A Day in the Life - Rogliano

Maria is always humming. Whether it's in the kitchen or sweeping up the patio, you always know where she is by the soft singing or humming. At 5' 5"' she appears to be your typical Italian woman, but I can assure you, she is not. The second youngest of 11 children, she was sent to live with her sister in England at the age of 11. There, she learned English, went to school and eventually became a very successful small business owner specializing in catering and amazing food. 
Along the way, when she was 19, she met Keith, who was 17 and the second eldest of nine. A Brit that dated her roommate briefly, they got married two years later and haven't looked back. They now have two daughters, 32 and 39 and three grandchildren, the eldest of which is 20. After living in the UK for 45 years Maria was ready to be near her Italian family again. After working at Mars choloate factory for about the same amount of time, Keith was given a retirement package they couldn't refuse. They now live here, outside of Rogliano, in the Calabria region of Italy.  
Keith loves his gadgets and is hooked into the internet at almost all times. He reminds me a lot of me back in the States. The only thing he loves more than his gadgets (and Maria) is his food. His views are very liberal and he and Maria clash regularly on everything like politics, food, culture and technology, but somehow when they 'argue' they end up more just poking at each other. No one gets actually upset and they just discuss the topic with fierce loyalty to their side. They are the epitomy of opposites. Yet, when you see them together, you can tell how much they care about each other. Which, in my mind is very necessary because this is also one of the most gender stereotypical households I have seen in awhile. Maria does the cooking, cleaning, gardening and laundry. Keith looks after the animals, the general safety and the driving. I would go absolutely crazy in this type of marriage, but it suits them to a T, so therefore it is a happy household to be in.
A typical day starts at 9, which means I am up around 8:15am (2:15am ET) and make my own breakfast from whatever is in the fridge, the garden or the cupboards. I help clean up the grounds, which is by far the cleanest patio and surrounding area I can imagine. Maria enjoys a neat environment and it shows. After sweeping up, it's onto some sort of painting or staining for me. After about an hour or so of working, I'll take a quick break to check out the fig trees for a snack. There is nothing better than figs picked fresh from the tree after a night of rain. The water gets held in the fruit so when you bite into it, the juice is overflowing. Heavenly.  
Around noon, I help Maria with lunch, which she prepares for about 30 or so minutes, sets the table and gets everything just so on the table ready for Keith. Again, this wouldn't fly for me, but they make it work. During lunch, which lasts about an hour, we talk about whatever is new in the world or they tell me stories of their lives and visa versa. This is all over an amazing meal that looks more Ike a gourmet dinner than a 'quick' lunch. The three of us split a bottle of wine, which usually means Keith and I split it since Maria isn't much of a drinker and rarely has more the one glass. 
After a post lunch siesta, I'll help Maria pick figs from their five trees, gather up walnuts or pick from the garden whatever is ripe - usually tomatoes (so many tomatoes), carrots, cucumbers, spinach, and eggplant. On other days we will start working with the produce already picked - like drying figs or making passata from the ripe tomatoes, to be used later for pizza, tomato soup or ragu.   
Around 3pm or so, I'm done with work and catch up on any emails, write a bit and have some time to relax or take the dogs for a walk before helping Maria in the kitchen with dinner. This is as much for me as it is for her since watching her work is an amazing learning experience. She has all these suggestions for "quick" meals, what you can make and freeze ahead of time, and has wonderful recipes she is always willing to share. We spend about an hour getting dinner ready and it is never the same. Some nights may be Italian, but more often than not, they have some sort of British influence. Or Indian. Or Mexican. You never know, but it's always wonderful and it's always multiple courses. We sit down to eat and Keith pours the wine. I have never seen anyone eat as quickly as Keith does. He puts the term "human trash compactor" to shame. The man loves his food - and therefore has married the perfect woman. We chat more about whatever for an hour or so and afterwards, Keith heads out to watch football (soccer) or some other program while Maria and I sit at the table and talk about anything that may be on our minds. The surprising thing about it is, even though we are both speaking English, there is a difference between US English and UK English. Not hugely noticeable, but subtleties and inferences don't come through like they would otherwise so picking your words carefully when talking about a subject you care about is important. We usually talk for about an hour and then clean up. 
Clean up is a ritual all in itself. Depending on what cooking pans were used, determines what goes in the dishwasher or not. The range needs to be wiped down every time after using it. All veggie or bread based leftovers go in one container to be fed tomorrow to the sheep or the chickens. Anything protein based like fish, beef, or chicken goes to the dogs and any cheese goes to the cats. The table cloth and place mats get folded back up and put in their rightful place and the plant on the dining table gets moved back to the center, where it belongs. The dishwasher gets loaded and the countertops wiped down. It's a very specific routine that I've gotten down pat. From there, she heads to the sitting room to watch some TV and I head to my room to read. Rinse, repeat, maybe throw in a few lunches in the village and a trip to the beach and all in all, you have yourself a very relaxing three weeks.