Castles and crofters

We've been staying fairly close to the castle this week (some of us have to work once in a while, after all). We got invited to pizza night with the croft-dwellers on Sunday (and are hoping they continue to like us well enough to continue inviting us). The group of students seems well-suited to the learning and working environment at the castle. They participate in a workday every Tuesday, and have a fairly rigorous schedule of 17 credits worth of classes (everything from aesthetics to agroecology to the poetry of Ezra Pound). So far, if they're getting into trouble or complaining a lot, we're not hearing about it. They seem like nice people who genuinely appreciate the opportunity they have to study at a place like this.

We're doing some work, too. Every morning, all three of us try to help with morning animal chores. I've been cleaning the donkey stall and walking them to their orchard, and we also feed the rabbits (and talk to them. A lot.). There are three rabbits. Though they may have had names already, J has renamed them: Fuzzytail, Mr. Black (probably Ms. Black, more accurately, but I think "Mr." is her first name), and Other Rabbit (whose name, Phoebe, we've since learned). Tess the cat is also a favorite, and she meows at our door every morning to come in and say hi.

There's also work in the vineyard. S and J did some pruning and picking up sticks at workday yesterday, and we all enjoyed dinner with the students and family (with wine from the vineyard, of course) to celebrate the end of workday.

Some of the time J and I do a little exploring while everyone is in classes or working. Yesterday morning, we took a picnic lunch to an overlook above our castle (near Schloss Tirol, the big castle that towers over us and dominates the view out our kitchen window). Today, we walked down to Meran (the larger town) via the Tappeinerweg (promenade), a lovely walking/jogging path planted with interesting trees and beautiful flowers. We ended our walk with lunch (and gelato) at a cafe, of course, and after all that promenading, we opted for the bus back up the hill.

Even when we don't get too far afield, we still feel like tourists. The last picture is the front door to the castle, leading to the round tower (on the right in the previous picture) that is the staircase to our apartment.