Afternoon Boat Adventure!

You wouldn't know it by the weather over the last few days.....

...But it was like summer last week, and we jumped at the chance to take a ride around the lake with our pals in their boat.

What a special treat!!

Leaving the small harbor in nearby
Castiglione del Lago.

We've taken the ferry boats many times out to the islands on the lake, but never have been on a personal boat here. It was so fun, and the day was perfect weather...warm, no wind...

Happy Artist!

On previous boat trips, we've always seen the island from one side, as the ferry boat just goes from one port to another. 

On this trip, we were taken all around the island, and we got to see the castle in all her ruinous glory...we've never really seen this castle before. It's huge...

Coming around the tip of the island.

We've only seen a small portion of the castle before. I had no idea how extensive it is.

Sadly, she's really falling apart, and I doubt there are any true glory days left for her.

After a slow cruise around to the other side, we docked the boat and had a small bite to eat.

We enjoyed a wonderful bruschetta with tomatoes, olives, mushrooms and onion. 

It was quite tasty...wine, of course!

As we left, the weather was just beginning to change. We high tailed it back to the mainland before it started to rain a bit.

Clouds moving in fast!

Yeah, I had my "Titanic" moment.
Come on, who wouldn't take advantage if asked?!?

Johnny just hung back and smiled....

 

I hope we have another chance to get out to the island on the regular ferry, but over night it has become so cold, windy and wet! 

I'll just have to look back on this so special day on the lake and laugh!!!

It was great!

Sunrise At The Nut

Autumn here is so lovely....warm days and cool nights....and the best sunrises.

Since I follow my early wake-up routine even here in Umbria, I'm lucky to catch the show...

This was from a morning last week.

The view from our bedroom window...

From the terrace, looking that way...

From the terrace looking the other way...

Looking out over the valley to the lake.

Back in the bedroom to enjoy a cup of coffee in bed.

 The weather has changed since I took these pictures. We've had an amazing thunder and lighting storm blow through a couple of nights ago, and it's been on and off rain. It gives me a chance to do some cooking and relaxing at home, which is a good thing.

Johnny can't wait to get the fireplace going again. 

I think it will be soon...

Sunday Morning In The Kitchen

  Nothing like a grey and wet day to inspire me to stay put in the kitchen.

  Plus, it's Sunday, so that makes it even better. 

  Why? Because.

  Remember all those veggies I bought this week at various roadside stands?

  Well, some were gifts from our landlord, too...all the yellow peppers. 

  I cut those up in pieces, along with the veg stand potatoes, then tossed them with good olive oil, salt and pepper. 

  Also, I had a bunch of wild fennel seeds that I picked on our walk yesterday. I thought these would be perfect in this dish...

Out of focus, but those are the fennel seeds...

All ready to pop into the oven.

   I was so happy to find some local Japanese eggplant at the stand, too. I sliced these up, soaked them in heavily salted water for a good hour, then rinsed them and patted them dry with a clean kitchen towel. I brushed a little olive oil on them, and set them on my hot grill pan...

Slow and steady is the way to go.

All they need is a sprinkle of flaky salt.

  Since I had the grill pan out and hot, I decided we needed a slice of toast with lunch, and why not grill some figs? These were beauties from our pals, Jody & Bob.

 
I had held back a couple of the smaller peppers to roast, cut lengthwise in half.
  We had some like this at a cicchetti bar in Venice. OMG, So good! I smeared some soft cheese in them, and topped with bits of sun dried tomatoes...this was also the preparation in Venice. I used stracchino cheese, a mild soft cheese found all over here, in Umbria.

 All the components done, we enjoyed our crazy Sunday lunch!

Perfect lunch for two...I forgot to mention the whole roasted garlic heads.
I did these a couple of days ago when I roasted tomatoes.
Perfect to spread on the warm grilled bread.

Just add a glass of local white...

Best garlic bread ever.
Sweet and roasty.

  While all that went on, I was still roasting the peppers and potatoes with fennel seeds. The house smelled so good! These are for another time, in the next day or two. Maybe with a nice salad...

  I love a rainy Sunday morning. So does my tummy. And Johnny's, too.

Exploring Random Villages

  We popped over to Deruta about a week ago to buy some art supplies for Johnny.
  We took a little stroll around the historic center, and enjoyed a few sights...
  In the main piazza there is a civic building, sort of a city hall, where I saw these fragments that I thought I would like to steal and put in my California garden. They would look very nice in my garden...Don't you agree???

Sadly, I didn't swipe any of them.

  We just looked around for a bit, enjoying this and that...

A really lovely building facade...

  Though not a huge fan of the classic ceramics here, I did get a kick out of seeing this kitty soaking up the sun...

Dude, I totally relate!
It's been cold!

This terra cotta angel caught my eye...

Someone had a baby boy...

A beautiful scene with wisteria.

The way back to our car.
 Yikes.

Wild violet seed pods were gorgeous to me...

   

  After heading home from Deruta, we decided to take some back roads. We like to find new villages to explore. You never know what you will see, or who you will meet and chat with...it's all about the adventure, as far as we are concerned.

  We came across this place, and thought we should stop and have a look around.

I don't remember the name of this village, but it had a friendly bar,
and that goes a very long way for us.

  We hiked on up to the old part of town-

There we found the town greeter, who is also the Mayor, I think.

  When I see a window like this in an old building, I can't help but peek inside...

Classic! I wonder when the last time was that someone came in here?

We also spied this scene through a garden fence.
LOVE!

  Back down below, we checked out the local war memorial. Every town has one, of course. There is usually a listing of names of fallen local soldiers for both the first and second world wars.
  This was no exception...

  We headed out, picked a road to take, and came across this tiny village, which we had to explore on this wisteria alone!

How could we not stop???
The perfume of this filled the entire area.

  The town itself was quiet.

  Really, really quiet.

  I did get some pretty good shots, none the less...

Stairs. Always stairs.

A well kept, but super sleepy village.

  They do have some damn nice wisteria here, though...

  Hey, please note the two gigantic black bumble bees I didn't know I captured in this photo!!! Awesome, or what?!?

I'm thinking this will be a photo for my upcoming coffee table book.
Available soon at a store near you.
Or not.

  The thing I dig about exploring these off the road villages is the details...I like to really look and see what I can find.

  Then, time for a photo.

Nice visiting you!

  We will always take the road less traveled...because we love what might be around the next corner.
  And...we are way too scared to drive the A1.