On the road to Cannobio!

Thursday 31 August 2017. 

Exploring Brissago

Yoko and I met at the rendezvous point at Horgen ferry station at 9.15, and Kathie arrived shortly afterwards on the ferry. It was raining. We loaded our bags and art materials into her car and set off to drive to the small Italian town of Cannobio. The weather was rainy and we had a slow start due to road works over the Hirzel. Once on the motorway south, we made good progress with no delay at the Gotthard tunnel. We stopped off for a break at a small deli before Brissago, and had a drink and a nice toasted sandwich. I bought some red wine and some rhubarb jam.

Betty's garden and Lago Maggiore

We aimed to meet up with Wendy and Betty in Brissago. just north of the border with Italy. We had time to explore the lakeside town on the shore of Lago Maggiore, before meeting the others in a cafe. Then we drove in tandem to Betty's house in Cannobio, which is located up a very steep hill. As we unloaded the cars, it was still wet and I dropped my phone. To get up to the house, we first loaded our bags into a lift and then climbed up the tricky steps.

We found our rooms - I was in a nice double room with single beds and three shuttered windows. I  felt rather dizzy and rested. The others cooked a chicken casserole prepared by Kathie, which we ate with rice and salad. Then Betty felt rather ill and went to rest. The other four of us played a card game called Apples to Apples. We all had a very early night. I slept badly.

Our art days 

View over the lake from the balcony

Friday 1 September 2017.

I was up at 7.30 and showered in the downstairs bathroom. We had breakfast together of cereal and banana.  I had coffee. Betty said she was feeling much better, and her friend Jessica arrived to paint with us. I worked on the table outside on the balcony facing the lake. I drew the view of the lake and the mountains, which were partly covered in cloud, and then painted it in watercolour. The others did similar views, apart from Betty who tried some drawings based on sketches in a book she liked.

After lunch we continued painting. I did a spontaneous one of a hydrangea, possibly to use as a card design. Then we rested briefly, before driving into Cannobio with Betty. We discovered there was a fair taking place, with many stalls selling crafts and jewellery. We all bought something, and I chose some pink and green earrings.

Cannobio lake front with its colourful houses

Then we stopped for an apero at the Plaza cafe. They served our drinks with a board of canapes! I had a campari soda to drink, as did Betty. Then we had dinner at AD, an Italian fish restaurant beside the lake. The menu sounded very nice and I enjoyed my sea bream with oranges. But some of the dishes of the day were cold.

We returned to the house and went to bed. I woke at about 3am and read my book, The Collaborators by Reginald Hill.  At 4am the lights went out, so I looked at my phone. Laura was awake in Las Vegas so we exchanged news. The lights came back on at 5am and I read a bit more, eventually getting up at 8am.

Saturday 2 September 2017.

As previously, I got up, showered and had the same breakfast as the day before. We started our painting a bit later. Today I painted a set of three trees from the lush garden outside the window. Jessica rang that she couldn't join us today. After that, I was uninspired so I read my book for a while. We had lunch of salad, cheese, bread and fruit. A nice combination.

Showing off our views of the lake

In the afternoon, we sat in Betty's comfortable living room and showed our paintings. We all described what we had produced and why we chose the images.It was quite revealing.

Then we drove into town again with Betty, and parked near the supermarket. We got more shopping for the remaining meals as well as some things to bring home. Italian prices seemed to be much cheaper than Swiss, and they had a good range of wines too. I got some Barolo from Alba.

The Schawinsky exhibition was very inspiring

After putting our purchases into the car, we visited an exhibition by a Swiss-born artist, Xanti Schawinsky, who worked in the 20th century. He was inspired by the Bauhaus school and was a graphic designer. We found his works very interesting and colourful.

We drove home and the others cooked tea of chicken casserole again, with penne pasta and red wine - only Betty and I drank the wine. I did the washing up, before Betty set us a trivia quiz game from a book of various topics. I teamed up with Wendy and Kathie was with Yoko. The questions were rather UK-based and Wendy and I got the most questions right.  We went to bed at 10.30pm.

Returning home

Sunday 3 September 2017.

Saying goodbye to Cannobio

I slept better, only waking once or twice during the night. The dormice in the roof space didn't scamper about at our end of the house, but Kathie and Yoko heard them. We had our usual breakfast, with nutty cereal and fresh fruit, plus tea or coffee. Betty has one of those Italian percolators which make good coffee. The others drank tea. Wendy couldn't find much that she could eat, unfortunately, as she can't have wheat. 

The view of Maggiore from the car

We finished all our packing and took a few photos outside in the sun. We could have done with that weather for our painting days! Then we loaded up the luggage lift to send down, and said goodbye to Betty and Wendy who were staying on for a while. 

My watercolour of the view from the terrace

Kathie, Yoko and I packed all our things into Kathie's car and we drove down the winding road.  We returned home via the same route and  again had no problems with the traffic. We stopped off at the Gotthard South services and had a coffee. We arrived safely and on time at Horgen ferry at 13.15, where Kaz was already waiting, and Richard turned up a minute later. We said goodbye to Kathie who was taking the ferry.

I was happy to be home again and caught up with Casualty on TV. Richard was quite impressed with my three artistic efforts:-)