More Before & Afters...

A World of Difference...
before...

after...

And now, the Work-guys have disappeared. I shouldn't have given so many kudos for their Good Work. Gads.

Unearthing...

The Work-guys have moved out from under the searing Italian sunshine of late June, and Thank God. The mid-day temps in the Cortile were hovering in the upper margins of OVEN HOT. That maybe fine for cookin' biscuits but, not for Human Beings immersed in their Toils & Labors.

The W-Guys are having to dig a trough to lay-down bright orange pipes from the Cortile and from  an eventual Kitchen in the large room above the Sottopassaggio... or, passageway. We all had thought... Our Geometra, Our Builder, Our Work-guys, My Mr. You & Me... that it would be real nifty if we could shove one of those bright orange pipes down the Medieval earthen slew of the Sottopassagio without pulling-up the old pavement. Nope. The Medieval plumbing is full of cricks & turns, impeding the easy & straight-shot ramming of a modern-day bright orange pipe. OK. Up came the ugly 50s cement and the old Medieval stones underneath... once upon-a-time trounced by the hoofs of cows & donkeys. Soon however, all will be covered & repaved with the old stones as before.

A nice by-product of these plumbing efforts is the ugly concrete of the Entrance Ramp will be drilled up & carted away too, restoring the Ramp to its one stoney & Medieval beauty. Back to cosmetic surgery. Gads.

Going, Going, Almost Gone...

Three Work-guys & 100F heat today!!!
They immediately went to work on covering the septic tank. 

We had a discussion about putting terra-cotta tiles over the lids of the septic tank. Seemed nicer. Practicality out-voted me. There will be two concrete lids. So, if we must, we can easily lift them off to take a look at the septic tank. What fun!!!

I had just swept on Saturday where the Work-guys decided at Quitten Time to plant the bulldozer. Gads.

Floral Compliments...

My neighbors always tell me how nice our garden is looking. Of course it looks nice. Two years ago it was a garbage dump & jungle. However, I am still unsatisfied it. So much to plant & build AND THEN there's weeding to do too. 

Now, they also come to admire the hydrangeas. I guess, this is the Reward for all our efforts. Thank you. Gads.

A 1/3rd of the Cortile Restored...

The Dog wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Gratings, I said, and he ambled off to sleep on our neighbor's Cortile. If there isn't a piece of bread in it for him, The Dog quickly looses interest. Gads.

From On High...

The black & yellow septic tank is buried. The orange tubes run their undercover course. And, the metal aluminum gratings are in place. Now, it's time to put back the puzzle of the old grey stones to cover the traces of the latest water-works. I just hope the Work-guys can remember which stone goes where. I was too afraid to ask them if they had bothered to number them, etc. Seeing the saw scares me even more.

Meanwhile, on the Cortile of our neighbor, My Favored Canine, Mr. Moses-dog, naps under the warmth of a sunny June day. He takes no notice of the screeching whirl of the saw. No. He naps away. Gads.

Today's Escapade In The Cortile...

Another day of nearly 100 degree heat, what with all the sunshine hitting-off the old stones of the Cortile. Yet, despite the heat, the Work-guys continued in their quest to install my plumbing plan. Here are the latest photos...

The troughs, gratings & tubes to catch the rain water off the ramp along l'Esseccatoio... or, drying shed...  

The over-all view of the same with the ruspa... or, bulldozer... for added effect.

The Work-guys tell me all will be set right by this Friday at 5!!! Until then, more evenings spent nursing glasses of white wine in the hope that it will be true. In the meantime, I can enjoy the flowers. 

Gads.

Almost, Nearly...

but not quite totally submerged!!! 

Gads.

What The Thing Looks Like...

It's Your Lucky Day!!! If you ever wanted to know what a septic tank looks like here in Italy, here's Your Chance!!! Eccolo...

It kind-of reminds me of those bicycle pumps though considerably LARGER!!!

Here is a long view of the operation to install the apparatus. Lots of Watching & Waiting, apparently. Gads.

The Latest Developments... Part III

Additional evidence of today's assault on bringing Hot & Cold Water to La Casa Grande and the icky water out to the septic tank, etc...

1. Inside La Stanza dei Tini....or, the Room of the Wine Making Barrels... looking out to the Cortile. Yep. Construction Chaos...

2. The earth upon which my house rests in what will become the Laundry Room. I do not want to talk about this detail of 800 year old construction practices... thank you very much... except to say I do not rest easy and am praying that there is actually bedrock just a few centimeters below...

3. Cement obliterated to sink pipes from the Laundry Room to the septic tank...

I think a tall drink of white wine is called for now. Gads.

The Latest Developments... Part II

More Progress... the plumbing plant is being dealt with. Here is the latest evidence from today's assault...

1. The Sottopassaggio... or, underpass... which sounds absolutely ridiculous. It leads up to the Cortile... where the Work-guys have continued making Chaos out of Order until the tubes, septic tank & gratings are installed... 

2. The Cortile...

3. The spot where the septic tank will be sunk in the Cortile... 

4. The stones removed to sink a pipe to handle the rain-water & keep it from seeping through the wall, which divides my property from our neighbor's below. So far, the water just makes a lake there when it rains.

I have made a donation at the church asking for Order to be restored AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!! Gads.

The Latest Developments... Part I

I am trying to look at the bright side of this Codiponte Adventure after the shock of Thursday's stunning news... the Upstairs Apartment ain't goin' to be finito... not even by the middle of July... dammit all to Hell!!! Yet, Progress has been made...

1. The walls have been sand-paper 'till they cannot be sand-papered no mo'!!! Nearly drove Our Builder nuts... to the point of a crisi isterica.... or, an hysterical fit... right after he gave me The Bad News. He calmed down when I gave him some money...

2. The sub-flooring for our oak planking is down & drying as I write...

3. The terra-cotta is down on the Terrace. No railing as yet. I went today to see the fabbro... or, iron-man... taking in his extraordinary height, his long legs, his blue eyes, his beautiful teeth though I HATE his weird hair-cut... about how much it will cost me to re-do the antique railing. He COULD NOT say!!! He did tell me it would cost much less to have a new one made over restoring the old. I knew it!!! I just knew it!!! 

So, I have been admiring the view from what will be the Upstairs Apartment's Key View... the gelso tree & the campanile of Codiponte's church. I better go, pray to the Virgin & drop a few coins in the Collection Box. I'm paying everyone else, I might as well give her some loot too. Perhaps, she will be more punctual than the others have been. Gads.

Home Sweet Home...

Our Geometra... a kind of construction super-intendant... just informed me this morning that the Upstairs Apartment WILL NOT be finished by the Contractual Finished Date of June 30th. I am not at all surprised. Our Builder wasted three precious weeks... when the sun was shinning brightly... futzing at another construction site rather than knocking off a world of items at mine!!! 

Comparing Our Builder's list of Things-to-do to the time remaining, I gave up the idea of sleeping in my own little apartment before the 4th of July. At least, a family of sparrows... Mamma & Papa Sparrow & 3 Sparrow-lets... has made a comfy home on one of the Upstairs Apartment's rafters. I am so jealous. Gads.

A New Day...

I look forward to the day when...

there are no more cigarette butts in every angle of my house & garden...

I can pass without tripping over some forlorn piece of construction equipment...

a nap is possible in my garden without the buzz of a saw or a cement mixer or Jonathan singing a song from Radio DJ...

my 400 year old walls are not just for leaning scaffolding against...

my water bill will be 1/2 less...

ditto for the electric bill...

an appointment is kept by the builder when I broke every traffic law to arrive in time...

everyone understands that Il Poggiolo is my home & garden, I live in it and it would be keen if all were to respect this fact...

Thank you, Jesus. Gads.

Escape To The Bosporus...

Mr. You & I escaped to Istanbul... blowing-off The Flooring Deadline... for Mr. You's birthday... 

Here are 2 of the 6 photos I took. Why visit a place through a view-finder of a frigging digital camera? Well, 3/4s of the tourists... OF ALL NATIONALITIES... did!!!... 

The Blue Mosque in the AM mist off the Sea of Marmara. It was only about 60 degrees Fahrenheit that day and we were in the middle of May!!! The mosque is truly blue on the inside and it has the most enormous chandelier I have ever seen. It's flat and sort of hovers low above the wall to wall carpeting. That was truly blue too. My Mother, however, would have been aghast at the light bulbs of the mega-chandelier... plain old 60 WATT bulbs. I would say there has to be 2,000 of them. I did not count them, however. There were so many truly blue tile patterns to observe. 

This is a photo of our suitably Turkish-style hotel room. Mr. You said the painting was just the right touch for the room's clever ambiance. I agreed though I rarely gave it a second thought after taking this photo. I was more taken by the telephone!!!

The other 4 photos were of... 

Photo #1... Mr. You brushing his teeth in his -jammies... I AM VEHEMENTLY PROHIBITED FROM POSTING ANY VIEW OF SAID PERSON IN ANY GUISE AT ANY TIME!!! 

Photos # 2 & #3... two falling-down Istanbul houses. On reviewing them, they struck me as more fallen-down than anything else. I DELETED them once home. 

And, Photo #4... a congregation of street cats underneath a derelict car taken during our interminable taxi-ride in from the airport. Our driver did not know where our hotel was.  It was practically underneath the Hagia-Sofia!!!

Mr. You & I believe everyone should go to Istanbul. It is a fascinating AND romantic city of 15,000,000 folk!!! It rates up there with Rome, Paris & London. The city has more history... bloody, violent AND stupid... than those three put together. Gads.

Our Vineyard...

Mr. You is A Vital Asset... on every one of his Inspection Tours of Il Poggiolo, he happens upon so many things I over-look... in my typical gardening fury. Here is one example... the other one on his latest tour was the dead bird... probably, massacred by a cat!!!... Mr You came across in what will be the Kitchen/Dining Room of La Casa Grande... anyway...

he found our vineyard!!!...

strategically dangling high over our mega-wall of the Cortile. Picking the grapes is going to be an interesting pursuit at Vendemia-Time. But, once done, we will have... at least... a beaker full of our own DOC!!! Cannot wait for that. Can you?

And A Side Note... our dear neighbor... she lives in the house right below our Cortile AND was born in Il Poggiolo...  said that her relations, who lived in Il Poggiolo during the Second World War, dismantled the arches and dug-out a space to hide food & provisions from the invading Nazis. However, they put their reserves behind only one of them. They wanted to fool the Nazis. And, it worked too!!! Gads.

Fiori...

A couple of shots of some of our fiori... or, flowers... in bloom here at Il Poggiolo...

We had a veritable boom of roses, peonies & other flowering plant life but, I was too out-of-it... thanks to Our Flooring Crisis... to have had the wherewithal to have photographed them. Next year. Gads. 

We May Have A Problem...

That thing nestled up on one of our beams of the Upstairs Apartment is... yes!!!... a bird's nest!!! And... yes!!!... there are tiny birds nestled in it!!! And, if you've noticed... yes!!!... we have begun to install our new windows!!! Those little creatures have just ten-days to grow and leave the nest or, we may have a problem!!! Gads.

They're Little Ol' Lady-ish, Mr. You...

This is Exhibit A of what Mr. You thinks is an appropriate Flowering Plant Life for the garden at Il Poggiolo.
 
What is that measly bouquet? Well... let us hark back to when you were in grade school... say, the Second Grade... and the Science Lesson was to come to class with a frigging flower & blue food-dye... procured at the local SAFEWAY... so your Second Grade teacher... I had a Mrs. Filbert, for cryin' out loud!!!... could preform a miracle!!! It needed a night's passing. Upon your anxious return to school, your frigging flower had turned... Oh! My God!!!... blue!!! However, the night before... while  your frigging flower was sucking up food-dye in a jam-jar full of water... you were too from a bowl of vanilla ice cream smothered in the same. It was so much fun making ugly faces at your sister with a blue tongue. Well, that dippy flower was a chrysanthemum and it ought to have staid back in a Second Grade classroom and not have matriculated into my garden. Dippy second-rate flowers. Mr. You, however, is in thrall. He says they grow & multiply... Like our weeds? I asked. There was no response. Gads. 

The Last Bit of Stucco Before...

Despite the down-pour of last week, the Work-guys worked away on slapping-up & sanding the last layer of stucco before we paint. Here are some shots, hot off the digital...
the Kitchen & Dining Area...

a niche opposite the Kitchen...

the Kitchen niche... an ex-fireplace...

the Living Area & short Hallway to Bedroom & Bath...

the Entrance Door, Living Area & short Hallway to Bedroom & Bath...

the Bedroom & Terrace beyond...

the Bathroom with the niche for the sink...

Pretty spiffy white, no? Yes, but it's going to be truly blue very shortly!!! Gads.

Railings...

I don't really know what to say. I guess I could relate that Mr. You insisted that these old railings I had bought from Our Esteemed Antiques Dealer clear on the other side of Italy from the Lunigiana... they're short too so, I believe, they came out of a cemetery... ought to be placed upside down!!!... and not as shown in the attached photos. Oh, Good Lord.  I almost fired Mr. You from any further intervention on Our Construction Project. I had to inform the Dear yet Recalcitrant Person that Everyone would make fun of us, if we did as he so wished because, as those same Everyone know, flowers grow up & NOT down!!!... for cryin' out loud. Mr. You insisted that doing it His Way would make the railings appear lighter. Lighter? I then had to invoke The Law of Gravity!!!.... dammit. What's shown is how I want them to be installed.... right-side up!!!... as God AND Any Laws intended it do be, thank you very much.
 

Oh! And, I can also say that we will have a wood hand-rail in place of those metal bars, acting in their stead in the photos.

And, there are eight pieces of railing, enough for the Terrace and... what hasn't been slaughtered for that spot... can fill in, artfully, please... one or two voids in the garden. Maybe where the chrysanthemums are, if I haven't zapped them into another Time/Space Continuum with the weed-whacker. Ha!!! Gads.

A Much Over-due Update...

I have an excuse for My Absence of the past month from the Blogosphere... 

Both Mr. You & Myself were held hostage to A Deadline dictated not ONLY by Our Builder BUT ALSO by Our Geometra regarding A Search & Find of an affordable & stylistically acceptable wood flooring for the Upstairs Apartment. We risked holding up The Works!!! Thankfully, said Deadline went whooshing by severals weeks ago. However, The Stress of Finding A Flooring  remained. Here are the gripping details...

In these Lunigiana parts, flooring is either castagno... or, chestnut... or larice...  pine. Yet, may I? Why live in pine-floor hut much like The Seven Dwarfs, irrespective of Snow White's cleaning expertise? 

Any wood for flooring needs to be stagionato... or, aged. Stagionato can run from oven-baked... NO!!! YOU DON'T WANT THAT!!!... to literally aged over years & years & years abandoning the wood to the whims of the elements of fresh-air, rain, wind, summer heat, winter cold & so on and so forth until the wood finally surrenders. YES!!! THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT BUT, IT COSTS!!! A square meter of castagno stagionato... think a yard for a meter... costs around $75. Larice stagionato costs around $45. You choose, if all you want is planking running underneath a rug. 

Mr. You & I arrived at aged rovere... or, oak... as a financial compromise. It costs less... mid-stream between the two price-poles of castagno & larice. Oak is standard stuff for flooring in the US. In Italy, it's not. Yet, we can have wide planks and not those thin, miserable strips of honey colored oak boards in those houses pulverized so easily by a tornado in Joplin MO. 

Off I went to every wood supplier known to man in these parts to find us an oak flooring.  No such luck!!! Three weeks of stressful failure as the Deadline loomed. Oh, there were tons of oak flooring, if a thin parquet flooring is what you are after. 3 millimeters of oak bonded to something resembling balsa-wood. NOPE. NOT FOR US!!!
Then, Mr. You & I fled to Istanbul for Mr. You's birthday. 

Upon our return, Our Builder was waiting for me. He needed to know about the flooring. We got in my little sports-car, dangerously leaking brake fluid... I thought that little lighted symbol meant the hand-brake was on the blink... in 95+ heat, with NO AIR-CONDITIONING and truck fumes galore on the autostrada to hit two suppliers for oak flooring in two disparate spots in Tuscany. Our tour took all day!!! I came home with a massive case of bronchitis AND two examples of oak... affordable & stylistically acceptable.
Then, Reality struck...
Example A... a lovely rough hewed boarding costing ONLY $40 bucks would cost me triple for the installation of screwing the planks down on a specialized sub-flooring... thanks to being oven-cooked. We suspected so much when the supplier refused to give me un Certificato di Stagionatura... or, a Certificate of Aging. Let's do the Math... $40 x 3 = $120 x 70 square meters = $8,400.
Example B... a naturally aged planking... from far-off Romania... a decidedly more spiffy product than Ex. A costing $55 bucks and naturally aged... five years of rain, wind & sun... meaning we can glue the planking down with very little preparation of the sub-flooring. The Math says... $55 x 70 = $3,850 + $1,400 (= $20 x 70 for gluing, etc.) = $5,250... a saving of $3,150!!!
And, you know what? Besides the obvious financial savings for us, no one will ever know the difference of whether the planking has been glued, nailed OR screwed. It doesn't matter. You never see the glue OR the nails OR the screws anyway!!!
So...
the walls will be Truly Blue...
the doors will be Burnt Toast...
and the flooring will be Natural Oak.
I think the apartment will be stunning.
We are now left with hoping all will be complete by June 30th... contractually speaking. Gads.