dragged me to have tea with this Signora + her husband. He was a ship's captain. It was nearly the first thing she showed us in her house. The first was her fireplace that has a motor to suck-up the smoke. Quite a novelty. Anyway... she spends much time spying over to my side of the Torrente Aulella. There ought to be Privacy Laws against that. Often she follows up with a telephone call to the local Carabinieri, up in Casola in Lunigiana, when she spots subterfuge, delinquency, theft!!!
I will ONLY be able to steal from the torrente by cover of darkness, UNLESS, I discover she has infra-red binocs. Then, I'll stick with hunting along lonely mountain roads in the AUDI. Gads.

Italians Don't Rake...

I have yet to find an adequate rake in Italy. Thank God, I've not had to spend lots of bank-unstable Euros with this adventure. Yet, ought it be so difficult to manufacture & stock in any local ferramenta... or, hardware store... a rake that functions? You know, the leaves go & gather with each stroke of the rake AND NOT remain where they were before!!!
My latest purchase... said tool is elegantly propped against the wall of the Upstairs Apartment... the rake part was sold separately from the long handle part. I had to take a saw to the rod-of-wood when I got home. It works... mildly. 30% goes along and the rest stays put... damn-it. I need better.

The previous acquisitions were deplorably worse. First, plastic does not a good rake make. Lo' the Chinese adore the material, raping the Middle East right after us thirsty-for-oil Americans for every ounce of petroleum to stamp-out an unlimited number of plastic rakes at Euro 7.30. A waste of money. The darn plastic is too stiff to rake. I can still hear the leaves laughing with glee. But then, neither have I grabbed a metal Italian rake from the rack with the proper length AND tension to the tines. I had to look up that term up on the frigging Internet!!!
By the way... I am sitting here typing with one hand and in the other holding a piece of potato bread slathered with a creamy white cheese, called Crescenza, and a tuna-fish & white beans in a light savory tomatoe sauce. May I say? It is a Divine. What a fine way to pizzicare... or, nibble... with a very dry pro-secco. Sorry. It was too much not to share.
Since I cannot find a decent rake, I have concluded that the Italians NEVER rake. I have made a recent study of this. And, lo' & behold, I have discovered that there is never an oak, elm, willow,  much less a larch!!! planted within the confines of a house, apartment house, other residential establishments.  It occurred to me that there are ONLY furs, spruces, cedars & such. You know, those non-leafy flora, which do not drop there non-leafy needles about the time we are sitting down to a Thanksgiving dinner. Well, Hell!!! That explains why there ain't a rake worth its Euro on sale in this country. Yet, in my case, some previous tenant/owner cleverly thought of planting a persimmon tree and two willows in what is now the confines of My Garden!!! It's Fall-out every November. I need a good rake. Gads.

Fire Maniac...

At about 10:57AM, A Little Voice told me... Go out & burn! Baby, burn!!! And so, I did.

I love to burn!!! It is so satisfying. However, I am not keen on the materials I must use to make a good fire. It is important to be safe. Mostly, it's the diesel fuel which, I must douse to keep the flames going when The Stuff to be burned is slightly wet, frozen stiff or too green to burn well. Yet, it's safer than using unleaded. That will blow-up in your face, singeing every available hair on your facey-face!!! I know. In my very early days as a novice pyro-maniac, I mistakenly used unleaded. ONLY once, though. I learned. Finally, I got my Scottish eye-brows back. And then, there are these white, flat blocks of fire-starters, which leave a yucky petroleum smell on your hands. Yes... Wear gloves, you say? Fine. You try to strike a match with one-size-fits-all garden-gloves which, invariably, are way too big for my dinky American mitts. 

By the way... it did start to rain... just as the Italian Colonel had said... at 2:03PM. Gads.

Next Project...

I want a re-inforced concrete & rock-faced wall like this...

but, built here!!!

This project has been pushed up to NOW!!!... well, when the night-time temps have remained above 0 for a good long while... rather than this summer. Fresh concrete reacts poorly with cold to freezing temperatures. Once the wall is completed, I can really go to work in this area of the Garden. I am going to try to squeeze-in a mini-forest above the wall, to give a break to La Spianata... or, the grassy plateau... ???...  below the rock wall in the first photo... from the upper terraces. There are already several plants in place. They have done real well. A little ol' lady told me it is because the Mother Earth there is grassa... or, fat!!! Fine. Good. Excellent. Knowing that, I am just going to add more & see what happens. Gads.

When The Sun Don't Shine...

So much for another sunny day in the Lunigiana. Today, it is cold, grey, cloudy. There's even a threat of snow too in tomorrow's forecast. And, just the other day, the RAI UNO TV Weatherman... a Colonel in the Italian Air Force, Meteorological Division... predicted nice weather for at least the next 10 days. From where did the meteorological glitch come from? France?

Putt-zing in The Garden with every wool item I own on ain't fun. How can I do battle with frozen Mother Earth when my movements are constricted by three layers of clothing? Yesterday, I was moving between terraces without a scarf, hat OR lined-jacket.
Now, In the chilly hours of today's morn, I elected to stay inside and paint panels & two bird houses. The panels are for the color trials for the Upstairs Apartment. Various shades of BLUE-PETROLEUM, BLUE-WEDGEWOOD & good ol' simple LIGHT-BLUE will be tried-out. The two bird-houses were gifts from Mr. You-know-who after a long weekend he passed WITHOUT ME in St. Moritz, Switzerland last summer. I think he was afraid of the yard work to be done. I did not go because Mr. You said I would have to dress for dinner. My smart reply... I am always dressed for dinner... was met with his retort... NOT jeans & a cashmere sweater!  Coat AND Tie? Well, that ended that. I haven't worn a tie since...? Since...? Since I was invited to a Bar-mitzvah a few years ago. But, how dare the Swiss dictate this means of apparel? In the morning & afternoon they're makin' hay & milkin' cows, and then, they eat with a jacket on? Banker farmers. But, I digress.

I have about 15 paint samples from the escapade to find the right SAGE-GREEN for La Casetta & a BLUE-GREY for the windows, which would pass muster with Mr. You. Those found, what to do with the great left-over paint? Well, the two bird-houses are going to be quite colorful, decorated in an array of GREENS, YELLOWS, ORANGES & BLUE-GREYS. The two colors in the middle... GREEN & YELLOW... were attempts to paint the Kitchen in La Casetta in a more allegro colore... or, a happier color... than SAGE-GREEN. All the candidates were bogus. The Kitchen is SAGE-GREEN. Then, out into The Garden the bird-houses will be put. Hopefully, nice bird-families will re-locate to these digs. After-all, Il Poggiolo is in Tuscany!!! Gads.

Winter Gardening... Episode 3...

Gosh... The sun persists!!! Amazing. I was out in The Garden from 10:00AM... It was -7C last night. Any earlier an exit would have required long-johns!!! And yes, I let drip a faucet all night to have O2 in the morning... and worked steadily until 4PM. That is The Anointed Hour to w-a-l-k The Dog. Then, he gets fed. Shower, shave, make the bed, write on my blogs. There. My Day!!! 

Nevertheless, one of today's Winter Gardening Tasks was to de-nude this tree, un albero di Vimini. In other words, if I am ever so bored out of my ever-living-mind to take up basket weaving, then, I will have the branches to do so. Yep. Like WOW!!! The branches need to be whacked-off so new ones will start to sprout towards February. That is right around the proverbial calendar corner. In the term of a spring & summer, the branches will grow to the perfect length for weaving. It is important that they also not grow too thick. Otherwise, the branches tend to snap. Not good. Anyway, here's the Before...

And now, the After. Those things sticking up are branches I left... but, not out of the Goodness of My Heart. No. Well, yes, but anyway... I left them to give the Vimini something else to do... like grow taller, bigger, healthier... besides just sprouting long thin branches which can poke eyes out or eat badminton birdies.

The cut branches are collected & bound up into sheaths for future use. A very long & thin branch is used to tie things up. It's kind of akin to calf roping but not anywhere near as exciting. Safer too. Gads.

Sorry, I Forgot This One...

I cannot tell a lie. I forgot to list the Kalmia plant in Winter Gardening... Assessment blog. The plant produced a bountiful bouquet of white flowers. Jesus... drank like a fish too... and twice a day!!! I had transplanted it too late in the season. DEAD from shock. Must be a terrible way to go. The Math changes a bit. Now, I have exterminated 15 plants. I swear I'll do better this year. Gads.

Winter Gardening... Assessment

I forgot to mention another Very Important Task of Winter Gardening... though not specifically described as such in a previous blog, the repair of a parterre was. Whatever, The V.I.T. at hand is... Damage Assessment. 

Today, sun blazing in the late January skies, I made a tour of The Garden this morning, since the fierce NE gales have subsided. I was no longer at risk of finding myself several kilometers away in a matter of seconds. During my inspection, I came upon a few DEAD plants... mostly exterminated by sub-zero temps or, from drowning. Mr. You said it was my negligence. OK. That too.

In the meantime, I ordered & began to read a gardening book by an English gentleman, who, in the first sentence of his tome, admitted that he too has KILLED plants in his career. I am heartened to read this. Someone else is a Plant KILLER. However, since I have planted about 250 plants, bushes & trees... for God's Sake!!!... my percentage is quite low. Perhaps, less than the Dreadful Distinction of being a Serial Plant KILLER.  Here's My List...

2 margheritas... drowned, and then, cruelly frozen to DEATH in those two round terra-cotta planters...

2 flowering some-thing-or-others... simply frozen to DEATH in those long terra-cotta planters...

3 oleandri... Mr. You accused me of burning trash too close to these floral concoctions. Yes, this may be true. I admit it... THEY WERE BURNT TO DEATH!!! But, which is better? To freeze or to burn to DEATH for a plant?

3 various scrawny spruce-like bushes. Mr. You said this was no great loss. He HATES non-deciduous plants. I, however, love all of God's Flora.

1 have no idea what is was. The plant had these beautiful purple flowers. Now, the whole thing is a BLACK bedraggled mess.

2 prickly pyracanthus... Mr. You wanted them. So, I had to plant them. Their stickers HURT!!!
1 cedar. However, I suspect it was already on its way to an early DEATH.

So, doing The Math 14 divided by 250 = is a 5.6% of extermination. I will strive to do better this year. Gads.

Winter Water...

That funny altar thingy-ma-jigger on the right & below the three down-trodden looking terra-cotta planters is our neighborhood's communal water source. The pipes that feed it run underneath The Garden of Il Poggiolo. Do I get any break on my water bills for this? Certainly not. The Italians are vicious with Eminent Domain, etc. 

This faucet is where I now must wash my hands and fill buckets of water to flush my toilette. Well, hopefully, these water-runs will end later in the afternoon after the above-ground plastic water tube, which supplies La Casetta with fresh water, has had a chance to thaw-out from the Beneficial Rays of the sun, Thank God!!!
It is conveniently located. I exit from La Casetta, go left down the ramp along the sad planters, trying not to trip down the weird maize of stairs and... Ecco!... water!!! Bless All the Water Gods for this. Gads.

Blowing In From A Far Away Place...

Way behind those mountains is Russia, the exporter of those Northeastern gales of cold & dry air we've had blowing in for the last three days. Must it share?

It's a beautiful Sunday in Codiponte. The winds have subsided. I got to sweep the Portico. However, I am without running water. Forgot to let a faucet drip over-night. I brushed my teeth with pro-secco. How about that? Gads.

Winter Gardening... Part II

Each point on the compass has a wind with a name in Italy. The cold & dry wind from the Northeast is called the Grecale... meaning, coming from Greece. I don't know why. Greece is Southeast of us. I think the Italians were want for a name and not much carrying for the Greeks... a noisy & chaotic peoples... slapped that name on for the wind. I would've called it the Siberiana. More akin to a gale from the likes of the coldest part of Russia... to the NE. We are being pummeled by this Siberian/Grecian bone-chilling finger-numbing zephyr!!! I won't list other body parts subjected to its cold for reasons of decorum.  

And, it's not helpful for working in the Garden on a Saturday in January!!!

I tried to repair a couple of parterres damaged by the constant rains, now much abated thanks to the wind shift from the NE. I carted in a wheelbarrow & dumped a mixture of rubble + dirt to rebuild the disintegrated slopes. Then, I thought of finishing off with laying-down some nice dirt... professionally bagged universal potting soil... to make the repair appear nice. When I poured an open bag on one area the ready-made soil just blew away before it even hit Mother Earth!!! I stopped.

So, I attempted to sweep the Portico on the side away from the NE wind. NO WAY, MAN!!! Apparently, La Casa Grande, missing its finished windows, acted like a suction turbine for the gale passing over its roof. I HATE grit in my face.

Surrendering, I went inside to join The Dog in front of the fire to watch a DVD. 

Enough for Winter Gardening this weekend. Gads.

Winter Gardening...

Gardening in the winter gives one little to do beyond Clean-up & Maintainance at Il Poggiolo. The Laws of Gardening dictate that...

NO PLANTING...

NO CUTTING...

NO FERTILIZING...

from November until March must be OBEYED. The Laws could just say...

KEEP OUT
if you can't...
KEEP YOUR DAMN HANDS OFF
God's Floral Creations until The Day & Night-time Temps hover at MILD for a while.
Fine.

Instead, if we had acres & acres of olive groves the lament would be different. Thank God, we don't!!! Come rains, come winds, come days on end of grey cloudy weather yet, the olives call to be harvested. Oh, I guess it would be nifty to hand-out gifts of our own brand of olive oil to House & Dinner Guests, however, knowing the months of the back-breaking, knee-crushing, mind-boring job of preparing for AND then gathering olives leaves me quite relieved that I am ONLY on the receiving end of a bottle or two of olive oil.

Fine.

What do I do in the interim? Write this blasted blog!!! This particular blog might explain why I wrote absolutely ZILCH from last May until November of last year. I was far too busy planting, cutting, fertilizing to open the laptop to scribble even a one line update. Gads.

A Lunigiana Cook-top...

Something mentioned in an earlier blog...

here's a post-war Lunigiana cook-top, but the device has been around for ages. This photo was taken inside another house in Codiponte we considered buying. We loved the house as is... a gem... but, sadly, there were two problems for us... too closely encircled by neighbors and no garden... though the space for airing the cow would make an adorable patio... with NO PRIVACY!!! 

Anyway, I love the checker-board red & white curtain. A nice homey touch. The poured cement tiles of the cook-top with little pieces of marble... used rather than thrown away... makes a lot of Italians gag. I think the whole insieme is very elegant & functional. I don't gag. Gads.

Kitchen Problem Solved?

Hardly makes sense, does it?

Well, what you are looking at is the ex-fireplace destined to become a kitchen for the Upstairs Apartment. I had to see... in physical terms & not virtual ones... what it would be like to put a small cook-top and a sink in the space between those two old stone brackets and live to tell the story. And you know, I think there IS enough distance to get them in AND avoid head injuries. Though the brackets are old and, perhaps, a bit brittle, the head would loose in any confrontation. Seems OK. 

Now, I am NOT going to run in one of those massive American cook-tops with jet-burners stolen from a Boeing 747. Certainly not. All I need is a stainless-steel box to set on the counter with two burners... one for the water and the other for the sauce for a piping hot plate of pasta at Noon. And, the sink does not have to have the dimensions to float a boat in. Absolutely not. A 50 cm square one deep enough to fully emerge a crusty pasta pot in hot water to soak will due perfectly & nicely too.

The Under-the-counter Business will be fine too. The distance from bracket to bracket is 205 cm. That will roughly be the counter length. Divide that 205 figure by 60 cm (the width of a modest domestic appliance in Italy) comes to 3 and .41666667 as left-over. Tut-tut for that. I can get a 60 cm refrigerator with a micro freezer & two 60 cm cupboards and use that tut-tut for hidden storage space. How about that?

I believe it is A Kitchen GO!!! Gads.

Bathroom Problem Solved?

Apparently, the Connect the Dots episode had an effect. Get this... a fan & friend called me with a suggestion after she had read the blog!!! She said... 

Why don't you just move the wall from under the beam over some to give the Bathroom more space?

And, I said...

That was Mr. You's idea!!! But, at the time, I was NOT in the mood to concede. However, I knew full well resisting to A Better Idea would only waste My Time, Energy & Hysterics. Mostly the latter... damn-it.

So, she said...

Concede because, the Bathroom is too small, too narrow, too cramped to fit the fixtures as it is.

And so, I said...

I'll look at it when I get to Codiponte on Thursday. 

And she said...

Promise?

And I said...

I promise.

So, here is The Proof!!! The photo... that vertical board propped-up between the reddish water tub & bricks represents the moved-over wall.... by 60 cm... from where it was. The black plastic trough is playing the role of the sink. The white panel on the floor to the right is part of the 80 x 110 cm shower platform. The niche stays a niche for La Madonna and for towels & toilette paper. I hope The Virgin won't be offended.

As for the toilette, it can go against the wall with the door into the Bathroom. This arrangement respects the sensitivity of Mr. You in wishing NOT TO SEE, first thing, what the Euros call a WC... for Water Closet. We will do without the closet part. Again, those green watering cans in the photo are substituting for the expensive WC I will have to order very shortly. And see! One can meditate sitting on The Can & look out the window... at the setting sun, for instance. How idyllic, no?  

Thank you fan & friend!!! You got me to do what needed to be done. I called Mr. You at work to tell him The Good News. He was just out of the Operating Room. Lots of noise of scuffing Dr. Scholl's. Mr. You told me he felt the sink would be better situated in the niche. La Madonna can go elsewhere. How un-Catholic of him. Gads.

A Repeat Before & After...

I took a photograph this afternoon, in between Lugging & Tugging in The Garden, of the Portico to show how much has changed from the photo taken two years ago. Gone are the cruddy cement pilaster, the leaking-to-collapsing Terrace above and in their place are the re-built steps, the new sub-flooring & terra-cotta flooring of the Portico, a new roof over the door to Mr. You-know-who's regno and a re-built Terrace waiting for the wood-beam ceiling... a copy of the mini-roof above Mr. You's door... for the Portico to be installed along with the terra-cotta flooring & railings for the Terrace. 

So, today... 

and, two years ago. 

Big difference, no? Gads.

More Before & Afters...

Seems like an eon ago that the Portico looked like this. Mr. You is pretty much the same in these cold days of January... heavy-duty parka with fur collar and his felt baseball cap. Che uomo di moda!!!

Must take another photo of the Portico from the same position as in the photo above. However, you can certainly say the place looks at lot less decrepit!!!

We are going to have to put some kind of roof over the eventual pergola at the Upstairs Apartment's entrance. Otherwise, the little walkway will be smeared with marmalade from the persimmon tree's fallen fruit!!! 

Mr. You surveying the falling-in roof of what we had just bought. The tiles were an odd patchwork of helping the rain-water flood the inside of La Casa Grande!!!

Now, there are new, spiffy & well constructed roofs, which DO THEIR JOB of keeping the water out. And, hey! We got a fish pool!!!

Gads.

Bathrooms & Kitchens in the Olden Days...

Bathrooms...

you see that sorry looking brick hut next to the stairs off the old Portico, which lead to what is now referred to as Mr. You-know-who's regno? By the way, I don't have a regno... yet. It ought to be the Upstairs Apartment, if we can solve some B & K Logistical Issues, etc. Anyway... that hut was the ONLY Bathroom for the entire Il Poggiolo complex!!!... animals excluded. And, it was only built AFTER the Second World War!!! No trace of any other facility. I have hypothesized that...

The Garden was the Bathroom!!! Very "bio", no, to fertilize carrots, zucchini & tomato plants?

 

Kitchens...

a fireplace was The Usual Cooking Source for a Kitchen back in the olden days. The folk had iron gratings set over the flames to put pots & things to cook. Or, the soup-pot swung from a hook above. Often, houses in the Lunigiana had a kind of a cook-top built-in to a window's interior ledge. They were made of terra-cotta tiles to set pots on top with the fire built underneath in what look like cubby-holes for storing stuff. It was also a convenient way of dealing with the heat-loss through the window's glass panes. As for any ovens, they were constructed outside, like ours is, out on the Cortile. Water was brought in a tub drawn from a well... again... outside the house. Refrigerators were the cold stone walls of a room down in the cantina. Very de-centralized affairs, Kitchens were.  

Our task today is to try to bring it all inside Il Poggiolo with our modern conveniences which weren't envisioned... ever. No wonder Mr. You & I have discussions!!! Running-in new Bathrooms & Kitchens in really old houses is like shoving a square peg through a non-existent round hole. Gads.  

And now, for the Kitchen Issues...

The Kitchen's Issues are those two old stone brackets for a now long gone fireplace. In the fireplace's stead, we...
please note the collective "we". Mr. You-know-who & I don't argue about everything...
would like to build-in a small & serviceable kitchen between the two brackets. We believe kitchens should be small AND contained. A new floor will put those two brackets smack-dab at Bashing-head Level. Squeezing in a small two-burner cook-top, a trough sink & a bit of counter space between them is out... of... The... Question!!! Conveniently, in the niche tucked in the corner there is an old stone sink. Yep. The Old Stone Sink destined for the Bathroom. 

Why don't we leave the Old Stone Sink there, putting in a new one for the Bathroom? We could. But,  it's kind of shallow for a stack of pots 'n pans. I had my heart set on a nice deep trough sink.  

Why don't we just move the offending brackets? We could. But, they are old and well anchored into the apartment's supporting wall of the ex-chimney's remaining structure. Our Geometra, seconded by our Builder, said they might break if we tried, using them for the new fireplace. They stay where they are.

I had thought we might pull the kitchen counter out from the wall, far enough away to clear those two brackets. No good. It would eat up too much area for the old table we bought to eat at.
So, our Collective Thinking on the Table for Discussion of the Kitchen Issues are the following...
A) chuck the Kitchen all together which, is no fun, if you like the Adventure of Space Planning and its consequent discussions, as we apparently do...
B) leave the sink where it is, for surely, the now long gone residents dealt well enough with avoiding bruising themselves on the mantel piece of the now long gone fireplace...
or...
C) put a new marble trough sink on the wall between a bracket & the Front Door.
Personally... and just between you, me & those two brackets... I am for Option B. We can put in a new marble sink for the Bathroom. I wonder? Would that be B) as in "bracket" or, B) as in "bashing"? Gads.

Connect the Dots...

And get ready to Cut & Paste!!! Grab a pencil or a pen, connect-the-dots, PRINT the Bathroom floor plan & fixtures and have some fun moving the pieces around the space!!! Try to solve the quandary of how to put an old stone sink, a toilette and a shower in 80 s.f. of bathroom.

  
                        Niche

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.                               BATHROOM                                         .
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.                                                                                                       .    Window
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.    .          Door                     .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .


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.        Toilette         .             .       Old Stone Sink      .
.       40 x 60 cm   .             .           30 x 80 cm         .
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.                      Shower                           .

.                 80 x 120 cm                       .

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Thanks!!! Gads.                                                           

            

When Sad & Blue...

Fleeing the controversy of bathroom fixtures placement, Kitchen sinks too big for the spaces given, etc. I find constant solace in these photos demonstrating that... Yes!!!... we have seen Progress. Some Before & Afters to gander at...

Gads.