Farewell to Flowers!

As soon as Jim, Sharon, and Michael's nieces Ashlee and Kaitlyn arrived, we whisked them off to Castelluccio. We were terrified that they would otherwise miss the flowers. As it happened, we could have delayed a bit to allow them to get over their jet lag, but the car was rented and arrangements made.

Off we went! This week, the blue flowers were most in evidence, although there were still some yellows to be seen, and plenty of red.

A few photos for you to see the changes (courtesy of Jim, thank you!). Delicious lunch, and home via Cerreto.

Love,

Alexandra

A birthday update

Friday morning, Mummy and I got up with the sun (not really. Can you imagine?) and got last-minute preparations ready. Making the frosting for the cake, getting fresh meat, cheese and bread, and so on.
Then after lunch, I went down to the pool to meet up with my swim team, or those who could come. When I got there, Matteo (not Lucaroni), Federico (Matteo's brother), Virginia, and Gianmarco were already there and in the pool. Then Alessandro Marcucci turned up, along with Veronica and Marco. Then a little bit later, Giorgio and Lorenzo Giudici got there. We hung out with much splashing and pushing in and duckings. Lots of fun. And lots of junk food. It was great! At the end of the afternoon Axel and Nicola arrived (they came straight from work). It was so nice! They gave me a smartphone! I couldn't believe it. I still can't...I'm still working on the setup.
At seven, I went over to the archery range and shot for a bit and then Mr. and Mrs. Lucaroni came down. Shortly afterwards, Matteo and Alessio showed up and a while after that, Riccardo (their uncle), his wife (Gigliola) and their daughter Matilde. They were so sweet. We ate prosciutto, torta al testo, dried sausages and cheese. Then Matilde (a sweet little five year old) came up with a present. It was the most gorgeous pendant hand made by a local jeweller. And I had the most perfect chain to go with it. I'll put a picture up. And then, just before everyone left, Matteo sharpened my arrow points for me.
On Saturday, Mummy took me to Marsciano to hang out with Kaoutar, my best friend from school. We hung out and watched movies and talked. I was lucky enough to chance upon their festival night, so there was dancing and music (and a fashion show, but it was showing all sorts of ugly clothes). I spent the night over there, and then came back early Sunday morning.
On Sunday, the family went out to dinner.
All in all, a long birthday celebration.
Ciao,
Florence

Believe it or not, that's me. Not a great photo of me, but still me.

The water slides

you can see some of my team in the background.

I told you it was beautiful.

With the chain (it was one I had, but that needed a pendant)

On Top of the World

Jeremy and I went back out to Castelluccio again today because I wanted to see the different colours as they come along. This time, he had me hike up to the ridge with him. It's not really a much more severe grade on average than walking from the village, but there are certainly bits. And it is in high grass or through pine trees, so it offered some excitement and grounds for whining on my part.

But once arrived? The view is superb. There is a little knoll from which you can circle through 360°. I filmed it just for you so that you don't have to do it yourself if you don't want to.

 

From most of the way up. Yes, it was that steep.

Mushroom!

Snacktime

The sheep here have long tails!

It was rather hazy today, although by the time we left, the flowers were absolutely sparkling in the sunlight. Sorry, but I didn't take photos of that...by then, we were ready to keep moving.

Oh! Interesting note: turns out that the flowers were originally planted for obscure reasons, but are wildflowers that keep reseeding. It's amazing how squared off they are, as though they were deliberately planted in specific, bordered fields. The farmers keep them because (a) they're pretty, (b) they hold the soil nicely before the lentils come in, and (c) they provide forage for the animals.

Love,

Alexandra

Bringing Home the Bacon

Yesterday, I went to an archery competition in Terni (actually I'm fairly certain it was a suburb of Terni) and I rocked. At 7:15, I walked outside our door in medieval costume just as Matteo and Alessio were pulling up. At that point, we headed to their favourite bar, the one they always go to before a competition. Then we parked on the side of a road somewhere to meet their uncle, Riccardo. Alessio decided to ride with Riccardo, and we were off caravanning the whole way (because who doesn't like caravanning?).

When we got there, after much futzing around, we headed to the main area of town (there actually wasn't much of one; it was more of the meeting of two large roads) and there was much mindless chatter all around. And there was breakfast for those who hadn't had any. There were about half the number of people that there usually are, because this competition was limited to Umbrian archers; the only non-Umbrian there was the judge (I didn't count because I live here).

There were only ten targets and I did really well, scoring 161 points, only 10 fewer than Matteo (that's two arrows' difference). Matteo was really proud of me and he kept commenting on "the student's beating the master" and "guess who taught her?" and other comments of that sort. It made me feel about 100 feet tall.

There were all sorts of interesting targets, the last one was testing consistency: the target was a plain hay target and you shot three arrows at it. Once everyone had shot, we went up and used circles to see how close they were together. If you got all the arrows within the smaller circumference you got 8 points each and if you got them within the larger circumference, they were worth 5 points each. I was within the five-point circle.

Another fun target was the one with an ax swinging back and forth in front of it; it was timed. In this case, the target was in the middle rather than having one on each side for pairs of archers. I broke an arrow on that one AND got 0 points. I was not amused.

There was another unusual target. I'll see if I can find a picture of it, but it looked a bit like an exaggeratedly curvy Templar's cross indented into the target. The middle was painted yellow and was worth -6 points. You had four arrows, and the goal was to hit each blue area (which were worth 6 points each). Most of the targets were animals, but I'll see what pictures I can find and explain them if I can.

I'm in the centre with my back to the camera 

The score card 

You had to shoot the yellow one first,
 then you could shoot the red one
 and then, if you hadn't missed, the blue one 

You had to shoot the three red squares here.
If you shot all three, you could try to hit the green rectangle.

This is the target with the circles 

This was the ax target

This was the cross. Sorry it's so hard to see.

You had to shoot the "candles" in the windows.
It was darker than it looks.
The door was to the right, which gave the right hand archer a bit of a disadvantage.

After we had gone through all the targets in sweltering heat (it was absolutely boiling) we had lunch, which consisted of pasta, breaded and fried pork (it wasn't as bad as it sounds) and the odds and ends left over from breakfast as a dessert. And then there were the finals. Matteo was highly annoyed because he had qualified (it meant that he had to stay, and he was ready to go home!). For the finals, each team had to send its best four archers to compete for a flag that basically says, "We're the best." This was in the middle of the afternoon. Can I tell you how hot it was?

And Arcus Tuder went last (because the total of our best archers was the highest). So we had to wait. And wait. And wait. And slowly melt. We finally got to go. ANNNNND…. it was a tie. So Arcus Tuder and another team had to shoot again (after much argument). And Arcus Tuder won!

The finalists had to shoot the ROPE and ring the bell.
Then they had to knock the cylinders off their magnets.
Then they had to break the sword down by breaking a supporting tile,
 and finally they had to attempt to shoot two arrows
 in two different sections of the blue and yellow circle using up to four arrows.

Those of us who braved the heat.

The finalists 

All the archers who stayed to see the finals 

Arcus Tuder shooting 

I was very surprised when I was called over during the prize giving. Turns out, I got the best score out of all of the women. The first place prize: over a kilo of dried sausages.

Me and my prize 

Ciao,

Florence 

Italy vs. Germany...national rivalry at the local level

Last night was the much-anticipated Italy vs. Germany soccer match for the European Cup. Obviously an event not to be missed, right? So off to Pianegiani I went, nearly an hour early to ensure a good spot.

Nursing my prosecco and almonds, I watched the piazza fill; it was crammed by about 8:50, but people did keep coming and crushing in.

A few notes. The beginning featured both national anthems, and I was struck by the enormous differences in the music and in each countryman's approach to his anthem. Italy went first. It is a light, syncopated, and rather operatic anthem. Some people at Pianegiani stood, but most remained seated. No hands on heart or anything like that. Sergio started the local singalong, and it was just about exactly that: a little song that everyone knew and sang lightheartedly, embracing each other, teasing each other with vocal exaggerations, and generally having fun together. It was quite interesting and very sweet. Even the more martial sections were sung without being taken too seriously. I recalled that most of the soccer players sang with a bit of  a smile as well, arms wrapped around each other.

And then came Germany. Stately, ponderous, certainly heartfelt. This was a song NOT to be trifled with in any way, and any deviations would seemingly have been rather frowned upon. Lovely in its own right to see the passion of the players, but a very different experience.

And the match? This was beyond doubt the most exciting match I've ever seen. I'm not a soccer fan per se, but I must say that I was screaming with the rest at the end! Starting with a goal by Germany (crisis! Wailing! Gnashing of teeth!), Italy managed to tie before the end of the game (thanks to a handball call against the opposition...much rejoicing! Much stress! Must get that other goal!). The first half resembled choreographed tumbling as much as soccer, although not many penalties were handed out. Then came the second half. If they weren't deliberately trying to trip each other (as of course the players claimed), it surely looked like it to me...and the refs. Yellow cards were handed out in alternation, and each team ended up with one player who had two yellows...meaning he will be "grounded" next game. Substitutions meant that as the players left, all the spectators in Todi clapped to thank the departing player (who, duh, couldn't hear the applause).

The game ended in a tie, and at this bracket, it means overtime. First overtime: no one scored. Second overtime: no one scored. Time to move to penalty kicks!

This tie-breaker requires each team to take five shots at the goal, which is protected only by the goalie. Each shot was scrutinized and critiqued...and each team got three goals. The tie-breaker didn't work! Time to move to the final tie-breaker, which would indeed be final: continue on the free shots, and the first team to pull ahead would win.

You could have heard a pin drop. Every goal led to massive cheering.

At the ninth (NINTH!) kick, Italy missed...and Germany scored.

We all walked home in silence or talking softly; it resembled a wake.

Love,

Alexandra