Junefinnigan's Weblog

“It’s a laugh a minute here!” said my man, trying hard not to smile as our grandson age nearly thirteen and I rolled around in hysterics over the game of ‘Sorry’.  The reason for the hysterical laughter was that we kept saying to grandad, ‘have you been?’ and he was responding ‘yes I’ve been, it’s your turn to go.’  Well, our grandson had joined us for three days and the board game theme continued, as with our granddaughter the previous week.  We did think about playing  Mah Jong , however,  the man complained that reading the instructions was ‘Like losing the will to live’!

Siena under 14’s rugby.
Photo P Finnigan

The conversation with the grandson was very sports orientated, because our boy is a very good rugby player and plays fly half for Siena under fourteens.   The garden was rapidly turned into a cricket net area and a obstacle course that went all the way around the house so that he (the boy not the man) could keep his fitness up and be timed by the man to ever-increasing speeds.

Back at the bar/alimentari in Fiano, there has been no delivery of newspapers since last Tuesday and poor Laura is still running it on her own!  We are trying to determine whether the delivery driver is ill, still on holiday (Ferragosto) or on strike.  Ferragosto should, in theory end today 31st August, however, the Italians will always find reasons for extending it well into the first week of September.  We always look forward to the second week as all the shop blinds are finally rolled up and we have a much greater choice of cafe bar and ristorante.  The ‘grey heads’ (elderly tourists) tend to arrive in September knowing the children will back at school and that it will be a little cooler.  We really like July when everywhere is still open, the children are running around in the piazza making a lot of noise until gone midnight and the Gelaterie (ice-cream parlours) remain open till late!  Meanwhile, everyone is looking very glum in Fiano, particularly Signor Rotund, as there are no sporting pages to read and the football season has already started!

Big Jigsaw in progress
Photo J Finnigan

Earlier in the week, I opened my dressing room window to see the man watering the garden just below me, so I called down “Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou?”  I curled up with laughter again when he replied, “Down here, you silly …, can’t you see me?”  He is in a much more loving mood now having  successfully finished a large jigsaw-puzzle.  I must admit it looked very difficult indeed and he is now inspired to start another one.  We have successfully completed two weeks without turning on the television once, thanks to the board games and the jigsaw.  So doing absolutely nothing has proved to be most relaxing and entertaining!  Back to the office on Monday.  But we don’t care about that, we still have the weekend!

Pepperoni Cornetti
Photo J Finnigan

Great things are happening in the garden.  We thought the zucchini (courgette) plants were failing, however there has been a late show of flowers.  The pepperoni cornetti (small red peppers) have done really well and we still have some pomodori (tomatoes) left to pick.  The figs are not very sweet so we have left them to the wildlife and there are now cinghiale (wild boar) hoof prints under the tree.

The Fig Tree
Photo J Finnigan

Well, I will be off to England on Tuesday for a few days, so the man will be home alone.  He does not cook as such, however, he is OK with pasta, salads and finding his way to the local ristorante.  He has always claims that he has no idea where the kitchen is in our house, and only stumbles upon it by accident!

I have just checked the news and there is little mention about the gorgeous Silvio Berlusconi.  It looks like the international papers are losing interest, which is bad news for our idol.  Italian judges have defended their conviction rulings and in October a court will decide whether he should serve his one-year sentence as community service or under house arrest.  In my view he should hope for community service, so he can be out there waving his sweeping brush and drawing the press interest back into his court!  He’ll certainly be a tourist attraction and any publicity is good publicity!

Well, time to think about lunch.  A nice capresse (buffalo mozzarella & and tomato salad) with fresh basil (basilica) from the garden sounds good to me.

Have a great week and I’ll see you next weekend.

Amore June x

PS Don’t forget to go to http://www.firstchapters.net to read the first 3-4 chapters of any good book of your choice.  Start building your Christmas list!  I recommend a romantic thriller ‘My Father, The Assassin’ By J W Finnigan,.