A ton of fun

Today my parents and I went down to the retirement home in Cappuccini to do some activities. The activities were treasure hunt, tug-o-war, Foosball, a modified version of horseshoes, cheese rolling (roll of wood instead of cheese), they used blowguns to knock over plastic bottles and a lottery for winning plants.

Daddy and I with some other people played tug-o-war

As we were walking to where most of the activities we saw a couple of groups of kids on a treasure hunt.

 We were just standing around when these people got tubes and projectiles and started shooting the projectiles at some bottles on a couple of poles by blowing (Note from Alexandra: basically a pea shooter). Mummy went over to where there was a plant stand and she won.

James

P.S. From Alexandra:

The reason we called this post "A Ton of Fun" was because the way they handled the tug o' war was that you could have any number of people you wanted to have on your team. The only catch was that your team had to have a mass of less than 450 kilos! This was adjudicated by means of a livestock scale. It was quite hilarious to see the teams cramming into what amounted to a metal sheep pen and being weighed. And then the jockeying began: "You're too heavy, let's substitute..." and so on!

The Foosball James talked about was human Foosball. There were rows of what amounted to short telephone poles that had areas marked on them with foam mats; the players had to stay fixed at the center of their mat and kick the ball whenever it came in their direction. There were a number of other similarly hilarious games.

End of an Era

Yesterday marked the end of an important time in our lives: we finished selling our house in Atlanta.

After 25 years of ownership, of course it is bittersweet. This is where our babies grew up, where we home-schooled our children, where we poured our sweat equity to make it work for our family.

But we had been gone for six years and it no longer felt like home.  From a practical standpoint, it's a house for a large family with small-to-medium children, and we are quickly becoming a small family with grown children.  Only two strapping young men still at home full time!

The process, while relatively short, had its stressful moments. The week the house was due to go on the market, lightning destroyed an oak in the front yard, crushing parts of the brand-new roof and ruining the front garden.

The parts still standing

We are very happy, because the new owners have one child and another on the way, and absolutely fell in love with the space!  We think they saw the love we put into building a house for a family, because they kept going through a few setbacks in the process.

Perhaps nothing epitomizes our memories of the house as much as this picture: Eleanor climbing through her clubhouse mid-construction.  There was always construction, and the children were always in the middle of it!

Love,

Alexandra and Michael

Mosaics in Umbria

This afternoon, Ashley and I went for a special visit to Carsulae, our local Roman city. This tour was sponsored by Matavitatau, a local group that focuses on the Roman period in the region, and included a few words from a local history buff to help us understand the town's importance during its time. We also had the chance to examine the current archaeological excavations, interpreted by the foreman of the dig.

Carsulae is a lovely place to visit. It's a ruined town with many foundations easily visible and interpretable without additional explanation. It was a stopping point for travelers on the Via Flaminia from Rimini to Rome during a time when the concept of "town" or "city" was not easily understood. Most people lived on farmsteads or in small clusters like Carsulae. The site itself is very scenic, with views of San Gemini easily visible, and the fortress of Narni visible with help in the distance. The local rolling hills/mountains and blue skies complete the overall look of the place.

One of the mysteries has always been where the residential zones were located. The stadium/amphitheatre and theatre are easily visible, as are the temples and the forum. The municipal building is also fairly confidently placed at a particular site. Grave sites and monuments are easily seen just outside the town's gates. But houses? Nope, no clue. Until recently.

San Gemini in the distance

The remains of a triple arch at the edge of town.
Originally, it would have been encased in marble with
columns and statues.

One of the tombs

The entry to the forum

 A few summers ago, the local archaeologists unexpectedly hit mosaic flooring. Previously unseen at the site, they were at first thought to belong to several different residential structures. Upon further excavation, though, it was determined that all the flooring is conjoined in one enormous residence. The domus is built using classical Roman architectural tenets, and has an impluvium, garden area, dining room, and more. They are continuing to uncover wonderful mosaics, but are somewhat stymied by the fact that some farmer in the 1800s plunked a grain mill directly on top of some of the mosaics. Since these could also arguably have some historical value, they are unclear about what they should/can remove in order to expose what might be ruined Roman flooring (thanks to our farmer) underneath. Decisions, decisions!

The domus. The oblique rectangle at top-right was a 19th-century
paving job directly over Roman mosaics used for grain processing.

This was the dining room. At the left, you can see a sideways
view of an "idealized cityscape"

This was the impluvium, where rainwater fell through the central
courtyard into a pool for household use. The hole was drainage
into underground storage.

Closeup of the impluvium mosaic work

Rich homeowners leased out storefronts; this
would have been something like that.
Note the brick herringbone paving (very common and cheap)

Closeup of the herringbone

This is the 19th-century paving. Our local archaeologist is not a fan.

A different view of the dining room's mosaics

Closeup of the idealized city

Getting ready to demo the drone (used to give indications of
likely spots for excavation)

This church dates to the 11th century.
It was built using locally scavenged materials.

The little white dot against the far hills is Narni's fortress (to the left of center)

This Roman structure (purpose unknown) was used as a
farmhouse (including housing animals) until the 1950s.

The stones are placed on the diagonal for anti-seismic purposes.

Drone in flight!

Part of the Via Flaminia, with the judicial building and entrance
to the Forum on the left

We also finally sort-of saw the thermal baths. These are located just on the outskirts of town, and are protected by a large roof and tarps when not under active excavation; the excavation is being carried out by a university in the US (I'm sorry, but don't remember which one), and is largely done during the summer. Hence its closure for the season.

The thermal baths

At the season's end, the mosaics will have to be covered with a fairly thick layer of earth to protect them from the freeze/thaw cycle. Even one year's cycle can irrevocably damage these fragile tiles. It was unclear whether they would re-expose them next year for visitors' enjoyment or not.

After a quick visit to the displayed artifacts, our brains were full, and it was time to head home.

Dunno where this cow came from precisely, but I liked it.

This fellow was about 7" high and would have been a ceiling decoration, probably

I thought the porcelain ware in the center was exquisite.

Some of the colors that would have been used.

Love,

Alexandra

Isola di Giglio - Water

Sorry, I don't have any beach or underwater pictures for you.  You will have to look at the tourist brochures instead.

On Saturday afternoon we swam and sunned on the sandy beach at Campese.  It was pretty, but without a whole lot to look at in the water itself.  It was wonderful for families with small children, because between the sand and the calm Mediterranean seas it wasn't too challenging.

While we were returning from Capel Rosso early Sunday afternoon, I spotted people playing on a tongue of rock towards the other end of town, and resolved to check that out later.  It turned out to be about the same distance from our rental house, just in the other direction.

And the water was gorgeous.  Absolutely clear.  In 25 feet of water you could see the features and fish clear to the bottom.  It was very much like swimming in an aquarium.  Being from the east coast of the United States, I've never experienced anything like that before.

I saw thousands of fish just hanging out in the water column, like leaves fluttering to the ground in the autumn.  Other fish quietly poking around in the rocks for food.  Sea urchins!  And of course scuba divers.

The whole time on the island, in the water and out, was unhurried relaxation.

Just watching the sunset before dinner

Isola di Giglio - Sunday's Hike

We had such a nice hike on Saturday that we decided to make another one on Sunday, this time to the far end of the island.  For an extra treat, Ashley came with us on this one.

We got an even earlier start, going up the trail to Castello as before.

North end of island

Ashley in Castello, for scale on a door.

After our breakfast in Castello, we finalized plans for our trek to the end of the island (Capel Rosso).  We didn't want to be gone for too long, and weren't sure how we would hold up if we had to climb back to the summit on our way back, so we wanted to arrange a taxi to meet us at Capel Rosso, or at least as close as the roads got to Capel Rosso.

There are six taxis on the island.  We had seen them.  Identical white vans with the name and number of the proprietor on the side.  Nuncio's [name changed to protect the innocent] was parked at Castello, so Alexandra started looking for him...and sparked a classic Italian debate among the 8 people in and around the cafe where she inquired.

I can't do the debate and argument justice in writing, but the consensus was:

• Nuncio was still in bed, and he wasn't reliable anyway.
• We should call Antonio instead.
• It would take 90 minutes, or maybe two hours, to get to Capel Rosso.
• It would take 30-45 minutes to walk back out to where the taxi could meet us.
• We absolutely needed to call for the taxi now, because there was no cell phone service anywhere near Capel Rosso.

Alexandra made the taxi arrangements, I refilled the water bottles and bought some grapes for sustenance, and we were off.

Ashley in the lead on the trail

Along the way we passed many locations that clearly had been cultivated in the past but were now abandoned.  There were walls, terracing, olives, remains of vineyards, and little stone huts.

We had a delightful edible journey.  Alexandra found the wild mint growing right in the trail--something about the fragrance released by our tramping.  Then there were blackberries, wild and cultivated figs, wild grapes, and wild plums (sour and mostly pit, but still a treat).

Eventually, towards the far south of the island, we started running into plots under active cultivation.  Even here, though, one had to bear in mind that they were not on improved roads.  In many cases, produce would have had to have been carried out on ones back, on a donkey, or, these days, on a tiny three-wheeled truck.

Final push to the south end of the island

They built a stone path for the last bit to save wear on the delicate plants

Me at the lead of a tired threesome

The southern tip

One of the delightful things about the hiking was the varied flora.  Every twist of the trail seemed to introduce a different micro-climate with its own look and feel.  We walked through quiet pine forests, low scrub, grassy areas, and rocky gullies with the odd tree supported by a hidden trickle of water.  Here at Capel Rosso, we found succulents and other drought- and salt- tolerant plants hanging on amid the rocks.

You will be happy to know that Antonio met us right on time.  He also gave us some great history of the island on the beautiful drive back to Campese.

Well worth the effort.