A light at the end of the tunnel...
I’ve been holding off on sharing this….? This…? This latest episode in a home renovation project at il Poggiolo. It’s been a bit stressful. I’m no longer the robust, and perhaps foolish, American who, along with his boy-friend/partner/companion of a similar calibre, embarked upon the purchase and fitting out thirteen years ago… took two years to bring it to fruition… an 1,800 square feet loft in an important & historic 1930’s building right at the old port of Genoa, and then, almost simultaneously, we same two characters…. You & Me… and apparently feeling our real-estate oats, bought and completely re'-built from top to bottom… it took four years and we still are not finished… an 800 year old Tuscan farm-house, il Poggiolo a Codiponte.
The loft does needs some attention after all this time. You is basically the only inquilino. Pads around in his -jamies on his off time. The Dog & I prefer the clean living in the Lunigiana. For starters, way fewer people in the Age of Coronavirus. Loft Task List would be new paint, a couple of alterations to the floor plan… like, eliminate a bathroom and turn it into a closet for You’s ever growing stock of Men’s Fayeshion… and possibly replacing a few appliances. The MIELE washer & dryer, however, are still doggedly plugging along and have been the ONLY washer & dryer with reasonable and effective cycles from my sixty-eight year experience with such conveniences. Here at il Poggiolo, we have AEG…. German technology… and they were purchased upon the high recommendation of an American woman. It would have been better had we ignored her. The AEG has senseless cycles. No one in our family wears jeans. No one in our family wears silk. Out. And no one in our family would dare wash wool in a machine. Out. And, duvets are sent to the lavanderia. They come back fluffy & clean smelling and not balled up into accumulations of duck feathers at the corners. Out. This is what I want in a washer…
CYCLE 1) Really, really dirty with extra washes & rinses and can take heavy loads up to 20 lbs., from all the sheets & pillow cases from one bed, to the 4’ x 6’ printed cotton rug I picked up for few Euro’s at Maison du Monde or, my gardening clothes from the week’s worth of garden assaults; CYCLE 2) Dirty ma non troppo up to 10 lbs., You’s -jamies, shirts, pants, his sunbathing suits and, his gardening clothes from pulling up weeds, a much less dirty work than what I do in the garden; CYCLE 3) Not really dirty at all but, hey! It’s Sunday, and electricity costs less; CYCLE 4) wool; CYCLE 5) synthetics; CYCLES 6 and on for separate or, collective rinses and spins. STOP. AEG has a partial selection. Only its Cotton Cycle is much used. The others waste time, energy and money.
Different case at il Poggiolo. You & I took our Game Plan for restoring our farm-house from the house itself. La Casetta had radiators and a fireplace so, we put in new heating system & radiators plus a firebox in the upstairs salotto. Our Winter HQ. La Casa Grande had no heating at all. Fine by us. It would be our Summer HQ. And, L’Appartamento Azzurro had a fireplace… it was the cook top and oven… and so, we put in a new firebox for an Early Spring & Fall HQ. Since Roberto sussed out his own separate kingdom in the former kitchen of La Casetta, he stays burrowed there the whole year round. I got tired of the constant relocation. I was offered and bought with a terrific discount two fireboxes…. a close-out sale at a local building supply store nearby and the same models we put in at La Casetta and L’Appartamento Azzurro. I had thought to use a local builder to install them, one in the salotto and the other in the sala da pranzo nella Casa Grande. He was never available to do the work. Fed up, frsutrated too, I went to see our Esteemed Geometra and sought his help to scare up a builder to do the work. Turned out our original builder was ready & willing.
Then the real fun began. I had to bodily move EVERYTHING into the middle of each room, cover it all with wispy plastic sheets which, naturally, blew away as soon as someone open a window or, came through a door. I relocated to L’Appartamento Azzurro with the Dog, all our food and all my clothes and all the Dog’s sticks. I have had to submit to the lamentations of You on every one of his visits for the dust and disorder in our home. Two months. Going on three.
Yet, there is a light yonder at the end of the tunnel of this week. Dim but perceptible. Getting bright with every passing day. Could it be? Yes, we may be nearing completion. In the meantime, feast your eyes on these…
