A Well Deserved Break...

I cleaned the apartments. I shut up the shutters. I said my good-byes. I packed The Dog into the AUDI and we made tracks back to Genoa. On Tuesday, I will climb aboard Lufthansa for Thanksgiving in North Carolina. Codiponte, il Poggiolo, Our Geometra, the builder, the electricians & others will be temporarily replaced with becoming a couch-potato on Turkey-day... and, Thank God, that it lasts only a day... going out to dinner & movie with My Mom... I got all excited about Meryl Streep's new flick, The Iron Lady, only to discover that I will have to wait until 2012 to see it!!! Maybe later since I'm in Italy... and, basically, kicking around to forget the dreadful events of Phase III. I need healing. I need to re-charge my batteries. I need something else to do!!!... please. Gads.

Progress Measured In...

...milimeters...
The builder cameth, he worketh and then, he lefteth for another day.

Ditto for the electricians only THEY arrived four days late. This artful installation of grey plastic tubes signifies that l'Appartamento Azzurro... and, again, I am so hoping one of you will provide a brand NEW! NEW!! NEW!!! name... is connected to the central electical box... here shown. My bills will surely manifest this connection. Gads.

Trash...

This photographic view of an out-of-sight corner of Codiponte confirms an awful AND universal Truth...

White Trash is global!!! Why do spots like this seem to always involve a chicken-coop? Gads.

Unwanted Marmalade...

Lovely Fall colors, no? It's Kaki Pickin' Time. Persimmons to us English-speaking Folk. 

And, if I don't start harvesting what looks more to be Christmas Tree ornaments than fruit... they have a dreadful soapy taste too... I'll have marmalade on my wonderful grassy terrace!!! Yes... God, in His Infinite Wisdom, designed said fruit to be pre-mushy before falling to the ground... SPLAT!!!... well ripe enough for spreading. Euw, ick!!! Gads.

The Marble Marks the Spot...

Ecco!... the Marble Spot. Glued down for all Eternity. Gads.

He Cometh...

... and he goeth! Would wentith be a better word to use?...

The builder arrived on this frosty Saturday morning, glued down the marble for the floor of the fireplace, took a gander at my drawing of what I want for the nth time... AND, I can tell you, it will not look like this...

...gave me a cheery Ciao! and left. progress with a small p. Gads.

Something To Remember...

Alarming picture, no? 

So far, I have had five meetings... the longest was yesterday's. It lasted for all of about 3 minutes... with the builder about building the fireplace in l'Appartamento Azzurro...

HATE this name!!! The title of Upstairs Apartment, though lacking atmosphere & fantasy, perfectly distinguishes the 60 square meters from the rest of il Poggiolo. Perhaps, I should conduct a contest? I second the motion. So, I ask my readers to suggest a new AND acceptable name for the apartment. Go to it, please. Thanks.

Supposedly, the builder's Game Plan is tomorrow... Saturday... to glue the marble base & put a hole through the sub-flooring to feed the pre-fabricated fireplace with O2, followed on Monday to begin the actual construction of the brick structure to hold the pre-fab fireplace in place. Hopefully, the immediate days after, the marble facings, top & the flue will be built. Might I dare hope to knock this item off the To-do List before I leave for the US for Turkey Day? Let's cross our fingers together.

Meanwhile, as I write this posting, I am waiting for the electricians to arrive... they are two and a half hours late!!!... AND FINISH the darn electrical plant. Personally, I am praying that someone, somewhere, somehow has already invented... to absolute PERFECTION... an electrical system REQUIRING NO WIRES so... when I flick a switch... the chosen electrical instrument... like, maybe, A LAMP!!!... will light up. I dream to knock-off the electricians off the same List. Hope is my middle name, if not now my last!!!

So, thankfully, I came upon this photo of il Poggiolo taken in 2009. Muddy mess. I am heartened that we have made Progress and have moved on since then. But, we ain't there yet!!! Gads. 

The Continuing Fireplace Story...

I am heading back to Codiponte this coming Thursday. So much for my very brief Genoese hiatus. I have to meet with the builder... still demoted... again, about building the fireplace in l'Appartamento Azzurro. How many times must I re-explain the gist of the thing? All the job calls for is a brick box built around the pre-fabricated fireplace, face it & top it off with Carrara marble... recycled from the old stairs from La Casetta... and run a flue tube up & through the roof. God built the Universe in less time AND... he got a full day of rest too!!! All I am getting is high blood pressure. Gads.

Rain Water....

It's November 5th. It's also raining. There's A Red Alert out for flash flooding. 

Last week, the Big City for us in Codiponte, Aulla, got hit with a river tsunami!!! No earthquake, just a lot of rain... 6 and a half feet of water poured down in an afternoon!!! Yes, I know. How could that be? ... overwhelming the Magra River, which passes by on its way to the Mediterranean Sea. A couple of towns of the Cinque Terre also got washed away, as did many towns along the Vara River at the very edge of the Lunigiana. Again, too much rain water in a very short time. People & businesses were devastated. You can clean & dis-infect all you want. Rebuilding lives is another story... sadly. 

Yesterday, parts of Genoa got washed away and right about the time I was tootling into town with The Dog from Codiponte. Thought I best get back to town before the worst were to hit in the afternoon or, so said the radio news-guys. I popped out of a tunnel at Nervi... the southern coastal confine of the city... into a massive wall of rain. So much for that. I could only do about 15 mph. Managed to safely arrive at a drenched toll-booth. The city was KO-ed!!! No electricity... no traffic lights... traffic in TILT... no cellphone service... no land-line service either... and other annoyances. Ran my obligatory errand  of visiting my bank. Blessedly, money isn't always electronic!!!... before heading home. No one could drive their damn cars. Took ages & ages for me to get to the dry land of our garage. Once in the house, I turned on the TV to see that parts of the city were under meters high rushing water. 7 dead too!!! The authorities have forbidden cars in the central part of the city today & tomorrow... Saturday & Sunday... in anticipation of more flash floods. Eerie scene outside. NO CARS!!! 

So much for My Grand Return to Home Base after a long AND arduous summer at il Poggiolo. But there are still threads to stitch before I can take a break from my Tuscan farm house...

the electrician is scheduled to finish his work on l'Appartamento Azzurro next week. Ditto for the builder and that darn fireplace. And damn, if my new washing machine isn't on the blink.... dammit it all to Hell!!! I have already done six loads of laundry in Genoa thanks to it. The repair guy is digging himself out of the mud & debris down in Aulla.
I would be so pleased if all were finished & repaired before I get on Lufthansa for Thanksgiving in North Carolina on the 22nd. God! Are you listening? Do something nice, please!!! Gads.

Post-Big Builder Blow-out Apology...

I am at fault... partially... calling to the fore The Law of... It took two to tango... 

had I kept my Big Mouth shut on that fine September morning of the 23rd, and instead, opted to wait to sit down with Our Geometra... now graced with A BRAND NEW!!! title of Director of Construction... and the builder to discuss his expenditures versus his tardiness for the Upstairs Apartment... it too given A BRAND NEW!!! title of l'Appartamento Azzurro... I might have saved myself AND others all lot of grief. I am sorry... to any of you reading this blog. Forgive me?

Not that I am one with the Universe, I do feel better of late. Eee-event-tuallyyy... the fireplace will be built & made operational. Ditto for the electrical plant. I won't even ask the Construction Gods to have them done by Christmas. I've got more important things to do in the meantime. Have any of you been to either of my two new blogs?...

www.ilpoggioloacodiponte.com 

www.ilpoggiolo-guide.com. 

Any of you considering an Italian vacation for 2012? Il Poggiolo will be ready for ya'!!! Gads.