Cycling

Cycling is hugely popular here in Italy and most weekends you can see the groups of cyclists, or peloton, cruising along the main roads of Italy.

Among them there are a disconcertingly large number of middle aged and overweight riders risking a heart attack. This has given rise to the acronym Mamil - middle aged men in lycra!

Laden

This tree is laden with fruit and the branches are bending over with the weight. A good sight for an olive grower. When the fruit is picked then the branches will snap back up into the vertical.

The barber

Yes it was time this agricoltore had his locks chopped and so it was to Trevi I went. As with all barbers there was some good gossip to be had.

When I dropped the lead-in of "I hear the newly crowned Miss Italia is local girl" little did I expect what was to follow.

The new Miss Italy is not only Umbrian but from San' Eraclio, a place that makes Trevi (pop 6,000) seem big.  And not only this but that San' Eraclio can boast of not one Miss Italia but 3.

What are the chances of that.

Optimo lavoro

Great race with Alonso fully deserving to win. What a great pit stop.

Chillies

As well as making yet more passata I bought some of these gems from the market on Friday. I have pickled them with vinegar and after a few weeks they will be just great with a bit of porchetta or any other pork product in fact.

Rachel also stuffs them with potato, anchovies and sage and then bakes them in the oven for 20 minutes or so. Yum.

Rough as an old boar

Rachel was  approached back in July by a New Jersey amateur wine maker who wanted to use her print on a Chingiale on the label of the wine he was making this year. Rachel agreed that he could the only payment being a bottle of said wine.

This duly arrived yesterday and looked great with said label. The wine is Chianti in style so we will leave it recover and settle and then find the appropriate occasion to try it.

Started me thinking about some Casa Margherita wine.......

Back home

This chap spent the night with us again and come with us for a walk this morning much to the annoyance of Winnie our Westie. She was most put out that we were sharing our affections with another dog.

Then is was down to Paola the vet to see if the dog was chipped. Amazingly he was. It is not very common here in Umbria so we were a little surprised. And the owner was Luca who runs the horticultural supplies shop that we use. So we drove round and returned him back to Luca. Quite a lucky dog methinks.

And all back to normal now for Winnie.