01 August 2007 - 15 August 2007
Our plants and trees are now all bearing fruit of one kind or another as can be seen to the left. They are:
Strawberry
(Fragola) | Sweet Pepper
(Peperone Dolce) |
Red Pepper
(Peperone Rosso) | Cherry Tomato
(Pomodoro Ciliegia) |
Cherry Tomato
(Pomodoro Ciliegia) | Cucumber
(Cetriolo) |
Chilli Pepper
(Peperoncino) | Yellow Plum
(Susina Gialla) |
Purple Plum
(Susina Di Porpora) | Grape
(Uva) |
Walnut
(Noce) | Hazelnut
(Nocciola) |
To help you with your pronounciation, where a c is followed by an e or i the c is pronounced ch.
Where a c is followed by an a,
o or u the c is pronounced as a k.
In an effort to keep the house cool and copying what the Italians do, all of our external shutters on the east, south and west facing walls are closed
for the whole summer. The shutters are louvred and so allow light in but not direct sunlight. In the UK when its too hot inside, you open your windows,
here our windows are firmly closed until the outside temperature dips below the inside temperature in the evenings at which point most of the windows are
opened until morning when they are all closed again. Our external shutters have a metal guaze on them which stops the insect life coming in - particularly
midges, mossies and moths.
More violent thunderstorms lately bringing some much needed rain. still not enough to resolve the water shortage but at least it washes the cars off!!
The storms have now continued to rage, on and off, for three days bringing much cooler weather (a mere 25 degrees) and plenty more rain. Anyone
holidaying in Le Marche in August must be pretty disappointed but for the locals this is really good news. Some Dutch friends, who are not connected
to the mains water supply, have a well which had almost run dry and they were having to strictly ration their water to themselves and their guests (they
run an agriturismo) to the extent that they were having to ask other friends to do their laundry for them. I guess you take you water supply for granted
when your connected to the mains as we are!!
Our telephone has been out of action for two days now because of the weather. As a consequence, we do not have access to the internet so it could be
a short while before this update gets posted. We can't even check the weather forecast because of the weather!!
Along with a Dutch family who are our friends, Kate and I went to the Fiume Bosso near Cagli. This is a small river which has descended from the
mountains and runs through a rocky valley where it has formed deep pools and waterfalls. Ideal for swimming and jumping in off the rocks but very cold,
I guess less than 10 degrees. The kids had loads of fun.
As mentioned in July's installment, Fliss has gone back to England. She has found a house to rent in Yeovil and has a temporary job lined up for Setember
though she is still looking for a permanent job. Kate is registered into the local school. So Kate and Leon will be off soon to start their new life in
Yeovil. I'll stay here until mid-October when it will be cool enough to move our belongings back to the UK. I don't fancy trying to do this in the August or
September heat - it could be lethal.
16 August 2007 - 31 August 2007
Buzzards galore around us at the moment. Maybe because the fields have recently been ploughed. Its great to see them soaring on the thermals over our
house and the surrounding hills.
Top temperature here in August was 37 degrees in the shade.
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