My crazy Italian Life – Part 3,024

I seek out and I’m attracted to cultural experiences and exchanges that keep bringing me back to Tuscany, season after season, year after year. “When I get bored”, I tell people who wonder at my infatuation, “I will explore somewhere else.”

It’s been almost 14 years and I’m still drawn to Tuscany.

 

Enjoy the photos and brief words about my activities these past few weeks.

 

 

I helped prepare and serve a fundraising lunch in the church social hall located in  Poggio Alla Croce.

My jobs were: flower picking and arranging, table setting, garlic peeling and pot stirring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the view from the kitchen:

Menu:

Mixed crostini  (3 kinds) and  cured meat (also three kinds)

Pasta with  tomato/peperoncino sauce

Potatoes with olive oil, garlic, and parsley

Peposo ( Beef stew with  tomatoes, chianti wine, garlic and black pepper

Gelato with chocolate /berry sauce

 

 

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I got lost in the woods walking from Incisa to Poggio Alla Croce. (5 miles) What could possibly go wrong when I had a cell phone and google maps? I then found myself in a field with warning signs that I was on a shooting range. I was off the grid with no cell service/GPS. But it all ended well and lessons were learned.

 

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Helped my friend Anna prepare to open her boutique bed and breakfast in the centre of Florence. When it opens in a few weeks, it is going to be a gorgeous luxury retreat!

 

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After I returned from Florence, Elettra announced:  “I have a new dog. Well, half of a dog.”

“What half?” I asked.

Meet Toffee, the stray dog from San Polo, whose owner, a Shepard, died suddenly. His dog spent a month roaming the village, terrified of people until Elettra hatched a plan to rescue her.

 

 

Introduced Anne of Green Gables to my Italian friends and handed out Kleenex as they watched the miniseries.

 

 

 

Witnessed spring arrive in full bloom with the iris, poppies, roses and flowers whose names I am just learning- Jerusalem Sage and  Ginestra

 

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and did I mention that I visited a Mosque?