LOCATION: House-sitting at a villa outside of Casoli, in Abruzzo, Italy
WEATHER: Sunny with highs in low 70s
Stalking the wild asparagus.....I've always wanted to say that! Normally the lane in front of our villa is quiet with no traffic. However, in the last few days, there have been random people walking and driving slowly on the lane. Our homeowners told us it is Italians looking for wild asparagus. So, today we did the same. It is hard work. They are found next to prickly vines, usually across a wide ditch. We did find a few and I used them with dinner...
We walked up to the British neighbors' house, about a mile away on a high hill. The walk was pretty steep...
We could see the top of Casoli at a distance.
From their rooftop terrace, we can see our villa below. We had a nice conversation with them. They have lived here for 5 years.
The mountains look like a backdrop of a movie set.
Their neighbor is an old Italian lady living independently, with her vegetable garden, fruit trees and chickens, in an ancient house that looks like it is falling apart....
We passed lots of vineyards and olive tree farms. The farmers are busy pruning the trees. We hear their saws a lot.
Back home, we played with Gino. He is fine, but I can tell he is missing the homeowners.
We drove over to see another neighbor, an Italian woman who has a small winery. Her house and winery are in a cluster of about 5 homes. As we drove by, there were several ancient-looking Italian women, all in black, sitting around chatting. One got up and approached the car. The winery did not look open. She started talking to me in rocket-speed Italian. I think she thought that if she just kept talking that I would finally understand. She was a real character. I think she was sayiang that the winery owner would return tomorrow, and that we should come back then. We will give it a try.
No sign of Miss Foxy tonight, but she ate the food we left out for her.
DINNER: Risotto with the wild asparagus we picked today, a few fava beans, chives from the garden, a porcini mushroom, and grated Grana Padano cheese, all washed down with a bottle of dry Proseco from this region. What a life!
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