15.9 Parma Palio

As expected, Elise didn’t make it to the Palio. I found parking quickly but discovered that it was 90 minutes only, so we trundled down to where the event was and had a bit of explore before coming back to look for longer term. Happily, the street out of the little lot was one way… right into underground long-term city parking! Yay! Even better, one of the exits came up right at the entrance to the event! So that was handy.

They had an excellent flag tossing team. Can’t tell you why, but I love that stuff. One guy was able to swirl two flags with his hands while hulahooping one around his waist and one around one foot. Crazy. There were numerous demo booth of various medieval crafts. We chatted with the weaver for a little, then went over to look at a woman working a handmill. She asked Aurora if she would like to try. I said, “This is all very appropriate as her last name is Miller too!” Very entertaining. Rose ground very diligently for about 5 minutes and got maybe a tablespoon of flour. Gives you an appreciation for handwork. Rose got to ride on the horses that were being led around the center lawn, while I chatted with man who was herding a group of small medieval farm animals: chickens, ducks, rabbits, miniature goats, a small sheep. He wondered why an American would choose to live in Parma, since it’s not one of the big industrial or economic or even tourist centers and I was forced to correct him. I said, “Well, we don’t live in the CITY of Parma, just in the province. In a village called Besozzola. His response: “Besozzola? Nelle montagne? Sei pazzo?” (In the mountains? Are you crazy?) Ro had her face painted with a pink rose and glitter, and drew the attention of the Parma paper’s “Style Section” (or whatever they may call it here) photographer. I have no idea how to get hold of a Parma paper, but she may well be in it as part of the puff piece on the Palio. It is, after all, an annual event and drew a pretty significant crowd. Who knows, baby may be famous by Monday! I have the photographer’s card and can email him for a copy of the pic, though I also have a bunch I took myself.

14.9 All Dressed Up and Not Going

Since we’ve gone to two medioevale rivivio events now, Elise has been bugging me to make her a T-tunic. Greater love than this hath no mom who can’t sew well, but that she make a T-tunic entirely by hand for her daughter. (Though I can’t take all the credit – Mamma did the side seams. I cut, hemmed, inset underarm gussets, and embroidered.) I had asked the SCA Garb group on fb for help with it, and so posted pictures once it was done. They were very supportive of my effort! Rose wants one now, in lavender, of course. But it’s done in time for her to wear it to the Palio in Parma tomorrow. Not that I think she’s going to – she hasn’t felt good all day, which is unsatisfactory since school finally starts on Monday. But Rosie and I are still planning to go (even though we won’t get to see the actual Palio, the race, since that’s not till Sunday, and I’m just not spending an afternoon out an hour’s drive away on the last day before new school!).

12.9 A good day. Yesterday I was supposed to have a meeting with the school admin to finalize the girls’ registrations. The school department called me and told me to meet them at school at 9:30. Unfortunately, it seems they neglected to mention I needed to be, not at MY school 10 minutes from home, but at THEIR school in Bardi, an hour away. WHAT?! NO. The secretary/custodian at Pellegrino (yeah, it’s a small place, why do you ask) made a bunch of calls and finally figured it out for me. The department person said, not a problem, you can come to Bardi tomorrow. BUT I’M NOT COMING TO @#$%^ BARDI! Happily, it seems the president of the school committee was scheduled to be in Varone today – a mere 25 mins away. This I can manage.

Met with her this morning and got everything finalized. I have to order 80E worth of books for Elise – gack – and that’s not even all of them, but the president said that music and art don’t meet very often and their books are all for 3 years, so it doesn’t make sense to invest. The lit, history and math books, on the other hand, are pretty important. I had a look at the history book, and if I’m going to take the Italian MTEL when I get home, I’ll need it, so that’s no problem. We’ll have to see if we can borrow or photocopy Gabriele’s book as needed.

Was back in Pellegrino by 10. Went to the market and got some gorgeous pluots and plums. Was walking back to my car feeling very satisfied with my morning when I ran into Rosana Berzieri (her son & family live a block from the school). She had invited me up for coffee “sometime” (I hate “sometime” invitations – I never know when to go) and I told her I was hoping to come today. She said absolutely, come at 2. So I motored home, asked the famille if any of them wanting to come calling on the “prince’s” family, and when they said no, I waited impatiently for 2 pm so I could walk up there.

She was making plum preserves when I arrived and informed me that I could not leave until they were ready so she could give me some. Darn, say I. We had a lovely afternoon just chatting about nothings until she needed to take her 2-year-old grandson home. Sadly, the plum preserves had not cooked down enough by then, so I didn’t get any. I did, however, get loads of good flower pictures, some of which are up on the flickr page. And I had my own plums and pluots waiting when I got home!

All in all, an excellent day.

8.9 Another Castle, Another Show

(I'm so behind that I've missed some days. Trying to catch up a little. Will post anything else I have interesting from the previous week if I find it again.)

How did we function before the web? Just cruising around looking at local castles, I discovered that one about 12 miles from here, Castell-Arquato, is having a rivivio medioevale today, a sort of Medieval Life Demo. So we decided to go.

As usual, we asked the redoubtable Anna for directions, and she gave us the shortest there were. As usual, over mountains and along roads that goats would find sketchy. Some amazing views, and at one point we discovered the idea for the next hot reality show: Extreme Agriculture, Italy Edition. We passed a hillside that was not altogether straight down, but close – and it was completely covered in vineyard. I swear the posts for the vines were at a 140 degree angle to the ground. Completely insane.

The event was a pretty big one, on two terraces of a hillside plus an open field across the river, at the bottom of the hill from the eponymous Castello. Archery, falconry, flag tossing, music, a live steel fighting demo (I missed it but Elise got to see it and said it was pretty intense), and a bellydancer. Interestingly enough, the same bellydancer that we saw at the festa in Pellegrino back in August! So after her show we went up to talk to her and tell her we were already fans.

She was very pleased and then said some magic words: “I give private lessons, would you like to learn?” Elise and Aurora were thrilled at the prospect, then immediately horrified that I proposed to have a lesson too. I opined that it was my money and if I didn’t get a lesson, no one did. So we scheduled a lesson for Friday 21.10. Should be fascinating.

One of the vendors there made keychains with little bronze Roman legionary shields and gladiator helmets on them. I bought ten of the things for prezzies back home. BLS friends, don’t read this part :) He also made lovely earrings and charms. Since I bought so many keychains, plus a pair of earrings for Elise, he made Rose and me necklaces with the charms, for free. Very sweet.

We never did get up to the actual castle. The day was pleasant enough but on the warm side, and Mamma tired out quickly. Around 3pm there was a weaving demo for the kids, so we stayed for that but then loaded up to come home. Much to Mamma’s relief, I figured out a less twisty route home – about 30% longer, but mostly straight. She’s not a fan of the mountain shortcuts. Can’t say I am either, but I am perforce getting used to them!

3.9 Yesterday Gabriele and Mathilde appeared in the early afternoon (a gorgeous day after all the rain at the wedding) and hung out to play. It remains odd because no one speaks anything anyone else does, but the four of them managed to work a puzzle for a while then play Uno. Presently Thomas, the boy whose family owns the house next door, appeared and got out his bow and arrow and his Matchbox racer tracks and suddenly everyone had plenty to do! Elise has conceived a passion for archery. Have to see what we can do (if anything) to get her more involved in it. I’ve been working on her tunic for the event in Parma on the 14th but am nowhere near finished yet. The kids had a great time in the end – Thomas is quite the facilitator! It’s too bad he and his family live in Milan. I tried to get Gabriele and Elise to teach each other vocab, but they are hopeless. Aurora’s idea of Italian remains speaking English with a pronounced Italian accent. Appalling, really. Hope I can make her stop before school starts!

 Last night was a bit of an adventure. Thank the Lord for circuit breakers, since I wouldn’t be telling you this otherwise. We have a bunch of American -> Italian electrical adapters. The one in my room was charging my phone. About 11:30pm I went to unplug it to put the more muscular computer adapter in, and the outer plastic came off in my hand. I tried to put the plastic back on so I could get it out of the wall and it bit me, OW, but note, only OW, not DEAD. I tried again to get it out of the wall and there was a BOOM and then there was DARK. And remember, I live in a place without any sort of street lights. It was DARK.

I know where the circuit panel is. But it’s locked. And outside. And has 4 different spots you have to push to make it go. Hell with it, I said, tomorrow morning. Nothing in the freezer will melt by then. Elise mocked me (she was also still up) and we went to bed. At 4 Mamma got up to go to the bathroom and panicked when no lights came on, but went back to bed and managed to go back to sleep.

Me, I got up at 7:30 and went down to find the key to the panel. Found it. Unlocked said panel. Figured out which things to move to reset everything. Did that.

Nothing.

Ok, NOW I’ll consider panicking.

Happily, our neighbor Vitale was already up and dressed at this point (I could see him eating breakfast through his dining room window), so I knocked on the door. (I was delighted to see that he was eating breakfast under a fully-lit chandelier. I had not, as I had feared, knocked out the entire village. Only my house. Whew.) I explained to him as best I could what had happened. He came over and looked at the panel, then said, “Permesso?” (May I?) and went into the house. Turns out, when you pull back the front door curtain, there’s another circuit box behind it, with still more breakers that flip when you decide to blow up your house! He reset them all and POOF! Lights everywhere you look. When I just about fainted with relief, he laughed and said, “Zomtimes it is good to have a man in z’’ouse. Even a zmall one.” Learning! It happens every day!