Laurelhurst Paintout

From a paintout with the usual suspects on a glorious temperate day. Friends, food, paint. Life is good.

7/2/14

Lavender Fields Forever

It's that Lavender Festival time of year again! Out in the field today for a short paintout. A half dz. friends, some wine and sunshine, and some paintin' time; what could be better?

7/3/14

Pescara to Roma

2.5 hrs. Wow, so the bus is the way to go. Chop chop. The train was a lovely (5.5 hr.) trip, but the bus is fast, comfy and air-conditioned. So there you go, for future reference.

Exiting the bus, however....... ma donna, fa caldo! Easy cab ride from Tiburtina to Termini area, where hotel is located. First stop: post office... ok, BILL... you owe me a seared scallop dinner for my travail getting a freaking TWO EURO!! stamp (roughly $3) for your post card, and getting it mailed. And remind me to pantomime the postal service worker pace, here in Italia. Oh my!!! hahahaha

So now I am--quite literally--cowering here in my hotel room in the A/C, which--thanks again to my improving Italian language skills, I was able to comprehend how to get the darn thing to work. Really, it is suffocatingly hot outside. The market is very nearby, so ensalata mista, vino, prociuto, formagio tartufo, and other assorted goodies, and I am a happy camper with lunch eaten, about to take a nap. Maybe. Rome beckons.............

Oh, forgot to mention, yesterday I accomplished my capolavoro!! (pictured) Ma donna, what a GLORIOUS day at the beach it was!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I so very very very much did not want to leave it, to go inside to pack.)

Note: I gifted this painting to Carlo and Maria Letizia, my extra-extraordinary hosts for much longer than they would have liked, I am sure!!!!!!!!

6/9/14

Life's a beach.

Today, I am left to my own devices, here in Francavilla al Mare. Fa caldo! I'm off to the beach shortly, after this hasty posting of a weeks' worth of experience. Tomorrow I return to Roma, for my last few days before the flight home. Sigh.

Yesterday evening, upon arrival back to the farm, I tried once again to force the camera to take a decent picture of the view from the ridge on which it is perched. What you see above is slightly more successful, but the spectacular panorama--especially during dusk--is truly impossible to represent here. That's Miella (snow-covered) in the deep distance.

6/8/14

On the road again..........

....while Carlo did all the driving back to Francavilla al Mare and the region of the farm, I finished the novel I'd picked up in Certaldo, a few weeks ago: Intervention, by Robin Cook. Quite good.

About seven hours on the road, including all the pit stops (4? 5?) along the autostrada for coffees etc.  Ahhh, that autostrada is soooo much easier when you have a telepass (which I did not have during my rental car week). Another superb dinner--possibly the best of the three I've been fortunate to enjoy--up in Tollo. Roberto is SUCH an awesome chef!!! (Roberto and Carlo pictured, from an earlier visit to the ristorante.)

6/7/14

The Brera: an excellent choice.

Today, a successful solo journey via feet, train and metro into Milano from Monza.

With so many possibilities of what to do there, I thought I'd focus on the Brera museum, then see if I had time for more. I was especially happy to see one of the last paintings before the exit--Silvestre Lega, Il Pergolato (pictured above).

Other images? Well, I could post many touristy shots that can already be found by a google image search, but above I will show you the subject of my next painting. It's title will be "Napping in Rizzoli". Ahhh, a woman after my own heart. I spent a very happy hour in Rizzoli--after lunch, which was after the Brera. (I did not nap there, however much I might have liked to!)

6/6/14

Wait, where am I?

Woke up a bit disoriented this morning. Botched up my phone... long call to verizon... successfully talked down out of my tree! Geesh. OK, ready to start my day now, the way I should have in the first place!

I am at Carlo and Maria Letizia's main home in Monza, near Milano. I strolled to the duomo and discovered a wedding in progress. Strolled back to meet Maria Letizia at the market. A ladybug helped me choose which pair of cheezy earings to buy. And the shoes...... um, what size do you need? Surely we have it here!

6/5/14