Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day esp. to my brother Jim






15 Giugno
Happy Father's Day to everyone in the states and a special one to my brother-father of 4 girls!!.
My 11 month old and I spent yesterday in the altopiano or plateau near Calstelluccio taking pix of flowers including poppies, lentils and that yellow weed I keep having to hoe here at nascondiglio di bacco which is ubiquitous in the Marche.
We then drove on to Visso and bought some Ciauscolo salami, a full prosciutto for our summer guests who want lunch at the pool and a wheel of May vintage Pecorino cheese. The month of May yields the most flavorful cheeses of the year along with June and October as the grasses and flowers the sheep (or cows or goats) eat in those months are more flavorful and complex.
We keep getting little thunderstorms every day which makes hoeing impossible, so that prompted the mountain voyage. Today should be clear, so I will take Bacco for a walk this morning, feed our guests breakfast and then work in the old vineyard tearing away all the leaves on the vines below the grape clusters.
Raffaele and Elisa are visiting Genova where they witnessed Matilde's baptism. She is the first master's baby, the capolavoro of Teresa and Michele. Hopefully, I will get to see her as I head to Milan for a day later this month.
Here are the fotos from yesterday with Bacco stopping to smell the flowers.
dds
PS You can double click on any picture to enlarge it.