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| McKenna moving |
On oct the
8th we finally put Domaine Gouts de Provence officially behind us,
signing off the house to the new owners. It was a never ending story (read
horror story..), adding tons of stress on body, mind and soul for a good year
and a half. I cannot express in words the feeling of enormous relief, closing
the door to the notary’s office behind me, driving off to our new home. I will
not go into any details, but our family and close friends know all about the
rollercoaster nightmare we had to go through, until literally the very last minute. I’ve not looked back
ever since, no regrets, just so happy to move on.
We feel so
at home here in Olivetta. Like it’s been waiting for us all these years. The
picture feels complete. Destiny. It’s kind of magic… Anyone who’s visited Casa
Lunas and the Olivetta valley, knows what a special place it is. Our ancestors
must have come here praying for sun, rain and good hunting. It does something to
your soul and we hope to share this magic with you. But when???? That is the
million dollar question.
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| Casa Lunas and morning snow! |
We have still not signed the final deed and officially become the new owners of Casa Lunas… We’re still waiting for a decision for unauthorized construction work on the house, done by the owners. Before you can sell a house in Italy, the place goes through a check up. If they discover any irregularities, this has to be settled with the authorities first. A recommendation decision is taken by the building committee at the local mayor’s office, then it’s sent to the authorities in Genoa, who will approve or disapprove. With the official decision in hand, you can terminate the sale of your house. The procedure normally takes 2-3 months… in this case it’s been already 2 years!! It took the building committee in Olivetta 1 ½ year to come to their decision and post it to Genoa. Then Genoa had 60 days to respond. Which they did in the first week of September. Only to ask for more information… which Olivetta sent them in only 2 days (wow!!) Then another 60 days for Genoa to respond.
It’s been 75 days now. We were “promised” to have the decision by Friday last week. Norma, who still owns the house, is a lady of considerable age, slowly running out of energy and is not coping well with the situation. Of course, there was still no decision. It is so frustrating. Without the decision we can officially not become owners, Norma cannot move on (she desperately needs her money!) and we cannot apply for the building permits. Not our cup of tea, this “wait and see” attitude. So we hope the coming days will cast some positive light on the situation!!! Then we”ll have to go through it all over again, getting our own permits… If we’ll get them… haha!!
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| Alex in his new room |
Besides
this mess, ALL is good. Gabriella and Benjamin have settled in to their new
school and they start to really appreciate their new environment. They’re
adapting well with many new friends, new habits, new activities. We’ve got TV
and internet (reasonable speed) installed, so not so cut off any longer from
the modern world. With a teenage daughter, “back to basics” life, wasn’t
exactly popular. Alex, whom we’ve left behind,
has also adapted well with his new “weekend family life”, school,
girlfriend, social life and activities. He’s doing really well at the hotel & restaurant
school, getting top scores in all subjects. Can’t wait to have our “chef” at
home during the vacations and let him loose in the kitchen! Maybe the dream
will come true one day, starting a “family restaurant” !
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| Gaby and Nuts |
Benjamin has started a new sport activity every Wednesday afternoon: Mountain bike! He loves it! Very cool activity with cool guys, ideal sport when you live in the mountains. His birthday is coming up in a few days, but he’s got an advance on the gift: A new bike plus outfit! Gabriella rides every Wednesday and Saturday. I give her lessons on my horse, Nuts, and they’re doing very well together. She does the jumping, I stick to dressage. Perfect match!
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| Simple Nov lunch in Menton |
The
Olivetta climate is fantastic! Autumn brings sunny days with afternoon
temperatures close to 20° and crispy nights, sometimes with morning dew frozen
over. The sun hours are getting to its shortest period of the year, between 10
am to 2 pm. The mountains keep the sun away from the valley in the late
afternoon. But then we’re only 15 minutes away from the sea, where we often go
for a cappuccino and gain a few extra hours! From the photos I’ve posted, it
must look like we drool over a cappuccinos all the time and never work… It is
NOT so. We’re actually literally moving mountains in and around the house. It’s
amazing how much stuff one can collect in a lifetime… we’re cleaning out after
Norma and Rob and I cannot count how many rounds of throw away goods we’ve
sorted and driven off to the recycling station. Bram’s done fantastic work on
the house… it’s so cozy and comfy! We have installed our Scandinavian
fireplace, in stone, which burns and produces enough heat, to warm the whole
house. With 3 good logs in the evening, we have t-shirt temperature around 23°
in the living and it’ll not dip under 20° until we relight it the next evening.
Superefficient!
On Mondays
and Fridays I take time off in the afternoon for my horse and riding. I love
these afternoons on my own and moments of complicity with my horse. He’s sooo
happy in his new environment and it really shows. We’re making great progress!
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| Me and Nuts - best friends! |
So, as you
see, where not doing too bad!! Coming weekend, trip to Grillon to see and enjoy
Alex. Then it’s up to xmas and family get together in Chamonix. Then we move
towards spring, Bram accompanying his mum to Australia for 2 weeks. And there
might be a new adventure trip with Tim coming up. Nothing decided yet. In
between, hard labour! Love the combination. To be continued… Love, The Mul
Olivetta Mob
