my life as a story: endings ................in Pisticci

It's September now and I suppose it must be the end of summer -even in Pisticci. The temperatures now are in the twenties and some evenings have been a bit chilly.
Most of the feste activities are past and most of the visitors have gone home.
If you were to come to Pisticci for a holiday right now , you would probably enjoy the cool (but warm to anyone from farther afield) weather. The town is a little empty but seems full of weddings - three today so that would be fun to watch. And the beach will be deserted so you would have it to yourselves.
I think September is a strange month - a sort of transition from summer to autumn- a little sad- a month of mourning for the end of summer and then in October it,s pull yourself together time and get on with yoga classes and work stuff and so on............
But that is maybe just me.
This summer has been strange as the weather never got really hot- or maybe that should be really, really hot. There was quite a lot of rain and the odd storm and I was wearing socks in July!!!!! August was warmer but the temperature in my house didn't reach 30C . Usually its around 30C in my house for all of July and August and it makes up for the months in the winter when I am wearing 3 jumpers and a hat- indoors.
It is the end of having my paintings hanging in a local restaurant as they are closing for the winter or perhaps for ever. So I am now feeling a little like I have my children(paintings ) all back together in my little gallery and wondering how to "get out there" next. Am planning a little exhibition in my artist's house in December with two friends to start with, but other than making friends with a lovely australian couple it was not an enormous financial success for me. Every time I saw the poster advertising the restaurant it had some of my paintings in the background and that was a nice feeling. It was a beautiful place to hang paintings and I would be happy to do it again.
It is the end of me ONLY being an artist - as next month I will be starting to encourage arty people (not just painters) to come to Pisticci for a break , stay in my little artist's house, get inspired and enjoy being part of Pisticci life for a few days or weeks. I am not seeing myself as just a landlady but more as a provider of some creative space and someone who would be happy to be proactive in helping out with arty, local and other stuff or leave you to get on with it if that's what is preferable.
So my next post in October should be full of new beginnings...................................
In the meantime I still would not like to be living anywhere else. Although its possible to be a little lonely in my studio by myself (another ending) it is not possible to go out for a coffee without chatting to someone, admire the view, get another commission, see something funny, smile a lot, enjoy the heat. My studio and flowers are both looking great. My fig tree has baby leaves on it- I thought I had killed it, my rose bush has now got several healthy children and a lot of my plants are spreading from pot to pot so it looks like a garden. And am very proud to have divided my lavender and its growing well. I have my - getting green -fingers crossed that 2 oleanders which I was convinced were dead might be growing roots.
And my studio is looking great and surprisingly not empty despite having completely furnished my artist's house with furniture from it..
Pisticci is looking great as usual. I was at a concert in a small piazza on Monday evening. It was packed with people on the ground, up the adjoining street, in the overhanging balconies and I was again overtaken by the feeling of wonder that is a not unusual feeling now- of how did I get to be here in this wonderful place.
And over the summer I have met lots of lovely, interesting and kind people - some of whom have now left but many others are still here. And as my Italian improves I hope to get to know them better.
My artist's house is looking great and I am happy to have got to know more people in the area because of it. Am excited about the future of it. (More photos of it next month when I finally get the last few things done.)
Better go and take a photo of my fig tree (more of a stalk at the minute!) and then add some summer photos.
See you in Pisticci????