Tuscan garden shed, near Barberino val d'Elsa

Today's subject, a shaded corner of a remote Tuscan garden shaded (ah!) with some kind of flowering vine with orange flowers and dappled light in the foreground. Barberino val d'Elsa is a beautiful little village way out in the country, and this farm was located a kilometer outside of that small town on a dirt road. I bought a bottle of wine there a couple of days ago, following the hand-lettered sign, "vendiamo vino diretto," (We sell wine directly.) There I met the Signora Giotti, a grandmotherly type and we got along just fine in Italian.

Free range hens kept me company as I painted this, their quiet chattering sounding almost human. Signora Giotti chases them around the yard ineffectively with a broom, to no discernible effect.

The Signora told me that I spoke great Italian, and I said, "No, non e vero." (No, not really.) She absolutely insisted, "No, e vero, e buon' Italiano!" Secretly I was so pleased. You see, it brings up a painfully embarrassing story. Proudly, I came to Italy last year with five good friends eager to show off my language skills. In a restaurant, I opened my mouth for my big show-off moment and maybe I choked up with the pressure, but what came out wasn't so great, probably some Dutch came out. And the waitress said, in the heaviest Italian accent, "You know-a, it wood-a be a lot-a easier if you just-a spoke-a Eng-lay-sha." I was mortified. Oh well, my day out in the countryside with the Giotti's was marvellous and even better, my bad Italian is no longer constrained by lack of confidence or regard for grammar or vocabulary.

I bought a couple more bottles of the excellent Chianti the Giotti's make there themselves. Curiously, the price had changed, as Signor Giotti quoted a higher price than I'd gotten a couple days ago. Fortunately, the Signora was there and told him that I'd gotten the "buon prezzi." So cheers to all you blog readers, I toast you with a glass of home-made Tuscan Chianti made by the Signnore Giotti, obtained at a buon prezzo. Thunder rumbles in the background, Fione Apple plays on my miniature portable, and tomorrow's another day.

(For the art-history types reading this, sadly the Giotti's are not related to the famous fourteenth century painter Giotto.)