Thursday, September 2, 2010

Life at Villa Sampaguita

My arrival last night (after another disaster train ride) was perfectly timed, Tim, an Englishman raised in South Africa, who lived in Napa Valley for about 20 years, picked me up and with many stories to fill the air, took me to a point where we could view three different parts of the French/Italian Alps and catch a glimpse their home, before he took me home for dinner! It was an unusual night because Marina (tim's wife) cooked a curry instead of the normal Italian food, but after a day of old sandwich and crackers I wasn't one to have any complaints about real food. It was Delicious! We dined and wined, and the wine carafes kept being refilled. A great family meal. I then went to my luxurious home-for-now, the B&B suite with a bed adorned by the best pillows I've layed on for months. I've got my own bathroom and some great views of the surrounding countryside.

We started work the first day around 8am, not too early I was thankful to note. I went out with Gerald, Marina's son, and worked till, about noon, and I know I am going to be hurting later because this morning's goal was to clear the old vineyard of all the posts used to hold up the grapes. There are a mixture of 7 foot long metal ones and then 5 foot, thick wood ones and there were at least 700 of them scattered throughout the field. We had to carry them up this hill, load them onto a truck and once the truck was full we drove and unloaded them somewhere else and started over again. And these things are heavy! And still clodded with dirt from when they were pulled up. Thankfully the job was done shortly after a luxurious lunch partnered with some yummy red wine and our mid-day nap.

The schedule here is to get up, breakfast around 745 for 30 minutes or so, then go to work till noon in the fields, garden, or sheds. We then sit down to a feast prepared by the woman of the house, Marina, then have an afternoon siesta to do as we like and rest until about 3(ish). After that we work another 4 or so hours before dinner, lots of wine, and then deep long-day-is-over sleep :)

Harriet is the riot of the house, at 18 months her command has everyone on a leash: so work, hammering, even tractors stop in their tracks for a few minutes of her attention. The geese and cat (Mr. Bean) also have special places here on the farm whereas the ducks are not named but instead referred to as any number of delicatessen sauces (they are for eating after all).

But it is lovely here, I have my own space to rest and clean up, they treat me like family, both Marina and Tim practice yoga every morning and as part of their lifestyle, the stories I get to hear of their lives are endlessly fascinating, and I'm loving the long days of labor. Grandpa, you taught me well :)

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