December 2014

December 2014

I started keeping a notebook in early February 2014.  Nothing fancy, just a thing I found in the school/office supply...

November was wet

November was wet

November was wet; we lost a few working days due to bad weather.  Heavy rain damaged the temporary road we...

Momentum

Momentum

By the end of October the project gathered momentum; sometimes it was hard to believe work had begun just one...

Pouring Concrete

Pouring Concrete

The men who made our house are referred to as either operai (manual laborers) or artigiani (skilled craftsmen).  Having watched...

Excavations

Excavations

Excavations began immediately after demolition.  Bulldozers quarried out truckloads of grey and yellow clay soil, leaving a great pit due...

Demolizione!

Demolizione!

Demolizione! In Italian or in English, the meaning is clear.  The brief demolition phase, days after the gru arrived, was...

A Sense of deja vu

A Sense of deja vu

The morning of 20 September 2014 began with a sense of déjà vu.  Once again I watched, as I had...

Making decisions

Making decisions

The letter granting permission for our building project contained several clauses about specific actions: we had to provide detailed information...

October, November, December

October, November, December

Once the house and land belonged to us we began exploring, clearing out, caring for, and taking full possession in...

At First Sight

At First Sight

The house we live in is our third home in Mondovì.  When we arrived from Tbilisi in August 2012 we...