A New Blue?

Yes, we have A New Blue!!! However, before publishing it, the new color must pass The White Wall Test. So far, The New Blue looks great in all three rooms of La Casa Grande... and its new windows... with the grey stucco base. When Our Builder + Work-guys come to toss ever finer layers of stucco 'till they arrive at a white stucco, You & I will put the color to The Test. Then, and only then, if all goes well, you... My Valiant Fans... will have the THRILL!!! to see Our New Blue. Eeets vwerrry bwight!!! Gads.

More Construction Progress...

Mostly All Walled In...

Modern Openings...

OK... I must be honest here... I fell into an abject depression when I passed by to see the latest state of the facade of La Casa Grande this morning. I HATED the new windows openings. A Little Voice yelled inside my head... What have you done???

But then, I remembered the many trials of drawing up all the possible ways we could do up these three windows. The Key ones were...

A) having them each at different dimensions according to their existing ones would turn the facade into a circus... up & down & up & down, etc.

B) leaving the old window as is but, have the ex-niches turned into taller, wider windows made the old window look like a mislaid midget...

or...

C) make three windows at the same height, both at the top & bottom seemed the best aesthetic choice. Unity being an Element of Beauty or, so the Design Sages say.

Reality presented a different picture.

I called You immediately after I had posted this photograph to the blog. He's very enthusiastic!!! And, he added that when the new windows are actually installed, the facade will look wonderful. I do hope so. In the meantime, I feel so much better!!! May I say? God Bless, You!!! Gads.

The Work...

Our Lone Color...

Our Blue. Stuck in the corner. You put it there to see what effect it would have. Hmmm?    

I have now had to order liter cans of two competitor colors. One You calls Verde Smeraldo... or, Emerald Green... which, is not even remotely a candidate on Blogspot's meager color selections. The other is another blue,  a richer, slightly darker blue than Our Blue. I asked him if he liked Our Blue. Here is Our Short Scene...

Ti piace il nostro blu?... You do like Our Blue, don't you?

No, no! Mi piace molto ma... No, no! I like it, it's just... 

Ma cosa?... What? 

Vorrei vedere altri colori come il Verde Smeraldo... I would like to see other colors, like an Emerald Green, and another type of blue... 

Va bene... Fine.

As commanded.

If I may, I like Our Blue. It makes me feel happy. So, can't I feel happy? Gads. 

New Openings...

Nearer to having three windows in Our Future Salotto. Got to WARN you though...

they are not going to be as beeeg as the openings are now. Gads.

Construction Medley...

Upon Our Arrival at il Poggiolo, this is what we found...

a niche becomes a window opening though it will be smaller in the end...

Our Future Sala da Pranzo...

Our Future Salotto...

Ditto...

Our Future Cucina.

Can't for the LIfe of me figure out what My Spy was seeing to say the walls were already stuccoed white. Color blindness? Gads.

Cucina Redux...

I know. These flat designs are so confusing to understand. 

So, what's the deal with this Kitchen Plan? 

Well, You & I agreed to go back to the Rustic Kitchen Idea used in La Casetta's Kitchen of half-walls to set the Carrara marble counters on and the appliances shoved underneath. Well, not the refrigerator. It will be too tall to fit underneath. I'm too old to bend over all the time pulling stuff out of an under-counter frig. 

OK... to orientate you two-dimensionally... the Entrance Door is at the bottom right of the drawing. At the top right is the archway leading to the Sala da Pranzo... or, Dining Room. In between those two poles, so to speak, is the door leading to the Stanza dei Tini... or, The Wine Barrel Room. How prosaic... AND to the all important Bathroom, A Logistical Element conceded by You. How nice.

Across the top, from left to right, is a space for the refrigerator on the far left, then, a two-holer counter. In one hole, the left one, goes the oven. The other will be a door-ed storage cabinet. On top of the counter...  smack in the middle 'cause there ain't much space... will be a stainless steel cook-top box with four burners.

Another counter, a one + 1/4 holer, is in the bottom left corner of the drawing. The one hole will get a dishwasher. Cannot, for the Life of me, figure out what will go in the 1/4 of a hole. It's ONLY big enough to store a bottle of FINISH DW Detergent. Oh, well...

And, finally, the stone sink goes in the window niche between the left hand corner counter and the Entrance Door at the bottom right. 

STOP.

I am now fervently praying to The Gods of Space Planning... yes, it needs more than a mono-God... that a small wooden kitchen table will fit... somehow, someway... in the open space from the sink to the three-holer counter. Gads.

Outright Spying...

The Web-cam Idea was chucked but, that has not stopped me from actually sending in My Spies to... keep... me... informed!!! 

A Codiponte Friend & Daughter accepted The Mission and skipped over the Medieval bridge of Our Fair Village this afternoon... beautiful sunny skies and a balmy 6C... to il Poggiolo to see What's What. And, What's What was a lot... way more than I had imagined possible...

the two niches in Our Future Salotto have been punched out for windows...

the two windows & their stone cornices in Our Future Kitchen have been dealt with...

the entire three rooms have been stuccoed, but, not just that gruel-looking stucco. No. Stuccoed all the way through bunches of layers to the last of a white-fine stucco. Hey! WE CAN PAINT NOW!!!

and the sub-flooring, the base for Our Terra-cotta Flooring, was being laid right at the moment of Spying. 

My Codiponte Friend & Daughter did not even have to resort to devious means of Information Gathering. The Work-guys happily took them on a tour of La Casa Grande to show off their efforts over the past two weeks from when I fled from the Extreme Cold.

Naturally, A Complete Photo Documentation will be posted, just as soon as I can get down to Codiponte to see The What's What with My Own Eyes. Stay tune for Friday's post. As Dr. You would say... szo beeeg emowshions!!! Gads.  

Remote Surveillance...

Sitting here wondering what to write, missing My Houses & yearning for Progress with Phase IVB,  the thought occurred to me...
since I am obligated to divide My Time between Genoa & Codiponte, I ought to have a web-cam installed to keep abreast of what IS OR IS NOT going on down at La Casa Grande!!!
Do you think it's expensive?

I have a friend who owns a bistro in NYC. When she, her husband & little boy go out of town for a long weekend to nifty places like Paris, St. Barts, Marrakech!!! for cryin' out loud, she plugs in her laptop, connects to wi-fi and VOILA!!! With web-cams in every corner of her establishment, she can check on the pot banging activity in the kitchen, switch to the over-populated & lively dining rooms, the likewise jam-packed entrance foyer, all over the place. Then, if something Good OR BAD meets her eyes, I suppose, she just puts the laptop on SKYPE speaker-phone & makes her views known to The Staff at the other end of the cameras. I WOULD LIKE TO DO THE SAME AT IL POGGIOLO!!!
Thinking further, however, I decided not to pursue it. I am more an on-site type-of-guy. A Life of web-cams would erase The Shock & Awe of seeing LIVE the fantasies of the Work-guys when I am NOT Present & Accounted For. As you all might remember, seeing the electrical outlets put at the height of You's collar-bone might not have translated visually on a SKYPE video-intervention.
A couple of more days here in Genoa and then, on Thursday, I'm there, on site, to see with My Own Eyes what's what. No real sense to reduce this Re-construction Experience to that of reading on a damn Kimble!!! Gads.

BR-BR-BR-BR-BLOCKED!!!

My numerological chart for February 2012 said, it's always good to have a Game Plan, however, the  one for February will be summarily thrown out on the first day of the month. And, so it has. THE EXTREME COLD ARRIVED!!! This ghastly Siberian meteorological phenomenon has slowed down to shutting down the critical work on Phase IVB... i.e. stuccoing the walls. The several necessary layers of wet stucco will just freeze & fall off, if the temps are anywhere near 32F. 

But drat... I'm blocked too by THE EXTREME COLD!!! Have I mentioned that The local pharmacist & wife are moving into La Casetta? All traces of My Stuff must be vamoose by February 29th. Before that can happen, the Laundry Room... where much of My Practical Stuff from La Casetta will be warehoused... must be painted with a water-repellent enamel but, it can't. IT'S TOO DAMN COLD!!! Yep. No Heat in there yet.
The working fireplace up in the Apt. Azzurro will need, at least, three 24 hour days of a constant fire to get the walls of that space conditioned to Heat. But, that can't happen. IT'S TOO DAMN COLD!!! I can deal with the chill. My Two Weimaraners cannot. So, none of My Non-practical Stuff, which must find its Permanent Home in the Apt. Azzurro... My Actual Bedroom!!!... can be moved out of La Casetta either.

Are you able to follow all this?

And, if All My Stuff, regardless of type, cannot be moved out of La Casetta, then, the Work-guys cannot come to preform some minor repairs, etc., nor can Our Cleaning Lady come & give the place a thorough scrubbing. She'd gladly come tomorrow. IT'S TOASTY WARM IN LA CASETTA!!! But, it's full of My Stuff. Gads.  

Why I Am NOT in Codiponte...

If any of your were wondering why I have not been posting n'er a word about Our Phase IVB construction down in freezing cold & windy Codiponte... well... it's because...

You & I have adopted a female Weimaraner from a canile... or, kennel for abandoned or homeless or needing-a-home dogs in Milan.
Her name is Nina. Her pedigree name... and get this... is Illonina di Salabo'!!! She's had A Tragic History...

Nina's First Owner bought her, probably because, in Italy, it's very chic to say that you have a Weimaraner. Fine. I think so too, however, I can educate AND care AND love a dog. THIS WOMAN COULD NOT!!! Nina was abandoned to her own ca-ca in a heatless wood shack full of trash, junk AND rats... she has scars from those... and rarely fed and when she was, it was crap.
Not related how but, Nina was saved by her Second Owner, who knew about Weimaraners from when she had lived in the US of A. Sadly, this owner realized that raising a teenage daughter & getting a new business up & going... in these Trying & Taxed Times here in Italy... AND caring for Nina was... well, it was all too much. Nina needed a new home.
The Second Owner found the kennel in Milan on the Internet. The director of the kennel felt it better to put out The Call for a pure-breed dog needing adoption rather than insisting she be put in the kennel to find a New Owner. One person who heard The Call was my sister-in-law in Milan, who sent me a photo of Nina last Sunday night. Naturally, one look and all was decided.
I drove with a friend... the same friend, who had accompanied You & Me to the heart of Tuscany to retrieve The Dog, Moses, lo' those ten years ago. Oddly, Moses was a 50th birthday gift from You. Nina is a gift for my 60th, this year!!!... to a town near Vicenza to meet Nina, her Second Owner & daughter, have A Good Lunch, conclude the adoption formalities & hit the road back to Genoa.
My Time is now dedicated to A Full-immersion Training Course for Nina....
Lesson #1... she needs to respond to her name... ALWAYS AND IMMEDIATELY!!!
Lesson #2... she needs to know what a leash is... & SHE WILL BE ATTACHED TO IT UNTIL SHE LEARNS LESSON #1...
Lesson #3... she's needs to learn to sleep in her own two velour covered beds... one up & one down... and not in anyone else's bed or sofa or chair...
Lesson #4... she needs to accept that Breakfast is at 8:00AM, Dinner at 4:30PM and there are no in between meals. Treats are, however, liberally given out...
and Lesson #5... she needs to understand & control herself until we go out for A W-a-l-k to do her Pee & Poop Thing. She can count on 4 outings... 9:00AM... 'cause it's too darn freezing before then... at Noon, at 4:00PM and finally at 9:00 at night.
So far, Nina is clicking into Our Regime.
Now, must get back to revising the New Kitchen Plans. Gads.

The Temps...

-02C... -08C... -04C... 00C... -07C... +01... -03C... +03C... +02C... Yes, just a few of the local Highs & Lows here in Codiponte of Our Big Chill 2012. 

The Work-guys have barricaded all the windows in La Casa Grande with wood, styrofoam, plastic, & loose bricks to keep the gales from making the inside way colder than outside. Tough climate to work in. 

I am in Genoa. Ditto for the temps here too. If it were snowing, I'd be down in Codiponte. Nothing better than to curl up on the most uncomfortable Black Chesterfield Sofa in the World, reading a book in front of a fire with The Dog snoring alongside me, while outdoors, it's snowing. However, it is gloriously sunny!!! And freezing cold. Can't enjoy myself with guilt not to be out in the open air... Siberian too... or to suffer actually staying out in that air for more than a few minutes. The winds beats me to a pulp, for starters. The Dog adores it... darn him!!!

In the meantime, New Kitchen Plans are a'brewing. Gads.

BRRRRRReautiful!!!

February 6, 2012...

Last night's temp in Codiponte... and everyone made sure I knew this!!!... was a bone chilling -8C... or, 17 degrees Fahrenheit. Mother Earth is frozen. This is a boon when out with the D-o-g. Where he goes I can too without sinking into A Muddy Mother.
Today's High was 2C. OK. Fine. A few measly degrees above freezing for those who live in Montana, Saskatchewan or Belorussia but, with those Siberian Gales gusting, it was about -4... or, a balmy 25F. Naturally, The Dog points into them, ears flapping happily. Yet, he's always glad to hop into the warmth inside You's AUDI.

I only popped down to Codiponte today... Monday... to make a payment to The Builder, tour il Poggiolo Complex with Our Geometra, check on the Work-guys and flee back to gelida Genoa.

The sky was a brrrrreautiful blue, nearly Our Blue for Phase IVB. Not so blue, however, inside La Casa Grande. Too darn cold to throw fresh stucco on the walls. The gritty grey stuff would only freeze, and then, fall off. So, the Work-guys were installing little plastic teal scattole... or, boxes... which will hold the outlets & switches. I SLAVED for three days to get out the Electrical Plans, specifying the outlets at 20 cm AFF... or, Above the Finished Floor. In our case, it would be Our Terra-cotta. Somehow, in their Work-guy Minds, that had to be 45cm AFF!!! When I inquired as to why the extraordinary height, they said it was because of the baseboard...
Baseboard? What baseboard? 
The one that goes on top of the flooring! 
Who mentioned a baseboard? I didn't. 
We just thought...
The plan says 20 cm AFF. They are at 45!!!
We just thought that because everyone puts in a baseboard...
Gentlemen... we don't!!! Did we do one in La Casetta? 
No.
Then, please, -guys, let's get those little boxes down nearer TO THE GROUND!!!
OK...
Thank you.
Catastrophe averted!!! All it would take would be for You to open his mouth about plugging in a lamp at his belly-button height during An Inspection Tour... TO RUIN MY DAY!!!
Otherwise, work progresses, much like the slowly melting ice-cycles hanging from il Poggiolo's gutters. Gads.

The Consequences Of The Cold....

It's snowing on those Apaune.

It's very, very cold here. The High yesterday AND today was below freezing. Add the Wind-chill and the temp figures go way below freezing. I won't even discuss the Lows!!! They really hurt. And, it's supposed to get worse before getting better after this weekend. Yeah, for only a day. New snow is due for Tuesday - Wednesday. The weather-man on the website for the Apaune mountains wrote that the situation of this Gran Bell Gelo... or, Great Big Freeze... is so critical & variable, he hardly knows what to write to advise us on the situation. Then, there are the blizzards of snow in Rome, Siena, Venice, Milan to talk about. I won't.

Meanwhile, at La Casa Grande...

too cold to finish the stucco... 

too difficult to attach the steel webbing on top of the frozen stucco...

and so on and so forth...

to the point that it got just too damn cold to work. So, the Work-guys went home!!! However, it does not save me from arriving on Monday with checks to pay for all this work-stoppage. Gads.

The Sky Above Il Poggiolo...

February 2, 2012... SNOW!!!

What Fun? The Electrical Plans...

The famous Electrical Plans. They use a large scale... 5 cm = 1 m... so it will be VERY CLEAR to the Work-guys AND electricians as to what's what. The plans barely made sense to me... their Creator... when I drew them up with 2 cm = 1 m. Better big. OK...

The Salotto... at the bottom of the plan is the highest part of the ceilings, nearly 30 feet in height. That wall and its companions to its sides will be washed with lights on a dimmer. The Italians have yet to produce an effective dimmer. This is due to the fact that the Italian race likes BRIGHT LIGHT... at all times. Just walk into a restaurant and it's akin to a hospital operating room. Ugh. The other key feature of this plan is The Location of the fireplace, on the bottom left. The vague boxes floating in the middle of the room are the two sofa/beds we want to have land here, miraculously arranged towards The Location of the Heat.

The Sala da Pranzo... ditto for the walls at the bottom of the plan and their illumination. We're going to dry dimmers here too. Wish us luck!!! A chandelier will hang from one of the wood beams of the exposed ceiling in the middle of the room. Please note... the fireplace is where it is because... A) I DO NOT LIKE THINGS IN CORNERS. There is something cheesy about doing that... and B) it is the only Location for the chimney to sprout out of the roof without conflict with a nearby stone wall or cornice of il Poggiolo. 

And, the Kitchen... lots of little box-lights to shine down upon the two small banks of cabinets... the longest at the top of the plan and a much shorter one on the left & next to the mini-door to the Loggia. I plan to put a nice thin table in the middle as a work surface. Oh! The ceilings are radically low. Less than seven feet high. Fine for You, who barely cracks five feet, but dangerous to the American Standard for height these days. Lurch, The Butler, is now a midget!!! Gads.

The First Layer...

The first snow-fall outside and a first layer of stucco on the inside. Here are some shots...

Our Future Sala da Pranzo. I cannot photograph the wind but, it was racing through the newly enlarged window... out of view to the left... out the archway, past the Future Kitchen... also out of view to the right next door ... and over the pontoon-like bridge in the Cortile. I stood back to stand out of the gale's way and to make this lovely picture.

I am very happy that I saw Reason and chucked any thought of painting an Industrial Grey on the walls. You & I continue to be charmed by Our Choice of A Vivid Blue... 

that niche & nichette below will be The Location for the fireplace here in Our Future Salotto. Spent all day yesterday working with where to put the darn thing AND the furniture arranged towards it, while also drawing up the electrical plans for Phase IVB. What I do to make You happy!!! He won't be so happy with The Location of the fireplace in the Sala da Pranzo. Let it be A Surprise!!! 

another shot of Our Future Salotto, its Entrance Door and the two nichettes... naturally, ideal locations for what? Busts of various Caesars, of course!!!

And, finally, a close-up view of what a first layer of Italian stucco looks like. Gruel. Gads. 

Oh! Forgot This One...

A wintery entrance to the Apt. Azzurro!!! The poor plants. Gads.

Il Poggiolo In The Snow...

OK... and now for a tour around Il Poggiolo. Very snowy looking, as you will see...

a view from the trash bins. The Dog was decorating the white stuff with his outrageously yellow...

a chilly Apt. Azzurro & La Casa Grande below it...

from above the Cortile...

another shot of La Casa Grande & Apt. Azzurro...

the bridge with 6 inches of white stuff...

and, another shot of more snow on the bridge beside l'Esseccatoio. Hope the Work-guy's wheel-borrows have snow-tires!!! Gads.

The Day The Snow Fell...

Snow, wind AND cold the morning after the snow fell. A few shots around town...

La Concia, the stucco facade especially rose-tinted from the reflection off the white snow...

the village of Codiponte. Il Poggiolo is lost amongst all those snow-covered roofs...

the Apuane mountains with a fresh glazing of snow & ice.

The Captain Weather-man with Rai-Tv is predicting the coldest temperatures on record for Italy this weekend. The High on Saturday won't reach 0 Centigrade. I will flee to frigid Genoa after the meeting with Our Geometra, Builder and the electrician tomorrow at 11:00AM. Snowed-out this morning. And, I went to all the trouble to sweep away the snow & ice for it. Gads.