Off to sunny Scotland??

It's a lovely sunny day and I am getting organised for going back to Scotland for 2 weeks. I always have mixed feelings about leaving here. (Perhaps I am turning into my dad , who never liked leaving home and always found a reason to go back to the farm mid week of the holiday and then we usually left on the Friday evening instead of staying till the Saturday morning. I think home was where he felt good , like a snail with its shell and I think I am the same.)
I will miss arriving  at my studio on my scooter, having waved to people on the way here. Then my flowers are looking really pretty just now and the poppies are out at the end of the street. I went for a coffee in my Saturday cafe and thought how different it  would be next week. (Then I asked the 2 girls working there if they would like to be part of my project: so that is another two to photograph.)
Maybe I am getting older  and I like my routine.
I will miss being stared at, because although it was a little disconcerting at first , I find back in Scotland I feel invisible. I like being greeted and greeting people on my way up town. I still get a thrill out of being called signora. And I like painting and drawing because it has become a big part of who I am.
Then there is the sun! Enough said!

But I should be back soon and I will likely have a great time with my family, despite the weather, so I should shut up and just post these photos of my street and Pisticci today.
(Just had phone call from daughter and my grandson has been telling his friends that I am coming to stay, aw shucks, now I want to go. Presumably Pisticci will still be here when I get back.)

My new project

In my delightful storybook blog I generally skip over the not so comfortable stuff. Who wants to know about worries , sleepless nights and running out of money.
I prefer to look on the bright side, but just incase, I have talked myself into a new project which could earn me some money, will likely earn me some appreciation ( just as good except you cant pay the bills with it.), will help improve my skills in drawing portraits, improve my confidence , and be something I would like to be remembered for.
I am not sure where the idea came from. No ideas are completely original, but in this case I have been very impressed by drawings I have seen by people I follow on Twitter. Like Katherine and a scottish guy who does the most wonderful drawings. Then I think I saw someone else who had written a book about doing 100 portraits in a month.
I had already drawn the three elderly gentlemen and sold one of them.
So it came into my head that I could draw 50 people from Pisticci. Then I could make small prints of the  the drawings, mount them together in a large frame and use it in exhibitions (Which I would like to do), advertising at markets ( people would stop to see folk they know) and maybe someone would even buy it for a shop or something.
I would also sell the drawings for 20 euros each to anyone who wanted their drawing.
Great idea, I thought , and before I could talk myself out of it I started telling people about it. I said It was a project that I wanted to do. I had to describe it in Italian and I know the word for project!
And before I knew it I had taken photos of 5 people. (And learned that it is better to take shots of people in groups because they are much more natural.)
You have no idea how much I have been wanting to do this for years, but have been too afraid  to ask people if I could photograph them. But somehow saying that I am doing a project and drawing 50 people makes it ok.I want to draw all ages and have a very mixed group. I want to draw people I know and strangers and all thats needed is that they are from Pisticci.
So I am organised. I have cards to give to the people I draw so that they can see the drawings on a blog I am using to display them,  http://studiobasilicata.wordpress.com/   I am making the portraits approximately A4 size. I have chosen the paper, I have some more people lined up to photograph. I am planning to make a small album with copies of the drawings already done so that I can show them to people I want to photograph which I can put in my handbag. And I have drawn the first 2 people.
Oh, and now that I have said all this I had better do it!!

It just doesn't feel right to have no photos on this post so will chose some I took last week.

been some time........but now it's 26c!

I have finally stopped wearing my hat in the house. I feel a little like coming out of hibernation. What a beautiful day  it is outside. I was sitting on the step reading a book for a while but had to come inside as I was too hot.
It is Saturday and I like to do more fun stuff, it is the weekend after all. And as I was out last night till 1am I am not as bright as I might have been.
I have not written much since the beginning of April as I have been waiting for exactly the right subject and then the right moment to write it. As if that is possible!!
So consider this a little box of jewels, chocolate wrappers, photos, special ornaments, old letters and so on that have made up life here in the last month.
The jewels would be the lovely people I have come into contact with recently. The friend with an art shop who never fails to encourage me by her enthusiasm and passion for art and  giving local artists a chance to shine. There are the guys who run the club who make us feel so welcome  and the lady I met in the street who always gives me a hug and tells me about events happening round Pisticci, the artist from a nearby town who took us to see his studio and then gave us a gift of a print.... I could go on and on remembering all the little moments when  someone took the time to smile or greet me or wave or ask how I was or offer to help in some way.
Chocolate wrappers  would be all the little treats, like chocolate, like a walk in the dark, meals with friends, cofffee and cakes in the cafe with the lovely red sofas,  Anna , from the bar practising her english on me, arriving in my street and relishing the view again,  seeing the puppies by the side of the road,  enjoying a bottle of wine made locally and on and on....
Special ornaments would be things like my new scooter which glides and is lovely to look at, and my new drawings, which I look at every time I pass them and can't believe I did that. Then there is Pisticci itself which looks like a fairytale village in daylight and a jewel set on a hill at night.
Old letters are like the memories I have of all the crazy, fun things that have happened here in the last 6 years which happen when driving or walking around and recognising street corners because I painted them, or houses because we were shown round them, or remembering how the house used to look before it was improved again,  or finding the electric bill that convinced me to use gas.........
And I am always taking photos but never enough to capture more than a brief glimpse of Pisticci in spring,  my new scooter (sitting -not gliding and zooming  and bouncing), a little part of the street market and so many other things.


my lovely new scooter  parked in my street




Pisticci street market




painted from walk on beach




from the car park today




spring in countryside

 But as a "photo" is worth a thousand words then  enough said.  

A cure for loneliness

Been a while since I wrote something . I have been a little unwell. Just enough to take the edge of enjoying things and not bad enough to get any sympathy.
However today I decided I must get back to normal.
So I started with strawberries and cream. At ten am. I found them in the fridge and for comfort eating I could not have done better. Oh yum!!
I did a little painting , and as I am on the last stages, everything I do now is making an improvement.
By eleven thirty I decided I had better go out and pay some bills.
I was going to go on my scooter but it was windy and like Winnie the Pooh , I like a blustery day. So I set off on foot.
Walking uphill I got some exercise , good for raising your something or other which cheers you up. I have not really learned to stroll up town like a proper Italian and will have to improve as if I do that in the heat I will no doubt expire.(which will not be very cheering.)
I reached the main street and had only just begun to walk along it. I was looking at the enormous palm leaves outside the florist, presumably for Easter, when a woman I only know by sight came rushing up to me and complimented me on my painting which is hanging in the cafe. Shucks, I felt nice.I went on my way smiling broadly.
After taking money out of the cash machine, I went to pay the bills in the tabacceria, where the guy who put them through the computer spoke to me in English. This is nice, as very few people speak english and I appreciated his efforts.
Having paid the bills, always a good feeling ,I tried to make up my mind which cafe I would go to. I had given up coffee, for the sake of my blood pressure, but decided that I was taking it up again. Then I thought , in my windblown, complimented good mood, I would just go to both cafes.
So I headed for the cafe where my painting hangs . Anna was making cafe crema for someone , which looked delicious, so I had that. I also told Anna how to say "How are you". We had a brief conversation  including lots of smiling and laughing and I set off back down the corsa.
Then I remembered that the best 70% cocoa chocolate is sold in a small supermarket, so popped in there. The man who runs it was in  the book where my paintings were used. So we have something in common.
Next I went in the farmacia. There was a bit of a queue, or a random group of people waiting , who all know excactly which order they are in. I am not good with that as people go out and in and  move forward to chat to friends.So I hung about at the back.
I forget that I am usually the tallest person around.Some of the older ladies are quite petite. I was in no hurry so had time to admire some really pretty younger women  and one older one ,who when she smiled was quite beautiful. But I was most impressed with one of the older ladies who went up to the counter and bought light blonde hair dye.I want to be like that. None of this giving up and going into a decline.
Coming out of there , after everyone had gone , except the little old lady who was having a rest on a chair, I decided to get some wine.
As I went in the supermarket door I could hear a little bell ringing. The guy behind the till was ringing it with his chin for some reason. He had stopped by the time I reached the till.


view from my door step

  Walking past the fruit market I reminded myself that I must bring the man who sells the fruit and veg, one of the prints of a painting he is in. I have also painted one of the other stall holders who gave me a wave.
Further down the street I notice the ice cream shop is open for the first time this year. That is nice.It must be the end of winter.
Then I go in the little fruit shop where my painting hangs and buy potatoes and say hello to the nice girl who runs it with her boyfriend.
By then I am not feeling at all lonely or down.
And just to round off the cure , Nella shouts to me and lowers down two lovely bits of fried chicken breast  for lunch and then twenty minutes later ,coffee.
So now I am feeling very much better.
Pity you can't get Pisticci on prescription.

the further and final adventures of my "Amica"

A long time ago, as you may remember there was a little green car that had come to live in a garden in the country near Pisticci in the south of Italy.
The little car was called Amica. It means friend in Italian but the little car was not very friendly.
When we last heard of it , it had refused to start (again!) and the nice mechanic was on his way to see it with a box of tools and a very determined expression.
This time after a lot of tinkering and poking and prodding and smoking and talking and gesticulating and head shaking the little car was declared fit to go but not up hills. (The little car sniggered under its bonnet when it heard this- there was nowhere to go here that wasn't up a hill.)
Anne, the nice artist lady who had brought the little car to live in the garden and to go on adventures with and to be friends with looked at the nice mechanic and repeated "It can't go up hills?? She would have said a lot more, some of it not very polite but her lack of Italian prevented her. She considered crying or hitting the mechanic or making very angry sounds like f*******st**** **useless****won't go ****up hills. But as she always thought about what bad things might happen if she said what she thought, she smiled rather pathetically and said "Grazie". The mechanic drove off and the little car stretched and thought it would go back to sleep under the olive tree. But it felt a very hard knock on its back which nearly moved it forwards. And then saw Anne hopping about clutching her foot. It couldn't quite hear what she was saying.
So the little car sat once more under the olive tree and enjoyed the passing of the seasons. The cats basked in the sun on its  roof and a few olives fell off the tree and bounced off the bonnet on to the ground. It was a very pleasant life. 
Now and again someone would come and look at it  and open the bonnet and speak about it. Sometimes they would actually start up the engine and drive to the gate and back. The little car quite enjoyed that .
One time the mechanic came again and did something else and then the strange man with the long hair got in and made the it go up hills and to Pisticci and back. After that the little car refused to start at all.
Then it was winter. There was nobody at the house in the country. The cats had all gone to look for food elsewhere and it started to snow and snow and snow. The little car was a bit frightened as  it didn't understand snow and it was all covered up and couldn't see out. It was very, very quiet. No birds sang, no one came near.
Then the wind started to blow, just a little at first and then more and more and then big gusts of wind rocked the car and blew the snow off so that it could see again. The wind made an enormous noise. It howled , it wailed , it cried and it rattled. The car cowered under the tree and tried to make itself smaller.
Then there was a massive crashing, banging ,screeching ,wailing noise and something gigantic came flying towards the little car.(Now it wished it would go!!) and the whole of the shed roof landed on top of the jeep and slid down towards the little car. It stopped just inches away from it.
I think it was melting snow that dribbled down the windscreen , but it might have been tears of fright and relief.
However after a day or two when the car realised that it was ok and only the jeep, which it didn't really like as it was a bit stuck up, had been damaged , it recovered and told itself that it had been very brave and quite enjoyed the adventure. It gloated a bit every time it looked at the big powerful jeep , which loved to go up hills, and now had a broken back window and a bashed roof.
A few weeks later Anne and the strange man returned. Anne seemed glad the little car was not hurt. The car was pleased but still wouldn't start.
Anne got in and the strange man pushed the car round to the front of the house. "I expect they want me to have a better view, after my horrific experience," the car thought. It was a very nice view. If it peered it could see the sea.
It sat there for a few days enjoying the view and then one morning a little red van drew up behind it and there was a lot of talking and measuring and looking at documents and general poking and prodding.
The car wondered what was going on. Then everyone left, but there was definitely something in the air. Anne had actually come over and patted it and sighed. "Oh dear " she said. "What a complete waste of money.
" She took the little heart off the keys and stuck them in the engine. and then shut the door.
An hour or so later a  lorry drove up the track and stopped just outside the garden. There was as usual a lot of laughing and shouting and pointing and then Anne came out the house and got in the little car and the strange man, making horrible faces pushed the car out of the gate and up to the lorry.
Anne got out and watched as they turned the car all ways to load it into the lorry.At one point she thought it was going to refuse to go in. But obviously curiosity won and it deigned to go in.
As the back door of the lorry closed all the little car could see was Anne dancing around punching the air with an ecstatic expression on her face.
The little car settled on its springs and thought cheerfully how nice it was that Anne was pleased that it was now going on to have further adventures.
The men got in and the lorry trundled off down the track and the little car in the back dreamed of its next big adventure.




just missed it.





nearly in.



30 days in Pisticci

It is actually my 32 nd day today. I never was very good at arithmetic. I am sitting in my little study/bedroom with a "relaxing tisane" because it is just after 4pm and I always have one then.

That is one of the things I have particularly enjoyed about staying here, that is making up my own pleasant little routines. I only do yoga by candlelight now. And I make peanut butter in a coffee grinder most days. I shut the shutters about 6pm every evening. I pull the curtain across the doorway of my study/bedroom just after that. I listen to radio scotland while I make breakfast.
Don't think that after all that I have had my days organised because that just doesn't happen. Possibly I like doing these things because the  rest of the time is so unorganised.
Since I wrote the last post, the weather changed and we had snow for about a week. I had n't thought to bring boots so I was obliged to put plastic bags over my socks and then trainers on top. There were some days I couldn't go out at all. The snow was fun for the first day and I built a snowman outside my door, but after the 3d or 4th day it got a bit tedious and quite dangerous.
One day I ran out of gas, the water went off and snow started melting on the roof and dripped through into the attic. I got into siege mentality and had contingency plans for lack of electric, gas, water and phone. It was a little scary. And my attitude of If I can cope with this I can cope with anything, got a little overused.
So far not more than 2 things have been off at once.
It was an adventure and just staying warm when there is ice on the inside of the windows , only one portable gas heater  and you have so many clothes on you hardly bend , takes up a lot of energy.
But it is better now and the forecast for saturday is 17c.
I managed to finish a second painting of 4 musicians, which was a great effort due again to my lack of arithmetical skills. I was using several photos of different people and making them all appear to be in the same street at the same time. It took me literally a week and a lot of redrawing and stomping to get a system that could get everyone in proportion. Of course it could have been that my brain was frozen!
Since the weather got better again I have been able to get out and have been for some lovely walks and met lots of interesting people who I subjected to my italian. I even met one of the people in my painting and had a late night out with live music. (brilliant)
I am in love with my little studio, despite its heating inadequacies. It's gorgeous and every minute I have spent here has been  a joy. I have rushed out in the mornings to take photos of the sun rising at the end of my street. Last night I was lying on my back outside taking photos of the sky. I have a lovely colourful photo of my studio the first day the sun came back after the snow. I have my painting area organised with good lighting so I can work in the evenings. (I don't need light during the day as it is right by the window.) My little study with a furry throw on the bed, the curtain across the doorway  and heater at the bottom of the steps is like a warm little nest. When I light candles and do yoga its like I  have gone back in time. And every night before I switch off the lights in the other part(not heated at all) I long for summer so I can be in there too.
Tomorrow I partly go back to my old life living in the country and working in the studio, but it won't ever be the same again and I forsee a lot of things happening which will mean I have to stay here as often as possible.

walked for miles and still no chocolate!!

this is the pink brick road that goes almost vertically up.

figs of india ,still growing in february



Signs of spring




stopped to take a breather and admire the view.



lovely old building  (and the door on the right has a for sale sign)




when I can get to the top of this without being out of breath I will know I am fit!





It looks old, I don't know what it is. pretty stonework.



on way down to superrmarket




this little house is for sale too. you are seeing the top of it as there are 2 floors on the next street.





 my house is over the other side of the hill. and the supermarket is shut!!!




now I need to go up these stairs




lovely scooter.




pretty church




great old ape' and owner



another breather, another view.



the street leading to the big church




nearly home again




back home , lots of exercise, no chocolate.



this was taken this morning. wind from siberia is not visible!

I set out to go for a walk  because it was too cold inside and the sun had come out briefly after a very cold morning. . When  I got to the top of the hill I decided I would go to the only supermarket that stays open all day  and get some chocolate. I like a walk with a purpose, and the supermarket was some distance away.
On arriving It was shut! It was not only me who had been caught out, but I was the only person who had just walked for 30 minutes to get there!
However I had my camera,  so strolled back and caught the owner of the ape just about to get into it. He told me to take the photo! So I did. I love ape's.
Now am feeling very virtuous , and found some more chocolate in the cupboard so all's well.