The Moods of the Valley and Others

I can be considered incredibly lucky. I am spending one year in Italy in possibly the most beautiful place. When I look out my window, I see many things. Our garden, with many delicious things in it (zucchini, cucumbers, tons of tomatoes, salads of many kinds, cabbage, fennel, pumpkins, etc..), the laundry drying, cypress trees (two of which symbolize Aron and Ancsa), our fig tree, which had many delicious figs on it in September and beginning of October, part of the Villa, and behind the Villa, the Valley. It is absolutely incredible.



Each part of the day the Valley has different 'mood' to it. In the morning, if the weather is nice, the bottom is covered in clouds. It looks like a big, white, fluffy blanket covering the bottom. As the clouds start to clear away, little island appear. First, I see a little house, or another villa, or a hill. It is breathtaking. Sometimes, like the other day for example, it was a new experience. When I was making breakfast in the wee hours of the day, we were out of the fog, but as the morning continued, we were in the fog! It was so incredible to see the weather outside change so quickly! On a clear day, like today, you are able to see so, so, so far away! You can see the mountains behind the mountains that are on the other side of the valley, and the mountains behind those, and the mountains behind those! Some have snow of them already!!

Lately, the weather has been very typical fall weather. Rain, fog, cool temperatures, the whole nine yards. But today, it was incredible. It was a bit foggy in the morning, but the rest of the day was beautiful. Sunshine and warm temperatures were such a refreshment after days of rain; little bit heart- and soul warming too, since I've been sick for a couple of days now. But back to the valley. It wasn't perfectly clear, there was still a little mist in the air, but still so breathtaking as the sun shone through the air, and it gave the entire valley this heavenly glow. I really wish I could share the amazingness of this place. My camera is not capable of capturing such natural beauty, so you guys have to use your imagination for this.

I can't wait to see it in the winter when everything is covered by snow, but before that, we have to endure the olive harvest which starts Monday! yikes! I hope I get better by then and be able to put 110% effort into it. Paul says that he wants to take a 1000 kg (aka a TON!) of olives to the press on Friday evening. I hope we can do this. We have several volunteers coming, literally from all around the world. Spain, Britain, USA, South Africa (!), and some other places. In total, I think there are about 20 extra set of helping hands. Of course, the amount we take to the press also depends on the weather. If it's rainy, we can't work outside, so the harvest gets delayed. I really hope we can get everything done in 3-4 weeks. I want to be done with the whole harvest ordeal before I go home for Christmas! Yes, I am going home for Christmas!! Before those of you in the States get your hopes up, home=Hungary. This is such a special occasion because this is the first time since 2000 that the entire family will be together on Christmas Eve. Plus, the two wives, the nephew, and the baby on the way!! Yep, going to be an aunt again! Aron and Ancsa are expecting their baby, due at the end of May, beginning of June. So super-duper excited for it!!! The only thing I'm sad about is that I won't be there for the birth. I want to be there so baaaad when the wiiiiittle baby is born. But I have to wait a month after the birth to see him/her. But it will all be worth it. :DD

Other news. Hmm.. Life is interesting. The 'crew' here is becoming closer and closer. We spend a lot of time together, even if it's just sitting in the living room reading, or watching a movie together, or doing dishes, listening to the Dishwashing Song (aka Katy Perry's Teenage Dream. I got Zack, a manly man, to like it. I've caught him humming/singing it. He's not proud of himself. I am!), or spending an hour-two hours deciding on what to eat for dinner when Iris is not around to cook something. Sometimes, they can get on my nerves, but I love them so much. Ethan and Zack leave in little over two weeks, and I'm getting very sad about it, so I try to spend as much time with them as possible. Like last night, Ethan and I decided to stay up all night! We had no particular reason, but we just started talking about everything and it turned out pretty well. It wasn't the whole night, because I got tired so I went to bed around quarter past 3, only to wake up 3 and a half hours later to make breakfast. Totally worth it. Well, at first I wasn't tired, but after lunch it started to hit me. Plus I was left alone because the boys left to go to a Fiorentina (Florence's soccer team) game. So tonight, it's only me and F, experiencing yet again, what the next couple of months are going to be like (Raymond leaves December 10 (Friederike's birthday!) and Dennis somewhere around right before Christmas). Paul is trying to get other volunteers to come, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Anyone wanna come and join the awesome team at Casa Cares??? write to info@casacares.it Totally worth it.

Lately, I've been reading a lot of cooking and baking blogs. They are so mouthwatering, but maybe I shouldn't be reading them when I'm hungry.... Speaking of good reads, "The Book Thief" by Marcus Zuzak. Wow!

That's all for right now!