il vecchio negozio di tabacchi

..enligt Google translate betyder det den gamla tobaksaffären.. det var det jag ville skriva i alla fall för det är i det här rummet allt började. De tre bröderna som senast levde i det här huset hade tydligen en liten tobaksaffär med ingång från gatan. Det var lågt till tak men på andra sidan var ju inte människor så långa på den tiden.. Nu är det högt till tak, ytterdörren transporterad på biltaket genom 5 länder sitter på plats.. golvet isolerat, försett med golvvärme och sen allt ingjutet i en liten kaka betong.. nu är frågan vad vi ska ha rummet till?

Mushrooms from the forest

Sweden has a special law, roughly translated called something like 'all peoples right' and regulates the free access and passage of everybody to the land. You are allowed to forage in the forest and even to spend a night with your tent almost anywhere, as long as it is not too close to obviously private enclosed areas. You can pick all the berries and mushrooms you can carry. This comes to no extra cost to you, citizen or visitor.

Quite a difference to Italy, where you need to go and get a special permit for mushroom picking. If you are a non-resident, you are only allowed to use it on odd days. The fee for the annual access card is 30€ and of course the permit costs 16€ extra, plus a Euro and a half for money transfer costs. So with this taking almost 50€ out of your pocket, you think twice whether you really are so eager to go to the forest for mushroom hunting. Or I guess quite a lot of people take the risk of not getting a permit, and chance being fined when caught, what are the odds to be stopped in the forest?

Well we went down to the municipality, got us a permit and then spent a good three hours like goats in the steep mountains and got a bit lucky! With all that recent rain, and the warmth now returning, we actually hope for some more in the near future.

ZE TERAZZA

and wow, after a whirlwind of work since last week Thursday, we now have a FANTASTIC terrace, in fact as Niklas pointed out, larger than our living quarter in our apartment in Stockholm. It was a good ride, first the whole old terrace was taken down and put in a corner so we can decide which parts to burn and which parts to re-use, then we got delivery of some very heavy beams and were able to witness some awesome traktor driving, and then in just a few days as per magic, the whole terrace just fell into place and now we are HAPPY!

250 mil senare..

...eller rättare sagt.. 250 mil lång är den raka vägen från Stockholm till Casario. Den raka vägen inkluderar inte Schweiz och inte heller Sant Moritz. Jag kan intyga att alpvägarna där är vackra så här års men det är inget jag kan rekommendera om man har en ytterdörr på taket... det hade jag.. Sista biten hade jag dessutom sällskap av en liftande gatuunderhållare så jag ska inte klaga... Sant Moritz är jättefint... men jag stannade inte.. Terrassen?

piano piano

still waiting for the handymen to come do our terrace, but a phone call yesterday is giving hope that it will happen eventually. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime I continue to clean up the old tiles for re-use and am working up a little pile. I have a goal of 15 a day, milestones are always good to have, and realistic milestones make for happy 'end of the day' summaries. Some of them are quite a lot of work, up to 10cm old cement mix sticking to the back, which has to be taken away with patience, so as not to break the tile.

Our garden project has gotten to a new stage: we now have a composter. It lives under the walnut tree down on the piece of land and I look forward to test our ability to make good quality earth from our garden rests.