Didn’t do much yesterday other than walk down to the bar and have cappuccino. While we were there we saw the little red dog that follows one of the local ladies everywhere. It’s the first time I’ve seen him since last May so I’m glad to see he’s still around.

On the way back we did see another old dog that lives part way up the hill. We had wondered for awhile if the old boy had died but there he was. Colin said he had seen him a day or two ago, but I hadn’t. He actually has a nice little yard to run around in, with shelter and shade, although the photo I got makes it looks like he’s in a prison.

Friday was slightly more productive – we left around 11:00 for a bike ride. We only made it just past the bar before Colin realized he had a flat tire. I got my pump out of my toolkit, but it didn’t help – the valve had detached from the tube so the air was coming straight back out.

Colin headed back to the house to change the tube, while I went for a short ride by myself. I rode to the main road that goes from Perugia to Marsciano – there’s a house on the corner that was harvesting olives the other day and I wanted to have a look, but they were finished and there was nothing happening.

I went back to Papiano, and up to the house – ok – I rode part of the way up the hill, and pushed the bike part of the way. I arrived just after Colin had finished replacing the inner tube and was getting ready to come back down.

We got going again, and rode through the village, turning right at the graveyard rather than going all the way to the main road. It was a lovely, quiet road, and we encountered some olive harvesting.

It was great – the man had a long motorized stick that shook or swatted the branches, and the lady had a short manual rake for the lower branches. Spread on the ground below was a large green net to catch the fruit. They thought it was quite funny that I wanted to take photos of them while they worked.

We followed the road south until it met the main road again, then turned back. I got a bit behind Colin and then had to wait behind two cars that had pulled beside each other to chat and pass some papers between them. I scooted my bike in the grass beside one of them – she unrolled her window and apologized – no problem. It turns out she was the postlady and was handing the fellow in the other car his mail.

Back in the village we stopped at the bar, then rode/pushed the bikes up the hill to the house. The large black cat – we think it belongs to the fellow next door, but I believe other folks also feed it – came for a visit. We gave her a dish of food and of course she wanted more.

She rubbed against my leg and was very purry – I patted her a bit, then she hissed and viciously bit me on the wrist. I think one of her fangs hit a bone and it immediately swelled, although didn’t draw blood.

Had a fairly quiet night – got caught up in a Robert Ludlum book, one of the few I’ve not read yet.

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