Our new house

It's been a week since I left home for our vacation in Italy and France, but this is the first time I've had a chance to sit down in a quiet place and put my experiences into words. For those of you who've been waiting for a peep from me, I apologize, it's just that I can't remember a time I've been so busy--or so tired.

At this moment I am sitting, feet up in my living room, with a glass of rosé in Duras, France. It's quiet here. The neighborhood kids just ungrouped, stopped bouncing balls in the street and (yay!) headed home for the night. Joe and I enjoyed an array of fresh local charcuterie and goat cheese from the butcher down the block. Now he's upstairs on a conference call and I am staring at the 6 by 9 screen of my iPad hoping to get my thoughts down before they leave me. We have no further plans tonight and I am fine with that.

Last Monday morning, we visited the new house in Castiglione d'Orcia. This was Joe's first visit and naturally I hoped the house would charm him as it had me a few months ago. But, sometimes things don't go as well as we hope. The house visit was a disaster. The former owners left it full of garbage, bad smells and endless piles of junk. Joe hit his head on a doorway, then later hit his head going down the stairs. We left there heading to the Real Estate closing very disappointed and upset.

During the car ride, Debora called the broker/owner to tell him the condition of the house and he quickly sprung into action to hire a team to clear out the mess the next morning at his expense. Still, first impressions are so important and this one had been blown. 

Before the closing we were invited to join the broker as well as the sellers of the house for lunch at the lovely La Grotta in Montepulciano. Unfortunately our disappointment over the condition of the house cast a fog over the lunch. Still, we enjoyed hearing about the history of the place, including that the seller Signora Fiorella Giomarelli (great name!) was born in the house 70 years ago and the property goes back to her great grandfather, though it could have been in the family even longer than that. The first floor, we learned, was originally an oil mill--a frantoio--where the locals brought their olives to be pressed. 

After lunch we went to the closing, handed over some big checks, and said goodbye. The sellers were emotional to be saying arrivaderci to their Nonno's house and took pictures of all of us together. 

We bought two big boxes of large trash bags and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening back at the house--our house--bagging up crap. By 10 o'clock we were exhausted and starving and doubted we'd find anything good to eat, but the little cafe at the foot of the castle was still lit and serving food. We ate this with some good local wine and felt like we'd gone to heaven.

We brought bed linens and towels from the other house and spent the night at the new place.