7 Chairs need Repair and Upholstery

These chairs are our dining chairs. We have three pairs - plus one. Two of them cannot be used at the moments since one is totally unstable, and one just got its backrest broken. The others are in a not much better condition.

In fact, since we got them, they were supposed to get a makeover, repair where needed and new upholstery. But so far we had no time. Since we could sit on them, we used them last summer and this spring. It had its charm. But now, it is really time to focus on them, before more brakes apart or people land on the floor.

Angelo will take care of the repair. Not sure, if he can do it by himself or if he is going to give them away. And my job is to look for suitable fabric.

Now, that sounds like another fun project. Since the chairs are all different, we were first thinking of different fabrics for each chair, or maybe for each pair. We could go with blues and yellows, or with purple as a contrast to the yellow wall. We could choose one pattern in different hues. Or one color in different pattern. - But don't we have enough "noise" in the dining and living area? I remember, I counted once six different colors on walls alone. And then my crazy, stunning, tile mix in the kitchen.

But why musing, when I can find out what fabrics are available at the biggest Jim Thomson outlet in only 10 minutes! (While Thailand and myself are suffering from the heat and I cannot enjoy Italy's spring right now, why not check out the cool air conditioned JT outlet with its friendly and well English speaking young salesmen? But the 10 minutes drive are generously calculated when there is no traffic in Bangkok. )

Fabric paradise, pattern delight, silk, cotton, linen mix, stripes, prints, pattern in all colors...

My choice were the more simple and durable fabrics - here some of my swatches of "beach sea sky" colors, some cotton, cotton/rayon, cotton/polyester and silk/linen:

Or we could go more colorful with only one pattern:

But that means no more table clothes - so far we use colorful table clothes from the local markets (I took it off for the picture above).

After all, maybe better to choose a light blue fabric that caught my eye first. It is a linen/silk mix, not ideal for dining table chairs though, a bit delicate as the salesman said. The texture has a bit of a rough, natural touch from the Thai silk, and the calm light blue would match our interior.

If we wanted to add more diversion, this fabric is available in different shades.

Or how about this waterproofed blue/golden cotton/polyester mix? It is impregnated by a special coat on the back and it's on sale. 290 Baht/m (about 7 Euro/meter), with a width of 140cm it gives upholstery for two chairs per meter. Ah, too much choice!

Prices are not bad at the outlet, and Jim Thomson stands for quality. I have a sofa upholstered with a creme white cotton fabric by JT. It is over 12 years old and survived many guests and kids. After each machine washing it looks like new! So, I might carry some fabric from Thailand to Pizzo in my travel bag this summer.

But now, I wait for CC to return from a business trip. Let's see what he thinks... he might not like any of the swatches. Or his mother will skype and say she just found some cheap and beautiful fabric in the market, and that's why she bought it already for us...

competent JT staff cutting and labeling a fabric swatch

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Jim Thomson - Outlet Store
Sukhumvit Road Soi 93
Bangkok - Thailand
open daily from 9am - 6pm

The First and the Last

Although, the weather this April was not very gentle with us, we enjoyed the sweet, delicious and refreshing temptations of Italian gelatiere often enough.

My first strawberry granita of the season:

A granita is a semi frozen Italian dessert of sugar, water, and flavorings. My favorite flavours are forest berries and lemon flavour. During the almond harvest an almond granita is very nice too. Originally from Sicily, they are also very popular in Calabria. According to a legend, granita was accidentally invented by a sherbet seller who left her ingredients on ice too long.

My last tartufo in April:

It is said, that the famous tartufo di Pizzo was invented to honor the visit of Italian Prince Umberto I of Savoy in 1943. All gelaterias in Pizzo, there are at least 20 something, offer the famous tartuffo nero ice cream desert. It consists of half hazelnut and half chocolate ice cream with a heart of melted dark chocolate, covered with cacao powder. Every single tartufo is handmade. And very gelateria has its one recipe. So, if you ask a Pizzitani, who is making the best tartufo ice, you will hear lots of different opinions.

Since Belvedere was closed on Tuesday, our last day, we went to Ercole. I must say, I like their tartuffo very much! There is a lot of yummy melted chocolate inside. I almost forgot to take a picture, that's why you only see the remaining half.

Bye Bye Italia for now - we will be back soon!

A Moment of Total Happiness

I was sitting on my balcony in the warm morning sun. Already happy, since the weather forecast had falsely predicted another rainy day.

I had put my feet up on the blue railing, holding a mug of hot caffe latte in my hands and was watching the sea.

There was no wind and the sea was calm. It was a peaceful morning and I enjoyed the sunshine. Everything was perfect. Nothing was missing.

And then I saw them. Two dolphins, swimming side by side. They were not jumping - just coming above the surface so that I could see them before diving back into the sea. Slowly, peacefully, almost lazy, coming up and going down again. I saw their backs and fins. It was so beautiful, so perfect. Just in front of me, about 100-150m from the shore.

I had tears in my eyes, so overwhelming was this moment.

I was alone, I had no one to share this moment. My husband had gone jogging and my son was still sleeping. The guest had left already. I called my son out of bed and a couple of minutes later he appeared sleep drunken on the balcony blinking into the morning sun, but the two dolphins were gone.

I felt absolutely happy, excited and thankful for this precious moment.

Mare Mosso or When I felt like living on a Cruise Ship

Unbelievable waves today! 
Our house so near to the waterfront made me feel like living on a cruise liner today. 

Impressive and scary, the power of nature. Mare mosso means moving sea - today, the ocean went wild!

The photo is just a visual reproduction. The roar of the crushing waves all day long is something else. I took a short video. I will see if I can upload it next week. Also I will post more pictures soon.

There are only a few days like this - during winter usually.

A Day at the Beach

According to the weather forecast, today was the last day of sunshine before a week of rain.
So, we went with the kids to the beach to enjoy the sun. There is a little nice beach at Vibo Marina called Proserpina, where we used to go in summer every day before we had the house in Pizzo.
This beach is located behind the yacht haven of Vibo Marina and has a pretty view of Pizzo in the far.
While this beach is serviced in summer with sun chairs and umbrellas and the sea is calm and shallow, ideal for kids, today it was deserted with pretty waves.

There was a family - probably from Northern Europe - their kids in bathing suits had no problem to jump in the ice cold water.

For our son and nieces, who had seen the sea for the first time in their lives here in Calabria, it was a big joy to run up and down the beach, run away from the waves and collect shells. It was a very beautiful and warm late morning.

At 1pm we cleaned sandy feet and went for a pasta at la casa della Nonna.

PS:
At the moment, I am blogging via iPhone and can upload only one pic per post. - I am probably going to add some pics later when with a real computer.

Also this time, the Internet is lousy down here in the South. If available, it's slow... We are with WIND now, last summer we had TIM. I guess this makes the difference, although we were told everybody in Calabria is with WIND - mmh?!