Rain and a new routine as we settle into our "normal" Italian life

Lucy hiking in Uzzano Castello

I see from the news that Western Washington has been getting plenty of rain, but we didn’t escape it by coming to Tuscany. Every day here is probably just as rainy as it is in Washington, so life is much the same as it would be for us in Gig Harbor. We are spending more time inside than usual, but that has its benefits. We have started again on our language lessons, using Rosetta Stone, something that we have long neglected.

Yesterday we walked a couple of blocks to the public library to use the free wifi and check out some children’s books. I’m now reading the book “Holes,” by an American author but translated into Italian. It’s written for children ages 9-12. I’m feeling pretty good that I can understand it. I have to look up one or two words per page, but sometimes I just skip over the few words I don’t understand, and it doesn’t interfere with my overall comprehension.

A little torrent just outside Uzzano.

Our transportation problem has been easily resolved, at least for this year. We’ll be able to use the car of our friend Simone’s dad while the latter is in Brazil for a couple of months, and when that arrangement ends, we’ve been offered the use of Eberhard and Dorothea’s car. We pay them about half of what it would cost to rent from an agency. Thus we won’t be looking to buy a motorino at all this year.

Since we don’t ride our bikes much now that we live on the hilltop, we’ve decided to take some nice long walks three days a week for our exercise. It doesn't rain the entire day, so we are still able to fit this in between showers. We walked around Uzzano Castello on Monday, and today we took a walk along the river bank in San Salvatore. One of the run-down old houses by the river that we had looked at five years ago has finally been sold, and the new owners are moving ahead quickly on re-construction. It’s going to be a real beauty, and we wish them well, but we are far happier living in the middle of Montecarlo, where we can interact with the natives.

The rustico in 2016

It could be some time before we get wifi in our house, so for now we have to go elsewhere to use the Internet. The library is only open a few hours a day. The visitor’s center also has free wifi, but it’s rarely open in the winter. We have been going to the local bars and the gelateria to buy hot chocolate or gelato just so we can use the Internet. Well, if that’s our only complaint, then we must be pretty content overall . . . and we are.

The rustico in 2011