Any ideas? Idee?

I'm feeling crafty lately, partly because of all the youtube videos I've been watching on upcycling, recycling and whatever, partly because winter is coming and that makes me want to paint, and glue and so on. So there was this piece of furniture that had been left here by my parents - even they must not have liked it much, and neither did I. But I kept it around because I thought it could be useful. Then the carpenter broke one of its glass doors - hard to replace because they are yellow with circles embossed on them. Then the painter moved it and broke off a leg. Then I helped the painter move it again, and we broke off another leg, at which point he showed me how they were all chewed up by termites. I had initially asked at the hardware store if there was a paint I could use on it and they told me nothing would stick because it is veneered or laminated or whatever. A bit hard to believe, but I said "if you say so" or "whatever" or something like that. I tried to get someone to fix it up for me, I tried to get the glass replaced, but got nowhere.
So when someone offered to take it to the dump for me - not as easy to accomplish in this small town in southern Italy as it was back in SF, where you could leave something on the street and it would be gone by the next morning - I said "please do and thank you very much". Well, he forgot. So I reminded him and he said "tomorrow before noon". That was a week ago, and in that week I've been fretting about the ungodly amount of craft supplies I have - ceramics, jewelry making, silk painting, mixed media, and painting -  and how am I going to organize all that stuff, and how insane it is that I have several empty rooms that I could turn into studios, but no shelves or furniture to stash the stuff in an orderly way, since I abandoned most of my furniture when I moved here, and what a pity that I can't use that ugly piece of furniture with the termity legs........
About 2 hours ago I yanked myself away from youtube and grabbed a paint brush and my half can of a wonderful water-based acrylic enamel that was used here to repaint all the old central heating radiators and that can be used on wood or metal and who knows what. I figured who cares since it's going to the dump anyway......maybe.....someday.....before noon.
(Riassunto per chi non legge l'inglese, visto che e` troppo lungo da tradurre: Vecchio mobile abbastanza bruttino, laminato, con due gambe e uno dei vetri delle finestre rotte, destinato alla discarica. Ho molto bisogno di un mobile per tutto il mio materiale artistico e, ispirata da tanti fai da te video su youtube, ho deciso di fare un ultimo tentativo di recuperarlo pitturandolo di bianco per poi decorarlo in qualche modo - o scrivendoci sopra con la pittura nera, o dipingendovi grandi fiori colorati, o schizzandolo di pittura, tanto per la discarica c'e` sempre tempo. Apprezzerei suggerimenti, solo non ditemi di farci il decoupage con carta da musica o pagine di vecchi libri o altro, perche` deve essere una cosa facile e veloce, altrimenti perdo l'interesse e, come tanti miei progetti, finira` nel mondo molto affollato dei progetti smarriti.....) 

Here's the progress I've made so far. Ecco quello che ho fatto finora.

In the photos it may not look as ugly as it really is, but believe me, it didn't work in any room and was just plain awkward. It's from the seventies or sixties, I don't know, and by the way apparently the broken legs don't make much of a difference since they were in the middle - there are plenty more legs.
So after I get the outside all white - I'm not messing with the inside - I plan on putting fabric in the windows (with tacks) and doing something funky on top of the white. Maybe writing all over with black paint, or painting colorful flowers, or splashing paint on it. Any ideas you might offer would be welcome, just don't tell me to decoupage it with sheet of music or old books or anything like that, because I want to keep it easy and fast or I will lose interest and it will end up in the very crowded never never land of so many of my projects, or the dump.

The gang - La banda

Cirillo and his partners in crime: Luna and Coco.
Cirillo e i suoi complici: Luna e Coco.

The way they were, just 10 months ago, while Sergeant Cirillo instructed the troops. Although they occasionally try to rebel, he never lets them forget who's in charge.
Come erano appena dieci mesi fa, mentre il sergente Cirillo addestrava le giovani reclute. Anche se ogni tanto cercano di ribellarsi, lui non fa mai dimenticare loro chi comanda.

Lately I've been walking them behind the house, outside their enclosure, with Cirillo on leash and the girls off, because they tend to stick around. Today I thought, what the heck, I'll let poor Cirillo off the leash too, and within seconds they were far in the distance.
Ultimamente li porto a fare una passeggiatina dietro la casa, fuori dal loro recinto, con Cirillo al guinzaglio e le due "sore" senza, perche` in genere loro non si allontanano. Oggi ho pensato, ma si`, lasciamo libero anche il povero Cirillo ed in un batter d'occhio erano lontanissimi.

Another second and they had gone through the hedge, onto the neighbor's land.
Ancora un altro secondo ed erano spariti oltre la siepe, nel terreno del vicino.

Fortunately my fears of them being killed by cars, hunters or the pack of wild dogs were unfounded and they returned 20 minutes later - happy tongues hanging out.
Per fortuna i miei timori che venissero uccisi da una macchina, da un cacciatore o dal branco di cani selvatici sono risultati infondati e sono tornati dopo 20 minuti, con le felici lingue appese.
This is Argo the Good. He doesn't associate with young rebels.
Questo e` Argo il Buono: lui non se la fa con giovani ribelli.

I'm back....for now

It's been over two months since I said it was too hot to blog, and it's still very warm - a bit over 80 - but at least not over 100 as it was for what seemed like forever. 
A few days ago a friend put the idea into my head that instead of buying two hanging lampshades and six wall sconces - something I have put off for almost a year - I should make my own. 
I started looking at how to videos on youtube, and of course I became addicted, spending hours every day, for the last four days, looking at everything from DIY doily shades, to bottle cap shades, to infinity scarves, button bracelets (which I've made before), and on and on, including chocolate cake in a cup demos! 
I used to dye and paint silk scarves that I ordered by the box-full from the Dharma Trading company in California so, needless to say, even after giving many away as gifts and selling a few, I still had too many, particularly considering I never wear silk scarves! Strangely enough I couldn't find much on repurposing silk scarves, except for making them into bed covers or curtains, and one very cool video in which the silk is torn into strips and woven on a loom. 
I have trouble making longterm commitments, even though I've been married twice, or maybe because of that, so, if at all possible, I like to do stuff I can take apart again if I change my mind.
With that in mind last night I pulled out all my silk scarves, set aside the square ones and a couple of rectangular ones I particularly like and started messing around with braiding the rest. 
I braided some tightly...

Then I fiddled endlessly with tying the ends in different ways.

I eventually took apart the one pictured above and re-braided it more loosely, leaving the ends dangling, as you will see in a photo at the end. 

These three I braided loosely. The scarf on the left is purchased, the other two I dyed. The result is in the "group" photo.

Here I took one long scarf and tied another one folded in half to it.

And here is the "group" photo, minus one that I was wearing.  

The lavender and pink one is braided tightly and tied together at the end with a twisty tie. I plan on putting a few beads on an elastic cord to hold it in place (the size of a ponytail tie), since it's too thick for a brooch. I finished the purple one by making three knots in the purple end and tying both ends together. 

For the final one, coming up next, I tied two scarves together with a knot in the middle and two more equally spaced knots, one on either side of the middle one, and tied the loose ends in a sort of bow. I wore it out to market this morning like a necklace with the bow in the back.

Or you could wear the bow in front or on the side. 

If I were younger or had the b...s, I'd wear it with the bow on top of my head. I always did like that look.

Or you could use it to pull back your hair. 

While I was at the market, at the used clothes stall I bought an XL t-shirt to make a fringed scarf and 22 doilies (and to think that I got rid of tons of t-shirts and doilies before moving here....) Now I better make those dang lampshades!

Too hot to blog! Fa troppo caldo per scrivere nel blog

That's right. That's my excuse for disappearing for 2 months. I spend too many hours a day watering and napping. It's hot, it's humid and I can't think, much less move.
I get up at 5:30 (dogs' fault), I open windows and doors, I water for an hour and a half, I feed the pups, I close windows and doors, I feed myself, I nap and read for hours.
Come dice il titolo, questa e` la mia scusa per non aver scritto in questo blog da ben due mesi! Passo troppe ore ogni giorno ad innaffiare ed a dormire. Fa caldo, e` umido e non riesco a pensare, tantomeno a muovermi. Mi alzo alle 5,30 (colpa dei cani), apro le finestre e le porte, innaffio per un'ora e mezza, do da mangiare ai cani, chiudo le finestre e le porte, do da mangiare a me stessa, dormo e leggo per ore e ore. 
Lavender, Helychrisum italicum, Oleanders - Lavanda, Elicriso italiano, Oleandri. 

I was very lucky and got to go visit my cousins in the Gargano area of Puglia (the spur of the "boot") for a week, where we went to this beautiful beach every day - 17 kilometers of clean sand, warm water and very few people. Per mia grande fortuna sono stata per una settimana a casa dei miei cugini sul Gargano ed ogni giorno siamo andati su questa bellissima spiaggia - 17 chilometri di sabbia pulita, acqua calda e pochissime persone. 

I wouldn't mind a bit if I were still there. Non mi dispiacerebbe affatto essere ancora li`.

Nobody's perfect - Nessuno e` perfetto

There is a nine foot tall shrub in the yard that is blooming profusely and with which I am in love. I can't stand the thought that soon its flowers will disappear. I find myself worrying about whether it will be as beautiful next year. Fortunately it's not perfect because, you see, it's a Philadelphus (Mock-Orange), but a scentless one, which makes it a Philadelphus inodorus. Can you imagine how unbearable its beauty would be if it also filled the air with the scent of orange blossoms and jasmine? I don't think I could stand it.
Nel giardino c'e` un cespuglio alto circa tre metri che sta fiorendo abbondantemente e di cui sono innamorata. Non sopporto l'idea che presto i suoi fiori svaniranno. Mi scopro preoccupata che l'anno prossimo potrebbe non essere altrettanto splendida. Per fortuna non e` perfetta perche`, vedete, e` un Philadelphus (Fior d'Angiolo), ma uno inodore, per cui e` un Philadelphus inodorus. Potete immaginare come sarebbe insopportabile la sua bellezza se nell'aria spandesse anche un profumo di fiori d'arancio misto a gelsomino? Non credo che reggerei. 

Wild roses - Rose selvatiche

I wanted to buy some wild climbing roses to plant along a fence, but they were too expensive, so I decided to pass on them for the time being. The next day, as a friend and I were removing ivy and sarsaparilla vines (Smilax aspera) from trees and walls, we found wild roses blooming and climbing all over the place. It's a Rosa sempervirens (Evergreen rose) and in the photo above it is entwined in a Rhamnus alaternus (at least I think that's what the small tree is).
L'altro giorno volevo comprare qualche rosellina rampicante da piantare lungo un recinto, ma erano troppo care e, cosi`, ho deciso di soprassedere per il momento. Il giorno dopo, mentre un amico ed io toglievamo dell'edera e della Smilax aspera (Sarsaparilla) da alberi e muretti, abbiamo scoperto rose selvatiche che crescevano e fiorivano ovunque. La varieta` si chiama Rosa sempervirens (Rosa di San Giovanni o Rosa di macchia) e nella foto in alto si e` intrecciata con un Rhamnus alaternus, almeno credo che sia un alberello di alaterno. 

Like a long vacation - Come una lunga vacanza

I garden, I read, I pet the dogs, I nap. The other day I realized that even with various difficulties I am facing here, these could very well be some of the best days of my life, so I need to enjoy them to the max. A vacation spent between Puglia and Naples in May/June of 2010 was also pretty phenomenal, but in a a more dramatic way. A three week trip in 2007 around Italy with my brother and his girlfriend was pretty amazing, and there have been many more exceptional times - I guess I've been pretty lucky.
Faccio giardinaggio, leggo, accarezzo i cani, dormo il pomeriggio. L'altro giorno mi sono resa conto che anche con le varie complicazioni che sto affrontando qui, questi potrebbero benissimo essere tra i migliori giorni della mia vita e, quindi, me li devo godere al massimo. Anche una vacanza trascorsa tra Puglia e Napoli a maggio/giugno del 2010 e` stata fenomenale, ma in un modo piu` drammatico. E poi tre settimane nel 2007 in giro per l'Italia con mio fratello e la sua compagna non sono stati niente male. In effetti ci sono tanti altri periodi eccezionali - mi sa che sono stata molto fortunata.

Remember the two pups when they first arrived?
Ricordate i due cuccioli quando erano appena arrivati qui?