Benvenuti to all my lovely followers, new and old,
Today I am talking about being Home Alone, Concentration or the lack of it, Eyes, Election Boards, Secrets from a Tuscan Kitchen, a Beautiful Friend and scuttlebutt, Singing practice, Silvio Berlusconi (yes him) and The Rock Concert.
For a brief moment, we thought that summer had come and gone because last week we only had one day of sunshine. But now, thank god, it is 29 degrees and the sky is the brightest of blues!
My Man and the Summer Sky
My man went to London last Monday. Sometimes we have to make an appearance for the sake of our business and the need to eat and drink. This then left me home alone. Well, you might say, make the most of the quiet and no cooking agenda. Unfortunately, I am the dizzy one and he stops me from spinning all over the place. Tuesday morning was the first crisis. I knew my concentration had gone out the window when I started to mascara my glasses. Then I drove to Fiano for my espresso fix and got asked, in Italian of course, how many eyes I had! Now this chap is a regular joker, so I thought he was probably up to something. I had put on my reading glasses to read La Republica, so not to be caught out I said ‘four’. No, he said and so I put my thinking cap on, which has never been a very good fit. Eyes in the back of my head, I thought, so I said six, triumphantly! No, came the reply from our friend, then he returned to his sporting pages and gently chuckled to himself. Ready to leave, I put my sunglasses back on, my reading glasses in my bag and walked back to the Piazza. I got in the car and adjusted the rear view mirror and would you believe it, my spare pair of sunglasses were on my head along with my glasses with the mascara smudge! So the answer was eight, and nobody had pointed out my absent-mindedness, they just had a good laugh! Numerous other things got confused and forgotten during the week, but this story could go on and on…. My man is back now, so things are a little calmer!
Very informative election boards in Fiano
The election boards finally came down in Fiano, so the non-government has obviously decided to muddle along with what they’ve got. So nothing changes on that front. It’s pretty pointless putting up these boards in the first place because, as you can see opposite, the Italian government has nothing useful to say!
Secrets from my Tuscan kitchen by Judy Witts Francini – visit http://www.divinacucina.com
Also on Tuesday I met a lovely lady called Judy Witts Francini who has a fabulous Tuscan cookbook, which you must buy. Its called ‘Secrets from my Tuscan Kitchen’ and it is not just a gorgeous book to look at, it also contains the most wonderful Tuscan recipes. We have lived in our current home for eighteen months and have never managed to chat with Judy, an American married to a Tuscan, and she lives next door! It’s amazing how busy and very interesting people can pass in the night….
On Wednesday morning I met my tall, blond and beautiful friend from Bavaria for coffee. She filled me in on all the ‘scuttlebutt’ from where I used to live. It’s amazing how easy it would be to write a soap about a tiny hamlet (borgo) containing just four houses! she also reminded me of a limerick, which I wrote a few years ago, called ‘The Racket that Turned’. As Wimbledon is just around the corner, I’ll post it in my next blog – watch this space!
I was very good all week, stopping for singing practice every day, doing my brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs, oooooooooooooooohs and eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees with great gusto! When I collected a prescription from my doctor’s surgery, the envelope contained a little note in English, ‘I am longing to listen to your songs’ it said. Yes I know, I’ve even invited our local medic! But really, he is seriously into rock music and a very nice man. And by the way, the person who said that I was overheard in the cafe bar shouting ‘ I need groupies, please come to my rock concert, I’ll pay you’, is a rotten liar! The garden is looking fabulous now and our concert guests on Saturday will really enjoy it. I certainly will! If you are in Tuscany and would like to come email me at june.finnigan@virgin.net.
I would love Silvio Berlusconi to come to our Rock Concert Party. Can’t you just imagine it; little Silvio bouncing up and down to ‘Your so Vain’ and ‘Forever Young’. All the girlies would go wild and argue over who should be his dancing partner! So what’s the latest from the courts? Very little is being said at the moment other than Silvio quoting ‘If you think you can scare me, you are very mistaken’, in Italian of course. I suppose his confidence comes from being vertically challenged; it’s difficult to spot him in a crowd. I think he should be more afraid of all those girlies that offer him a wardrobe to hide in.
Well, enough of that. We have guests arriving on Tuesday and I must get the house sorted. My lovely English sister-in-law is our VIP guest as she is like a real sister to me. She loves to rummage in cupboards and last year managed to find some Scholl shoe deodorant and spray it under her arms! It did say deodorant on the container, but the rest was in Italian, of course. Then she trimmed the bottom of our fly curtain and left it four inches short! But we love her anyway.
Very, very excited now with only six days to go!
Salute June x
P.S. If you would like to view or buy my book, ‘My Father, The Assassin’ click the top right of this page under blogroll.
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