Rainy season again, visitors from the low countries, apricot jam, Emma Peel

22 June
I don't know what's up with this weather. We are on our 3rd straight day of rain with a week of the same ahead. This is my third summer in the Marche and in 2 summers it has rained once from May to Sept. I missed the summer solstice again at Stonehenge, I hope you guys celebrated for me.
Our apricot crop continues apace and to avoid wastage, I have now made 2 batches of sorbet, the 2nd with white tea as well, and apricot jam, which isn't too bad albeit a bit dense. I learned to turn off the stove while the mixture is still a bit more liquid as it sets up after the heat is turned off.
Our guests are from Belgium and Holland right now with 2 americans coming today, so nothing but English is spoken here right now. Now I see why Raffaele escaped to Spain!
We are filling up for the summer and the latter part of July are completely booked with August beginning to fill up as well. I "allowed" a bachelor party to take over the place Sat. night when we were empty and suffice it to say, it was the last such festa here at Nascondiglio di Bacco. For those of a curious bent, we can discuss the movie rights when I get back to the states. Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay would have been impressed.
I haven't been saying much about the pool this year as one should avoid depressing topics, but it has a slow leak again this year and despite 25 valves, 4 pumps, a brand new small pool liner and innumerable visits by the "pool guy", it is still not fixed. Tomorrow, the engineer comes with measuring devices to see if any pipes are leaking.
I got in my sulfur and copper spraying to protect our vines from various maladies, including fungi, on Friday before the rain. Who knows when I will be able to repeat the treatment as the vineyard takes a long time to dry out. Besides that, the vines are looking great and some are trying to produce grapes this year. Those will all go to making a passito, I imagine, as I doubt the grapes will be complex enough to make a normal wine. Time will tell, and this year has been very kind to the vines with all the moisture.
Bacco is doing well and has been tick free for a couple of weeks with my multi-layered strategy of control.
Finally, I just finished the entire series of "The Avenger" "The Emma Peel Years". 16 dvd's with 50 hour long shows. I will miss her. I had a crush on her when i was 11 and 12.
The pictures are from a snail race I had after one of the rains. You see this guy? gal? both? crossing the finish line a mile ahead of his closest competition, then Bacco, a concert at Colli del Tronto with Edy's trio who played here at N. di Bacco and my recent harvest of zuccini and flowers, apricots and strawberries.