George Clooney in Castel del Monte - Update

We set off round the mountains to get to Castel del Monte, one of the most beautiful villages in Abruzzo. There was a slight hidden agenda on my part. My quest to meet George Clooney in person. However, I had forgotten that in Italy this weekend is a long bank holiday due to All Souls' Day.

We got to an eerily quiet Castel del Monte 50 minutes after setting off from home. Only 10 miles away as the crow flies, but you have to drive up and down and over mountains and encounter a lot of perilous hairpin bends. Why was the village so quiet? Where was everybody? Where was George? The evidence that a film was being shot in the village was all over the place. Lorry after lorry of cinema/tv production sets were parked up in the centre. Where was the buzz of the international film crew?

Lots of notices everywhere informing the villagers that 200 camera crew plus 500 extras would be invading the small mountain village from 15th October to end of November. The whole village to be transformed into a film set. Ok, so where were the villagers and the 700 extra American and international crew? K and I seemed to be the only people wandering through the bitterly cold streets......

A prominant notice made my heart sink. The filming of "The American" would recommence on Monday 2nd November. I grabbed a local and asked" Do you know if Mr Clooney is here? "Oh no, my dear. He left yesterday and he'll be back tomorrow". End of dream.

A bit of Local Gossip
Not one to be disheartened so easily, I accepted this and hit a local bar and B&B called "Osteria del Lupo", where I drowned my sorrows with 2 lovely glasses of Abruzzo wine and 2 lots of absolutely delicious homemade bread drizzled in fresh olive oil. I spoke to Stefano, the barman and son of the owner and asked him about his feelings on the effect of the film on the village as a whole. He told me it was a fantastic thing and it was doing wonders for the local economy. He told me Mr Clooney had integrated with the locals and that he was very friendly and amenable. Two weeks had already passed and everyone had accepted the temporary disruption to their daily life with great patience and understanding. A lot of the locals had been cast as extras. It was interesting chatting to Stefano and the bar was very lively and atmospheric. Tomorrow evening, scenes of the film will be shot right in front of the bar so I guess the bar will become very famous! Thank you Stefano for making us feel so welcome!


Halloween: "Miss Strega" Contest
Having viewed the information on the Internet about the yearly "Miss Strga" (Miss Witch") pageant held in the centre of the village, we left the cosy bar in search of the venue. We were informed that due to the sudden very cold weather, the event would now be held in the local sports hall. When we arrived, we found all the local villagers waiting for the children to do a "Halloween" parade. A jury would be present, to vote for the best costume. The hall was beautifully and spookily decked out and children all dressed up in wonderful costumes. We stayed for a while and then decided to make our way home after a most interesting evening.

George Clooney in Abruzzo!

The delectable George Clooney is filming in Abruzzo. He is currently filming "The American" in Castel del Monte, one of my favourite and most beautiful villages in the whole of Abruzzo.

Guess where I'd like to go over the weekend? Castel del Monte is only an hour away from home. It's a beautiful journey through rugged mountain scenery, traversing the spectacular National Park of Abruzzo. Yes, I really would like to see George Clooney in person. I wonder if that is going to happen? I'll keep you posted!!

A Parade of Witches
I have discovered that tomorrow evening on Saturday 31st October, there is going to be a "Night of the Witches" Halloween parade in Castel del Monte. This looks like a fun event! The people of Castel del Monte are hoping George Clooney will attend. Must get K to definitely take me there tomorrow!!

Halloween

There are some excellent Halloween ideas for lessons and videos from Tech ELT Blog.
There are some great Halloween Ads from the English Blog.

Olive Oil Cultivation 2009

Our olives have been pressed at the local olive mill and we have been to collect the olive oil today. The label said "L'inglesi" 22kilos. This relates to 24 litres of pure extra virgin 100% olive oil. We are very proud olive oil cultivators. This is our third harvest. First year: 4 litres, 2nd year:18.5 litres, 3rd year 24 litres. The trend is going upwards so I suppose this is very good news. Mother nature has played a great part in cultivating the olive trees as opposed to any natural expertise on our part. The lady at the mill said the olives were "heavy" this year, due to the huge amount of rainfall we have had in Abruzzo recently. The local word is that it's not been a good year generally throughout the region. As of this afternoon, our barrel is full and we are looking forward to savouring the contents in the many months to come.


We spent 2 and a half days in lovely, warm sunshine, picking the 50 out of 60 olive trees. 10 trees are still very young and so did not produce anything. Maybe next year.

A difference in Colour


This is a photo taken today of the freshly pressed olive oil on the left and last year's olive oil on the right. The difference is in the colour and texture. The fresh olive oil is much darker, cloudy and stronger smelling. It's a fabulous smell. The older version smells much sweeter and is very light in colour and of course, just as delicious.

These 2 small glasses of our oil on a balmy late afternoon represented the past and the present. Here was our vintage 2008 alongside our new -born 2009. It was indeed a moment to savour. We can only wonder how the 100% extra virgin olive oil is going to mature over the following months.

Transhumanza time again!


Our dirt track road was full of sheep making their way slowly across the fields going to lower pastures for the winter. This is known as Transhumanza. We met the very same sheep about 5 kilometres away on our way home from errands. There were 4 Isabella look-a-likes protecting the sheep. These Maremma Pastore Abruzzesi dogs are renowned for fiercely protecting their flock of sheep from wolves and other predators. They are usually a white colour and very tall.

Isabella
Below is a picture of our very own Pastore Abruzzese.


Joe
An English "gentleman cat" in Abruzzo having the time of his life on the balcony today.

Hyla Intermedia
This is a frog I spotted on one of the olive trees I was picking yesterday. It is called an Italian Tree Frog. I was shocked to see a frog on a tree! I thought that only happened in Latin America. I had no idea that there were tree-climbing frogs in Europe. I have learned something new! It was very small and the colour was an exceptionally vibrant green. This first shot was taken by K at the height of the day. I love the symetry as the frog has tucked its leg in to minimise its profile.

This picture was taken at dusk as the frog was preparing for its night-time soiree and so you can see its legs unfolded. I love its big sticky toes used to stick onto the tree trunk! It reminds me of some alien from a 1950s sci-fi film!!

An Awe-Inspiring Abbey

Yesterday we went on a trip to visit the 9th century Abbey of San Liberatore within the Abruzzo Majella National Park. It was less than an hour away from home. I had been inspired by a post called "Five go to San Liberatore!" by the excellent and informative AboutAbruzzo.com Blog.


Everything was as described in the posting. I was most impressed by the beauty of the ancient abbey. The entrance was imposing and beckoned us in.



Inside, we marvelled at the beautifully intricate mosaics on the floor. We looked at the ancient frescoes on the walls. We were the only ones in the abbey and it was blissfully quiet and spiritual. Lost in thought, I was transported back in time, centuries ago.


A Stunning Walk

We slowly made our way out of the abbey and then went on an amazing walk around the building, through dense forestation and stunning natural scenery. It was hair-raising in parts due to the recent heavy rain making the walkway rather slippery. We passed through lush vegetation, wooden bridges crossing cascades of water. I felt as if I was back in the Venezuelan Amazon Jungle!

We observed the ebb and flow of the water right in front of us. Sometimes slow, sometimes frenetic. Just like the flow of life.


During our walk, we came across this sign in Latin. Can anyone enlighten me as to the meaning?

We saw some very interesting sort of fungi on this tree.

After our delightful walk we followed the recommendation from the "Five go to San Liberatore!" blog post and walked the short distance up to Le Chateau de la Mer. Unfortunately, it was closed. It is situated in a stunning location high up with a view over the abbey. Not to worry, we will definitely be going back one day to sample its delights!

An Abruzzese Luncheon


We made our way towards home and we saw a sign for "La Cascina Restaurant", which offered "typical Abruzzese" homemade food. We couldn't resist and so we stopped and had a late lunch. It was a very good choice! We had a fantastic meal consisting of spaghetti carbonara, delicious mixed grill with salad and homemade chips, and then last but not least, a wonderful Tiramisu. The price was reasonable, the portions were huge.

Absolutely replete and happy, we made our way home, marvelling at the lovely day we had had. We spotted this unusual tree below and K took this interesting photo.

All the photos above were taken by K. Unfortunately, I mislaid my camera in England. I miss not being able to take my own photos!

A "False Positive"

"Robot Boy" (found on Flickr Creative Commons Licence Content)
I had never heard of this terminology before. Something positive which was false? Something false which was positive? With sinking heart and a feeling of shock, my blog was deleted from the blogosphere by a Blogger robot a week ago. Eleven months of personal work vanished into thin air - into the ether. Just as my blog had started off, out of nothing, so my blog literally disappeared and became nothing once again.


An Encounter of a Robotic Kind
Blogger robots had decreed that Janet's Abruzzo Edublog could be a "Spam" blog. I had had a foreboding message come up on my dashboard warning me of impending doom. "Your blog will be deleted in 20 days unless you submit a report". Now, to tell you the truth, it was pure fluke that I had actually gone into my Blogger "Dashboard" area. I never go into it. There is usually no need for me to be there. So, I pressed the "submit report" button. A message came back to me saying that Blogger robots would be investigating my blog to check whether it was spam or not. They apologised for the inconvenience caused by the "false positive" and I was duly asked to wait 2 days for the human verification process. I waited 2 days. Nothing. I waited 3 days. Niente. I waited 4 days. Nichts. I waited 5 days. Nada.
Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa
Those 5 days were long ones. Very long ones indeed. I had messages of support and sympathy from my Twitter stream, my colleagues and friends. I was going to wait for 7 days and then start a new blog from scratch. This thought filled me with some sadness at the loss of my blog and also some sort of unknown emotion at the thought of a completely new venture. Luckily, as swiftly as it had been "locked", my blog was "unlocked" overnight and it suddenly reappeared, with no explanation. The relief I felt was instant and joyful. It has taken me a little while to get back into the swing of things and write this post. But it's here now and hopefully I have learned a big lesson. Don't mess with the anti-spam "captcha" letters!!! If like me, you fail the test several times, then your blog will be investigated and possibly deleted.

The Robotisation of our Lives?
Are we heading for the robotisation of our lives? Everything we do seems to be pointing in this direction. What on earth would we do if our lives became governed by robots? My blogging life this past week depended on a "BOT" to verify me as a human. This was a bit scary.

Thank You
.........for persevering with my blog during the days of uncertainty. I will pay much more attention now to the anti-spam measures which are there for a purpose.....
Larry Ferlazzo has just posted some excellent links to the "Best Sites to Learn about Robots". Robots have been on my mind a lot recently, so it's a coincidence to have all these links in one convenient place.

My Word Mosaic
I have just learned about this fabulous tool on Jane Hart's excellent E-Learning Pick of the Day.
I have made a mosaic of my blog in the shape of a heart.