Eight days and counting…Making last minute decisions..

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 2 Comments
The interior of the “theatre” in the square, where, with mouths agape, we viewed each photo with our new friends encouraging us along, telling stories mainly in Italian, so proud to share their history with us. It was a night we’ll never forget. Yesterday, we said thank you to Michela, the owner of Not Only Pinocchio B & B; she suggested we walk down to the Bar Ferrari in the “square” around 9:00 pm when the locals mingle on Friday night (actually other nights also from what we heard). She offered to meet us to “make the presentation” of us, as she said in her easy-to-understand broken English.

Note: Today’s photos are from a post on this date, ten years ago, while living in Boveglio, Tuscany, Italy, for three months. See the post here.

This morning, Tom drove the golf cart to Colony Square to get a haircut while I stayed behind to work on today’s post. Also, he stopped at Publix Market for a few last-minute items. He wasn’t thrilled with his haircut since the barber left it too long on the top, but after he showers soon, he’ll know more. I suggested he return for more of a trim, but you know, most guys don’t like to return anything, let alone a haircut.

None of the photos were dated, but the clothing may indicate the early 1900s.

Last night, we had an idea to ship the suit Tom purchased for the later canceled Queen Mary 2 cruise (due to Covid-19), along with my dressy dresses, to our mailing service to be held, until sometime in the distant future when we may need them. None of our upcoming cruises have dress-up nights, so we do not need those items. It costs $25 to ship them the slowest way, but it will give us lots more room in our bags.

On Monday, we’ll pack the bag to be shipped to Minnesota, and then everything left will be packed in the bags we’re taking with us to Scotland and the following cruise, back to Boston, onward to Henderson, and then on to Minneapolis. It should all work out.

Based on the clothing, this wedding procession appears it could have been in the 1950s. This was the unpaved road leading to the church and cemetery we highlighted in the post-dated July 16, 2013.

Now, we’re finishing off all of the food in the freezer and refrigerator and are doing better than ever. If we have any unused items, we’ll leave them here for the housekeeper or the next guests that stay at this house.

This morning we received a Whatsapp message from a couple who will be sailing on our first cruise with us with their cabin on the same deck and down the corridor from us. They asked if we wanted to meet for dinner in Edinburgh. But, as it turned out, our hotel was far from the restaurants they suggested, but convenient for us to go from the airport to the port of Leith a few days later.

These are the inner workings of the clock tower that clangs four times an hour, often irregularly, located next door to us. We laughed when the locals mentioned how close we were to the sound of the clock, using the typical head and hands signal one uses to indicate sleep, as they inquired about our ability to sleep through the noise.

We’d have loved to meet with them for dinner on one of the three nights we’ll be there, but it doesn’t look like it will work out. Instead, we will get together for dinner on one of the nights on the cruise, which is always fun. One of the main reasons we enjoy cruising is the easy socialization with other passengers.

Now that Tom has returned from his outing, we’re staying in today. As is the case all over the US and other parts of the world, the high heat will keep us indoors in air-conditioned comfort. The dew point this afternoon will be 85, will temperatures around 97F, 36C; way too hot to be sitting outdoors right now.

The construction of the road to our 300-year-old stone house. It’s hard to conceive of the degree of manual labor required to build the steep roads in this area in this era.

In any case, tomorrow afternoon, we’ll be heading out to Brownwood Paddock Square for the evening, spending most of our time indoors to avoid the equally hot weather. But, surely, the ride in the open golf cart will be hot. We’re experiencing heat here in Florida, even more uncomfortable than in South Africa in the worst of summer.

That’s it for today, folks. We’ll be back with more tomorrow and look forward to having more “meaty” information to post.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 20, 2013:

Blurry photo. We were invited to a party in Boveglio, Tuscany, Italy. Handing off the camera to a kind gentleman to take our picture, He must have accidentally changed the settings to “out of focus background,” which I overlooked until this morning. After our fabulous night, I couldn’t resist posting photos, although they were all out of focus. Daniela is in the photo with us at my left and Armenia at her left, sitting on the steps. For more, please click here.

Fun night out on the town!…Only two more weekend nights to go…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
These are the locked iron gates closing off easy access to the church. We’d have to walk through dense weeds to get closer to the church tower. Knowing there were many ticks in the grass, we drove to the other side without getting closer to the church.

Note: Today’s photos are from this date in 2013, when we spent three months in Boveglio, Tuscany, Italy, as shown in this post.

It’s a lovely Sunday! We’re watching the weekly news series “Sunday Morning”; the bedding is in the washer, and we’re looking forward to enjoying a quiet day at the house on yet another cloudy and stormy day. Tonight’s dinner is already made and ready to go into the oven later, and all I have to make is a salad to go along with it.

This unattached separate building on the church grounds may have been the original church.

We love easy days like this and never feel bored having no specific plans. If we feel like it, we may stream a movie, a perfect thing to do on a rainy Sunday. We still have another week until we have to start packing and deciding on what items we’ll ship in the suitcase heading to Minnesota before our arrival on September 9, to be held for us by the hotel where we’ll stay.

A part of the entrance to the larger church.

Since I am feeling better, I’m not dreading packing. When Karen and Rich were here on Friday for dinner, I loaded up all our excess food for them to take home, items we wouldn’t be able to use by the time we depart. Also, with the good storage in this house, with plenty of space in the walk-in closet and drawers in the bedrooms, the packing will be easier than usual.

This translates to: “the companionship SS V Del Rois,” which appears to be the name of someone of significance to these church grounds.

We must pack with this in mind with limited storage space on cruise ships. I like to unpack everything once we get into our cabin since there is no space to store an opened piece of luggage, as there often is in a hotel. After the cruises end, we won’t need to unpack at the resort when we get to Nevada since the enormous rooms have several luggage racks.

Ferrari family members from Boveglio.

Once we get to Minnesota, since we’re staying a month, we’ll need to unpack. When we get ready to leave Minnesota to go to Galapagos, we’ll have to purchase two cloth-sided duffle bags, which is all that is allowed on the small 16-passenger ship. We’ll leave the bulk of our luggage at the hotel where we started in Ecuador, which we’ll return after the cruise has ended, which is already booked through the cruise line and included in the cruise fare.

We were overlooking the iron railing around the cemetery.

Last night, we drove to City Fire to lounge at the bar for a while before we went to Cody’s Original Roadhouse for dinner. By 5:30 pm, we hopped in the golf cart, drove the short distance to the restaurant, found a good parking spot for the golf cart, and headed to their indoor bar, an excellent place for people-watching and chatting.

Tom, ancestry.com obsessed, was fascinated with the stories revealed by the many headstones, names, dates, and photos.

At a preferred booth by 6:00 pm, we perused the menu and chose our dinners; scallops and salad for me and ground sirloin with mashed potatoes and salad for Tom. As always, the food was excellent, and the service was equally good. Our bill was $52 before a generous tip to our waiter.

We were back at our holiday home by 8:30, streamed an episode of “The Good Doctor,” and got to bed by midnight for a good night’s sleep. This upcoming week will be easy with few plans while we ramp up for the following week when we depart on Friday.

Enjoy your Sunday, and be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, July 16, 2013:

It was surprising that many of the headstones in the cemetery in Boveglio weren’t older. The earliest date we saw was in the early 1800s. However, the oldest markers were embedded into the surrounding wall and were difficult to read due to age. For more photos, please click here.