Well, once again it's just like out of the book "Under The Tuscan Sun". We arrive to our house and even though we just had a nuovo pozzo (new well) put in, the pump (pompa) would not work because it was blocked (bloccato) basically because if you don't use it you lose it! Being away for months at a time is a real problem and the house really needs to be in use or things just get messed up.
We had to wait until the next morning for a technician to come out and get it going and had to shower at our neighbors house. Next was the tankless water heater's turn to not want to work, so when the cel phone battery died, it was time to open up some wine and fruggettaboutit!
The next day we drove into Florence to pay our "ICI" taxes and to have lunch at "Il Giova", one of our favorite ristorante's in Firenze! We took pictures of the owner, Grazia, and her waitress while enjoying an incredibile lunch! Linda also took a picture of one of Grazia's desserts!
Yesterday we stayed close to home and Linda had her hair cut at Stefania's salon in Borgo San Lorenzo which is about 10 minutes from our house. Stefania was instrumental in us buying our house here as she hooked us up with a local realtor and even negotiated the price with the owner when we bought our place in Santa Maria A Vezzano. There's a front and back view of Linda's hair cut taken with Sara, Steffie's niece.
Today was another day spent close to home, but I did call and make a lunch/wine tasting at Sette Ponte, near Arezzo. This will be our 3rd visit to Sette Ponte, named after the seventh bridge over the Arno river. The owner's sister, Giovanna Moretti, is cooking us a private lunch and letting us taste their recent vintages! What a great connection this has become since Lou, from the Wine Hotel, first set up a visit to the winery.
There's also a picture of our friend, John Antonucci, taken in out kitchen in Los Angels with a Boxe Mugello pennant since he's a former boxer and a Sicilian with family in Sicily.
