178,972 positives in Italy. Up 1.7% – 23,660 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak. 1,348 positives in Umbria. One more death puts the total at 58.
746,379 cases in the US – 41,379 deaths. Wow. So many. 😢 ~~~~~~
I find I cry easily nowadays. I cry at happy things. I cry at sad things. I cry at a beautiful piece of music. I can cry at anything, really, it can be something as stupid as seeing farmers planting their crops…hoping for a better day. Boo hoo…I’m so happy for them! And I cried while watching…
…the evening news here…and there was a very uplifting piece. They announced the closure of a number of intensive care wards in the hardest hit areas of Lombardia. They walked through rooms filled with empty beds and unused equipment. To see the joy of the nurses and doctors was incredibly moving. After all this time, finally the cases have slowed enough that they don’t need all the extra overflow wards for Covid. It makes it all worthwhile to see their joyous faces. These are the warriors. On the front line. Heros, all. And for my friends in the US I tell you, it is worth the sacrifices we’ve made, to be able see this. ~~~~~~
Meanwhile, in the United States… I am so ashamed.
This made me cry too. For an altogether different reason 😡
Sometimes I have to call it as I see it and the differences between my two countries are stark. ~~~~~~~ It is Monday morning. It is gray and rainy. But it just makes Italy’s Green Heart all the more green! If that’s possible. My gardening friends tell me we need the rain. And so do the farmers. So I am happy and will enjoy the rain. And my new terrace plants look happy too.
Happy cat in the garden!
Stay home and stay safe everyone… 🌈 Andrà tutto bene…
172,434 positives in Italy. Up 2.1% – 22,745 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak. 1,337 positives in Umbria. Two more deaths at 57.
718,185 cases in the US – 37,730 deaths. ~~~~~~ Have you heard that one of the sure-fire symptoms of the Covid-19 virus is a loss of the sense of smell and taste? Well, for the last week or so it seems I smell nutmeg all the time. Is that something I should worry about? What do you think? Last night when our pizza was delivered all I could smell was nutmeg. Maybe I have Covid-20…I am not making this up!
~~~~~~~ And what about those poor people stranded in a train station in India?! Oh my. And I thought we had it bad. Wow.
Varanasi, India — The main train station in the north Indian city of Varanasi is a sprawling building that has witnessed its share of delays over more than a century of rail travel. Sometimes the waits are long, and sometimes they are pleasantly short. But it has never seen anything like this.
Inside a high-ceilinged room, a group of travelers from across India have waited in vain for more than three weeks for trains that never come.
They are parents and children, construction workers, managers, pilgrims, students, a lawyer and a marketing professional. They have one thing in common: They were all stranded hundreds of miles from home when India abruptly suspended its passenger trains, which carry 23 million people a day, then imposed a strict nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Ever since, the passengers have spent their days confined to a waiting room in a state of uncertainty worthy of an existentialist play, unable to continue their journeys and forbidden to leave the station.
In some ways, they are lucky. The station staff, accustomed to handling more than 100,000 passengers a day, have busied themselves taking care of the fewer than 50 who remain. Those stranded get three meals a day, hot tea, a morning yoga session and nightly showings of Hindu epics on a newly mounted television screen.
But they are stuck. “Is this life?”
~~~~~~~ Let’s talk about my lemon tree. I got this tree the first summer we were here. All my life I had wanted a lemon tree but it was too cold in Virginia. So I bought this little tree from a nursery. Not knowing much about lemon trees I didn’t really notice that the tree was trained to encircle a metal cage supported by four bamboo stakes, rather than have one central trunk. At first that didn’t matter too much but as time passed it became more and more skewed. So this winter I decided to remove the cage and severely trim and shape it. I removed most of the branches on one side to encourage growth towards the center. It ended up with a sturdy trunk, but it was growing at an angle to the pot. See picture #1 below.
Picture #1. Tree after most of the leaves and branches on the left side were removed.
This next picture has a couple of arrows pointing at a new flower which is a potential lemon, and new leaves. This tree puts out a lot, lot of leaves. Did you know lemon tree baby leaves smell strongly of lemon? Mature leaves do not.
Picture #2. Lemon blossom and new leaves.
Picture #3 has a depiction of lemon fruit if allowed to grow in the main tree. The fruit will be heavy and exert a downward pull straight down from the fruit.
Picture #3 shows downward pull of gravity on the heavy fruit if allowed to grow on the left of the tree.
Picture #4 is my depiction of the twist and pivot the pot would do as it is pulled sideways by the weight.
Picture #4 Pot will topple over from the weight.
And last is Picture #5 showing where I will try to allow fruit to form so it is centered over the pot beneath it. Thus keeping the center of gravity to the right.
Picture #5 showing the fruit centered primarily above the pot.
Well, that was fun wasn’t it? And now everyone will understand what I’m talking about. Do you think this tree is worth saving? Or should I start anew? If I keep trying, I will take pictures as the summer goes on. The fruits start like tiny limes. A lot of them don’t ever mature and fall off when small. The ones that remain don’t get big until autumn and don’t ripen until January. Every year, this little tree produces about 20 lemons. My friend George gave me a great book called The Land Where Lemon Trees Grow. All about the history of citrus in Italy. I know a lot more about it after reading it.
~~~~~~~ Guess who went for a walk yesterday! 😀 My loop takes about 8 minutes per loop. I was surprised at the number of people out. Everyone was alone (except for some young men 😡) so that was pretty good. Here are some pictures I took.
Rosemary are shrubs here, not just herbs.
The small Torrente river which meets the Tiber.
The walkway next to the Torrente.
My friends house along the way.
Annoyed to see five regazzi (guys) gathered together barbecuing. Grrrr.
~~~~~ Buona domenica. The bells are tolling outside calling people to Mass…sadly, no one can go. The day will be fine. I hope you enjoy yours…stay home and stay safe everyone… 🌈 Andrà tutto bene…
172,434 positives in Italy. Up 2.1% – 22,745 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak. 1,337 positives in Umbria. Two more deaths at 57.
653,825 cases in the US – 31,638 deaths. ~~~~~~
I can’t believe today is the forty fifth day since I began posting. That is a long time. It is funny though, how easily we adapt ourselves to our new normal. I’m quite content. Other than missing walks outside, I am doing fine. And speaking of walks. I have devised a circular loop that remains all in the 200 meter limit from my house. I plan to go out for a walk today! Albeit in a loop! ~~~~~~ Someone posted this. It was attached to a tree. I can’t attribute it to an author. But it is exactly how I would have expressed my feelings, had I been a poet. And it is how I hope things will be…
And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.
And the people healed. And in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.
And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses and made new choices, and dreamed new images and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.
One can hope something wonderful can come of this horror we are living through. I’m not going to say anymore because I don’t want to break the spell. I wish it would be so…
Star of Bethlehem…a wild flower. And a volunteer in Jill’s garden. Somehow, it reenforces my hopes for our earth.
~~~~~~~~~ Please, don’t listen to the people urging you to go out again, like before. It is too soon. 🌈 it will all be better soon…If we just stay the course.
168,941 positives in Italy. Up 2.3% – 22,170 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.
1,329 positives in Umbria. One more death at 55.
653,825 cases in the US – 31,638 deaths. ~~~~~~
I really do get my days confused now! If I didn’t have my iPad I don’t know what I’d do! We had our Italian class today. It is one of the only anchors to an otherwise totally random existence. ~~~~~~~~
Weather is warming up again. Yesterday I planted my plants. Very nice to have them cheering up our space outside.
I severely cut back this lemon tree this winter. The problem is the trunk is bent and skewed making it unbalanced when it gets a lot of fruit. So I am going to keep the new leaves from growing on one side so I can encourage new growth the other way. We will see how that works. Otherwise I may have to get a new tree. I can probably re-home this one.
~~~~~ Weekend coming up. Starting last week we decided to make Friday pizza night. It kind of adds a little something different to the weekend.
165,155 positives in Italy. Up 1.6% – 21,645 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak. Best numbers yet!
1,322 positives in Umbria. Up only one case again! Percentage near zero. One more death at 54.
639,664 cases in the US – 30,985 deaths. ~~~~~~
Today is the first day of week six! Our next milestone is May 5, I think.
~~~~~~~~
Today was the day. I was determined to get this damn permessi paperwork submitted to the Poste. We got up early so we could get there at opening time – 8:20am. And so we did…along with about thirty other people! Oh well. I was determined…even if Luther was not. So we joined the line down the block. Everyone had masks and kept a scrupulous 2 meter distance. An hour and a half later we walked back out of the Poste. Mission accomplished. Our appointment at the Questura is June 25. Coincidentally this is also the day our present Permessi expire. Good thing we aren’t traveling anywhere. I guess.
Speaking of travel. We do have some trips planned from far before this virus became our new normal. We are not sure at all they will take place. If they do go forward we will need to figure out some way to get a temporary Permesso.
Already I will be canceling our little two night trip to Slovenia June 5. That border is still closed. I will wait until early May to cancel. Hope springs eternal.
Our big trip is to Germany in late July/early August. We are/were meeting our Australian friends there. We will just have to wait and see but I think the Schengen borders will remain closed to the end of the year. If that is so, it will also impact a cruise we had planned around Spain with my sister and her husband. It was to be our annual get together also coinciding with Thanksgiving.
So, if we can ever be released from our lockdown, our options will be limited to travel inside Italy. Which is fine with me. I’m sure most people would say we have an embarrassment of riches to explore here. There are many places I have not yet seen, and also places I would like to see again. All that said…will I really feel safe to travel? I truly do not know… ~~~~~
My niece and her husband bought their first house. As sometimes happens when you buy a place in one season, the next season brings surprises…as did this house with it’s pretty urban garden full of bulbs. So pretty!
~~~~~ Tomorrow I will share pictures of my newly planted terrace. 🌈 Andrà tutto bene…
162,488 positives in Italy. Up 1.9% – 21,067 total deaths. Best so far! 1,321 positives in Umbria. Up only one case again! Percentage near zero. One more death.
598,670 cases in the US – 25,239 deaths. ~~~~~~
Today is the first day of week six! Our next milestone is May 5, I think.
~~~~~~~~
US news…
The battles go on about the reopening of America.
… as South Dakota’s experience shows, no part of the country is immune to being ravaged by the virus. And rescinding orders that people stay at home — or declining to issue them, as in the case of South Dakota and four other states — offers plenty of peril.
Reopening the country by May is “not even remotely achievable,” said TenHaken, (Mayor Sioux Falls SD) who, like Trump and Noem, is a Republican. “We’re in the early innings of this thing in Sioux Falls.” ~~~~~
Italian news…
Speculation about how Italy will reopen itself. Since A big part of the Italian economy is tourism, they would like to get some of that reopened. Specifically to encourage Italians to tour Italy. The beaches in particular. Italians love their beaches. One of the suggestions is to build little plexiglass cabanas with two recliners inside. Seems ludicrous to me…but what do I know? Italians may be fine with this solution.
Sadly, it looks as though tourism from anywhere outside of Italy’s borders will be a while away. It is being said the Schengen borders will, for the most part remain closed to travel for the rest of the year. The borders will stay closed except for “need”. You have to have certification of this “need”. For businesses, it would allow a person from, say France, to come into Italy, but only for maximum three days, for business purposes. If a person has a need to be here longer they must quarantine for two weeks. In a hotel, or, if they live here, their own house. ~~~~~~
Cold out today. But after this it will get warm again…tomorrow I will plant my flowers.
This morning we made a futile attempt to go to begin the renewal of our Permessi. The Poste Italiene is now allowing one person in at a time. So, there was a line down the block. I guess I should have expected it. We will try again tomorrow. Maybe a little earlier… ~~~~~
I love the ragged edges of this tulip…thanks Jill.
Week six and still going…but a bit of light at the end of the tunnel for Italy. I think most other countries have a ways to go. Don’t give up. Stay home and safe. 🌈 Andrà tutto bene…
159,516 positives in Italy. Up 2% – 20,465 total deaths.
1,320 positives in Umbria. Up only one case. Percentage near zero. (Yay!)
572,587 cases in the US – 23,078 deaths.
~~~~~~
Today is the last day of our fifth week in isolation.
~~~~~~~~
One governor put the choice facing the country in stark terms.
“I fear if we open up too early . . . that we could be pouring gasoline on the fire,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said on CNN. He added: “Right now, the house is on fire, and job number one is to put the fire out.”
I saw the Governors of several states in the NY region (PA, NJ, CN, RI, DE, NY) are joining forces to create a task force to decide on a metered reopening. This is an intelligent plan…
~~~~~~~~
Today is the first day some more stores can reopen here in Italy. It is a first baby step. “Tuesday, April 13th, 2020 will see the beginning of Phase2. Bookstores, stationery shops, clothing shops for infants and children will begin to open for business. Agriculture and certain IT enterprises will begin a gradual return. This will not apply to Lombardy, Bergamo or Veneto regions.”
~~~~~~~
So, I had planned for days now, to do a couple of errands today. I find I put off leaving the house nowadays. It is fraught with dangers! But I screwed up my courage, printed out my Autocertificazione and went out. I opened the downstairs door to the street, keep in mind our street is barely a cars width across, and a Carabinieri car was parked in front of my door! Eek! I strolled, nonchalantly out with my bags of trash as camouflage…my mask covered my face, and made my getaway.
First stop was the Tabbacci. I needed to pay the bills of my friend and had been putting off the trip. Not difficult. One person is allowed in at a time. There is a fence across the counter so you have to keep your distance. Finito!
Then, for the fun part of the errand. I drove out of town to a greenhouse I know to see if they were open for me to buy some flowers. They were! I bought a couple trays full. Petunias, geraniums, those little, teensy white flowers I always get. And a cute little purple daisy-like flower. Oh and I found a nice thyme plant as mine had gotten all woody and I pulled them up. It is still cool outside so the lady, who is always very sweet and tries to speak English to me, said they wouldn’t really start growing much until it warms up some more. I have to marvel, I had a mask covering my face, my hair long and hanging in my face, glasses all fogged up…I haven’t bought plants there in several years…and yet…she still knew to speak English to me!! How!!?
View from outside nursery up the hill to Civatella Ranieri (inside copse of trees) – castle where artists spend six weeks as fellows…normally. Closed until August this year.
~~~~~~ I can’t help but be heartened that we have seen the slightest bit of loosening now. Enjoy your day! I will since I can now plant some plants! Always makes me happy 🥰… 🌈 sta migliorando!
156,363 positives in Italy. Up 2.7% – 19,899 deaths. 1,319 positives in Umbria. Up 0.7%.
546,874 cases in the US – 21,686 deaths. ~~~~~~
Easter dinner. Very scrumptious. Racks of lamb. Potatoes Dauphinois and eggplant with tomatoes in saffron.
Today is Pasquetta…little Easter. It is, and always has been, a holiday when the Italians go out and enjoy nature and celebrate after Lent. Usually with family groups, or friends and a big picnic…or they go to the seashore. Of course, none of this will be happening today.
Being Monday of yet another week on lockdown it is a little depressing. It doesn’t help that the skies are gray. But I know we are marching towards the light at the end of the tunnel. We will get there one day.
Spring flowers – so pretty and cheerful…thank you Jill!
These are magnificent! They are called euphorbias. I have never seen them. Thank you Jill.
152,271 positives in Italy. Up 3%. 19,468 deaths. 1,309 positives in Umbria. Up .5%. This was a slide backwards a bit for us and a large rise in deaths 😢
519,453 cases in the US – 20,071 deaths. ~~~~~~
Buona Pasqua a tutti. It is Easter. People will be celebrating alone or with whomever they live with in their homes. Strange. It really goes against the grain to not gather with family. There are happy excited voices from the little house behind us…it’s a old lady and her husband…nonna and nonno to an extended family…sounds like they are all there today. It’s scary. They are quite old. Maybe the family could have given it a miss this year. Or not. ~~~~~~~
thank you Jill. Green and white tulips.
Yesterday was Sabato Santo… Holy Saturday. An amazingly pretty day. Sunny and upper 70s.
The Sindaco, mayor, of Umbertide did a nice address to the town. We all lit candles and placed them in our windows to honor our dead, and our health care workers here in Italy.
Otherwise we were very productive yesterday. We both did some cleaning, vacuuming, mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms. I also finished our packets for our Permessi renewals. We need to get the packet in as we are approaching the 60 days before expiration day. Not that the Questura are doing anything right now on this.
You may remember back before this viral apocalypse we had high hopes of trying for our Long Term permits. Well, that all has fallen by the wayside. We are still one document short and no way to get it now, so we will just apply for the Permessi again and maybe next year…
I got my sewing machine out as well. It’s plugged in and standing at the ready. Soon I will sew some masks. But we can’t rush into this. ~~~~~~
Easter Sunday. Today I got to go out of the house!! I was meeting Ely (Calagrana) with our Sunday deliveries. I carefully chose my wardrobe…and I carefully applied my makeup. 🤣
I took the opportunity to carry out trash and I also was carrying Ely’s boxes from last delivery. The Carabinieri slowed and watched me walking with my trash…I guess I passed muster as they kept going. Whew! I whizzed across the bridge. And parked behind my bush. Ely arrived, with a fashionable face mask. We unloaded and loaded boxes. It was nice to see another person. Then my friend Heather came, and another I didn’t know…we were all masked. So strange. I was happy to hear from Ely they just “may” be able to survive if they can keep delivering food. It is so worth it to us to support them. We get good food, they can stay afloat. We wouldn’t want to lose them. They are our friends…but also they have a wonderful place which we would all miss.
Sign in my favorite cashmere store downstairs…it will all be better…we all hope so!
Eggplant, spring onions, zucchini…We ordered tagliatelle alla Norcia. Here’s the fresh dried tagliatelle. Mmmm.And finally Hot Cross Buns. A British Easter traditional food….
~~~~~~~ Buona Pasqua a tutti. Of necessity quiet but for the best. Enjoy the day. Stay home…stay safe. 🌈 Andrà tutto bene.
147,577 positives in Italy. Up 2.7%. 18,849 deaths. 1,302 positives in Umbria. Up .3%. 52 deaths total.
486,994 cases in the US. 18,022 deaths. Catching up to Italy 😢 ~~~~~~
I learned a new thing today…don’t microwave your mail! I had heard that was a good way to kill the virus…well, I’m here to tell you it is NOT a good idea. It set my mail on fire…and now I’ll never know what that letter from the American Embassy said! 😂 ~~~~~~
From a news article…liberally shortened for brevity by me.
A community on the (US) Pacific Coast had its own brush with covid-19 after a party appears to have spread the virus among the political elite. It was a birthday party…someone was COVID positive. They spread it. This was in early March. [When the dangers were already known,… Eye roll.]
A dozen got sick, including the mayor. “It’s always the hindsight,” [another eye roll. they knew it was stupid] he said. “We’re all singing ‘Happy Birthday.’ Even if it’s just one person who’s infected, that’s gonna get airborne. It lands on the cake. And we all eat the cake. So there you go.” He had “four days of hell,” complete with headaches and hallucinations. But he emerged with a hard-won respect for just how serious COVID-19 can be.
To not gather, he said, goes against every instinct. But given the potential consequences, those instincts will have to be denied — at least for now. “Humans like to be around other humans. We need to be around people,” he said. “Now we’re just going to have to figure out again how to do that safely.” ~~~~~
Yesterday was Good Friday. Normally there is a holy procession throughout the streets of the old town. The priests, the coffin of Jesus, and a statue of the mourning Mary. The town band playing dirges, and the townspeople following behind. Today, we had nothing. Sad. Below is the empty Via Grilli. Our street. So quiet. Normally the procession follows this street.
~~~~~~~~
Sadly, another Saturday without our local kilometer zero market. What are the farmers doing with their produce? I wish I knew. We have another market box coming from Calagrana tomorrow. I congratulate myself on using up almost everything I got last week, except for potatoes and onions…but they will keep awhile.
Tonight I will have either Pasta with Fava beans, or shrimp risotto. Here are pictures of the beans…
Sitting in the sun, shelling beans.Final haul.
Next I boiled them for about 5 minutes. Now I need to skin them. Then we will be ready for dinner…I think the Risotto will have to wait.
~~~~~~~~ Stay safe all my friends…stay home…🌈 Andrà tutto bene…
