More walls down!

Today's update:

The bathroom block on the main floor is down, but they're still working on removing the flooring. That will be finished late this afternoon or tomorrow; they were hard at it when we went over there at 4 today, but it's nearly quitting time!

The puddles that accumulated from upper pipes have been stopped up and mopped up, so we don't have to worry about the downstairs neighbors.

The doorway to the guest room has been re-opened.


The upstairs bathroom is being gutted (slowly).













And the wall to our bedroom has been attacked!

Looking into the bedroom from the bathroom

View from the bedroom into the bathroom

What's still there, you ask? The view.

 And the truck with the waste funnel

Love,

Alexandra

Construction Has Started! Or, at Least, DEstruction!

We returned from our wonderful Thanksgiving with Eleanor yesterday to discover that the workers were actually beginning the job as planned! I hesitate to say "as originally planned," since the initial idea was to start work the day of closing. However, it took a while to get the estimates, contracts, and so on in gear. One of the reasons we chose our builder is because he could start quickly.

Guest room: no more ugly chase!

The primary reason we chose him? Because we adore him. His name is Umberto Perugini, and he has helped us in numerous ways throughout our years here. He is an angel in a builder's overalls. His love of humanity in general and us in particular absolutely shines.

Bathroom block going away

Dining room clear!

So far, they have torn down the dividing wall between the landing and the dining room. We would like to put a very large defining archway rather than having the simple wall, because that will provide much more light to the space and will give us the option of extending the table when/if we have larger groups.

They are currently working on the bathroom(s) on the main floor: first step, of course, was to rip out the existing block, since we are moving the whole piece about 30 cm to allow a larger living room.

Waste Chute!

And we have our waste chute! These make us insanely happy, for some reason.

Love,

Alexandra

Bonus photo: ramp onto truck for tank removal

Bonus photo: I have removed these tiles for use in the front hall

Girls' room with torn-out paving

Girls' room: a bit more to go!

Jeremy and I found the method of tying-in door frames to be pretty interesting:
Looks like they insert angled pins into the mortar, then later attach the frames.

Tee hee hee!

You ſeemed to need a bit more to chew on...

House Update

Given that we're still in the planning phases, there's not a whole lot to report. That said, our carpenter Enrico has been working steadily to remove the interior doors and all the shutters (some are interior, others exterior) for stripping and refinishing. At least one of the sets of doors date to the mid-1800s, according to the local carpenters (including the simple brass handle!), and the others are relatively new, being 1920s or so. Nonetheless, they have mostly been deemed of sufficiently high aulity to warrant keeping them.

On my way home from an errand, though, I couldn't resist stopping by to check out the view from our balcony on this rather misty afternoon. I wasn't disappointed.

Love,

Alexandra

All Souls' Day...time to make cookies!

All Souls' Day comes on November 2, and is generally celebrated with a Mass at the local cemeteries. As is common with holidays, there is a special food associated with the event: fave dei morti. Literally, "beans of the dead"...as in, used to weight down eyelids, I suspect, these are not actually beans but rather oval-ish cookies made with almonds and cinnamon.

This year, I decided to make my own, since I'd found ground almonds in my pantry (originally purchased for a different reason, and then forgotten about quite promptly). Consisting of butter, sugar, ground almonds, flour, a couple of eggs, and cinnamon, it's actually a pretty easy thing to bake. And at the end, if you're lucky, you get a morsel that is lighter than marzipan but just as scrumptious.

Love,

Alexandra

Shoe-in

The "action" end; the threading action
is very familiar

I'm making progress on my shoe, and every session am feeling more confident with the machine. A word about it: it is a 1925 Singer, purchased by his father the year my maestro was born. The bobbin is a vertical-inset construction with the bobbin holder thingy that has to be inserted with major wrist contortions (most seamstresses will know the kind I mean). Interestingly, and amazingly, the aperture in the metal bobbin holder thingy has enlarged through years of friction with the thread. Who would have expected that?

On the shoe itself, we added stiffening in the front section (the leather is too delicate to withstand wear), and we're starting to put it on the form! While totally wrinkly in the photo, it stretches out nicely and doesn't look TOO wonky when put on the form. Hurray!

Interestingly, the machine has the "reverse" orientation from
today's sewing machines

To wind the bobbin, you place it vertically on the
horizontal screw to the left (with the white part that touches
the action wheel) and use some hand movements to ensure
an even wind. The screw in the middle of the photo
is the stitch length: lower = shorter stitches.

Stiffener inside the front part of the shoe

Not looking good quite yet, but...on its way!

Sr. Zoppini is holding this really nifty tool:
the pliers end is used to stretch the leather over the form,
but the little knobby thing towards the tip makes a
small hammer for placing nails into the form.

I've started the cutting out for the next upper!

Love,

Alexandra

Driving more to reduce global warming

Ah, October, season of mists and mellow fruitfulness...and time to get the cars checked out for emissions and roadworthiness. This is the first time that the Panda (our dual-fuel gas/methane “big” car) needed to be checked, as it is just now four years old.

My helpful inspector told me that the methane tank requires a separate “inspection”, performed by a mechanic in town. I went to the mechanic to book my spot, and was told that actually, the “inspection” = “complete replacement with a certified tank” and my tank would then be sent for testing and certification, then to be placed in someone else’s vehicle. Huh.

The thing is, though, that they aren’t equipped to do methane recovery at the mechanic’s. So all methane in our (full!) tank would be released into the atmosphere. Since methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and water vapor (the byproducts of its combustion), it actually made more sense from the environmental standpoint to empty the gas tank.

Making the best of the situation, Michael and I both had the brainwave of driving to Montefalco to have lunch at the best restaurant in Umbria (seriously: it won that award this summer! Yay for them!) which would allow for good eating and fuel burning.

The leaves on the vines were just turning, and looked stunning against a backdrop of silvery green olives, green wheat (? Grass?), and brown fields. We had a somewhat hazy drive, with lovely, soft light.

And we made it back home just in time for dinner, which none of us is ready for.

Love,

Alexandra