Amica da Australia!

Well, it has been awhile since my last post and it feels like a lot has occurred since then so I'll do my best to remember the interesting bits!

Most importantly, a new WWOOFer arrived one week ago from today! An Aussie, from Perth, named Kathleen. She towers over me at six foot two, likes gelato almost as much as I do, and is constantly making me laugh with her weird Australian jokes and goofy personality. Needless to say, we have a good time!

The three of us have been using our free afternoons to explore the neighboring towns and countryside in search of new and interesting things. Earlier this week we journeyed to Piedimonte Matese to see the historic part of town, really beautiful, and also ventured to uncharted countryside. In town we ate gelato, went on a wild goose chase for vanilla (to bake a cake), got lost in the small alleys of historic town, took to tons of pictures (some are attached) and conversed with curious strangers.

Recently our jaunts in the county have been timed between passing thunderstorms, which leave as quickly as they roll in. Although there have been a couple days where the thunder rolled all day long and days like yesterday when the weather couldn't have been better. We certainly took advantage of yesterday's blue skies having planned a trek to one of the three lakes, Lago di Matese, in the mountains to the west of us (more to come on that adventure...).

On Saturday we got really excited because we thought we had been invited to a '"festivale" in San Potito. We got all dolled up in our city clothes and Rosanna's brother picked us up at seven thirty and drove us to town. Turns out it wasn't a festival, not even close! Oh language barriers. I'm still not even clear on the specifics but here's what I've gathered: there was an Italian author in town (name unknown) who wrote a book (title unknown) and was giving a lecture/presentation on sed book which lasted way too long for someone whose language comprehension is well below par.

The funny thing is at times I found myself looking at the speaker, nodding and even laughing at times when others were as if I knew what in the world was going on. Then I would think, "Shoot these people are going think I understand what's going on and if they try talking to me I'm going to look ridiculous! OK, look at the art on the walls...no don't, that's rude and makes it look like I'm uninterested..." The hour and half presentation went more or less like that and eventually I ended up pulling out my English-Italian dictionary and reading it. And even though the night got off to a slow start we ended up having a really fun night back at the farm.

I'll end with that bit and post more soon on our most recent outings to the mountain valley and cheese farm. Lots of love to all!!

Lucciola!!

Important to note: I saw my first lucciola (firefly) this weekend! So cool! And I was told that near the end of May the fields around here will be full of them. I hope I get to witness this phenomenon!

Hhmmm, what's new...A lot of last week was spent preparing for Andrea and Valentina's daughters baptism which took place this last Sunday.  Essentially that translates into a lot of really loud conversations and waving hand gestures over where to seat 130+ family members and friends, what to cook for lunch, bake for dessert and what to do in the case of rain. When Saturday afternoon rolled around and we were just beginning to dig tables out of spaces I didn't know existed, I started to feel doubtful that we would get things done in time. But of course we did and everything looked great!

Attending a baptism in a historic Catholic church was a pretty cool experience. Although I understood little translation wasn't really necessary. After the baptism everyone headed back to the farm for the biggest feast I've ever witnessed! My goodness there was so much food and everyone ate to their hearts content.

I met a lot of family and even more friends and by the end of the day my head was spinning circles from trying to speak Italian all day long. I have to say, trying to learn a new language is exhausting!

Most of Monday was spent doing absolutely nothing as most of us had burnt the midnight candle. However, Liz and I did muster the energy to cook up Shepard's pie that night which turned out pretty tasty. Then it was back to work Tuesday until late afternoon when a giant thunderstorm rolled in and it straight down poured, lightning and thunder included, for hours. I sat out under the porch and watched for a couple hours. Pretty great pass time.

Hoping to go on a hiking adventure later this week to three lakes that lie in a giant valley in the mountains behind us. Fingers crossed the weather cooperates for us.

Here are a couple pics I snapped on a walk!

Hope all are well, lots of love from San Cassiano!

Mamma mia, I love San Potito!

I woke up this morning to chirping birds, as usual, and to the all familiar sound of rain. It was quite refreshing considering the hot, humid weather we've had since I've been here. Don't misunderstand me, I'm loving the sunshine, it's just easier to appreciate the rain after a couple of really hot days! Once I realized it was raining I knew our task for the day would consist of chopping pruned branches into firewood. Not the most desirable job but I must admit I enjoyed it.

It didn't take long for the rain to pass and the ground to dry just in time for a little work in the garden before lunch. After yet another satisfying lunch Liz and I decided it would be a good day to walk to San Potito Sannitico, one of the neighboring towns to our farm, in search of gelato ;) Not only were we successful in our search for gelato we got to explore one of the cutest little towns I've ever seen! Every corner we turned and street we ventured down offered yet another photo opportunity. Needless to say I snapped lots of photos. Here are few that I think capture the essence of the town.

Oh, one thing to note, in San Potito there are a handful of really neat murals on some of the cities walls. They were drawn by one of Rosanna's nephews a couple of years ago and are pretty amazing.

OK ciao ciao for now! Love from beautiful, southern Italia!

Sono andata a fare una passeggiata.

Went for a walk last night, here are a few pictures of the southern Italian countryside. Molto bello.

One of the pictures is of Liz, the other WWOOFer, standing in a two way country road. Tiny!! How there aren't more accidents here is beyond me.

There are also a couple of the dairy farm across the way from us. In one of them you can kind of make out cheese being hung to age. Yummy! Apparently they give you samples if you go over and visit...might be heading that way tomorrow!

In another picture you can see one of the two towns that are up in the mountains just south of us as well as the highest peak (can't remember the names at the moment) in the Campagna region.

OK off to work in the garden!! Weeding, weeding, weeding....