223,885 positives in Italy. Up 0.4% – 31,610 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,422 positive cases in Umbria. Up two. 73 total deaths.

1,443,397 cases in the US – 87,568 deaths.
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Bar Mary is open now but just for pickup. You go inside to order, Mary or Irene brings the coffees out in disposable cups and puts them on the lone table out front, no chairs to be seen. As Italians do, the coffee is knocked back within seconds and they are on their way. Coffee culture is strong here but completely different from in the US where people linger for hours in a coffee shop over a huge coffee.

But back to my point, as of Monday, Restaurants and Bars can open with greatly reduced tables. Widely spaced. Does this mean Bar Mary will return the tables and chairs to the Piazza? We don’t know but I will let you know, come Monday.

In summer we normally have a great influx of British into the area. Bar Mary is the bar of choice for them. They have large groups that gather on market days (mostly) and they take up most of the tables, beginning the cocktail hour well before lunchtime. This year they won’t be coming. Their second homes in the hills all around will be empty. And we will miss their raucous gatherings. Perhaps next year…I hope so. I’m sure they all do too.

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Friday night is pizza night, you may remember. But I wasn’t in the mood for a pizza so I ordered the insalatone. Literally the big salad. It had tuna, eggs, mozzarella cheese, another, harder cheese, various greens. I dressed it with the amazing Umbrian olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. It was excellent!

The evening was beautiful. Pretty soft sunset. The wind had died down. Perfect to eat outside. This, we will do more often as it stays warmer through the evenings.

Saturday — kilometer zero market. Gray and light rain. I went out about 10am and bought things for another soup. The pickings were slim. Only one stand sells eggs and I wanted some, but someone had beat me to it. Next week I will have to go out earlier!
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I promised two more iris pictures. They make me think of fancy ladies in frilly dresses!

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Enjoy your Saturday…safely! 🌈

223,096 positives in Italy. Up 0.4% – 31,368 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,420 positive cases in Umbria. 73 total deaths. Up one.

1,405,961 cases in the US – 85,194 deaths.
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I read this yesterday…“The simple act of speaking can emit small droplets that linger in the air for at least eight minutes and potentially much longer, according to a new study. This could help explain why covid-19 cases cluster in places with poor air circulation, such as nursing homes, households and cruise ships. It also shows why face coverings are so important to prevent the spread.”

For those who don’t want to wear a mask…please consider this.

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It is hard to compare different countries and the progress of the virus. For instance, the Johns Hopkins site lists all the different countries and the number of deaths per 100K of population. So, using this, Italy has about 50 deaths per 100,000 people. The US has about 25 deaths per 100,000 people. But, this is a false comparison since it doesn’t take into account the length of time the virus has been growing. Italy is ahead of the US by at least a month and probably more. Therefore Italy is farther along on the timeline meaning it would have higher percentages of deaths related to population right now. To even up the comparison between Italy and the US you’d have to wait a month or more (for instance) from now and compare those statistics in the US with the Italian statistics today to get a more correct picture.

At any rate there are numerous things to skew figures like how much testing is done. Percentage per capita, Italy is way ahead of the US In testing. Also how the deaths are reported makes a difference. Some Covid deaths are attributed to an underlying cause which makes the death rate “appear” lower, again skewing the statistics. In the end, we will need to wait a year or more to get the true facts.

Finally, how the two countries are perceived to be handling this crisis is also important. Italy, for the most part is getting good grades for its unified approach to the shutdown and eventual reopening. The definition (by most of the world) of the way the US is seen to be handling this crisis is —- chaotic. 
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Umbertide news…

Big doings all around town as shopkeepers are sweeping the sidewalks and sprucing up their storefront displays. All, to get ready for the Monday, May 18, reopening of all shops here in Italy. Happy days for our merchants.

We took a walk around town to see all the hustle and bustle. One thing I was wanting to see, was the progress on our nearby grocery store, which was shut down at the first of the year.  It was formerly 2 spaces; one was our large macelleria, or butcher shop. The other was the Conad City, a very small grocery store. I used it for necessities but many towns people relied on it exclusively. So, these two spaces are being combined into a new Carrefour store. It is a French chain very prevalent in Italy. The renovation was delayed by the shutting down of all non-essential construction projects during our lockdown. I am told it will open May 27. My assessment yesterday was that it was nearly finished. They were installing the big freezers and the ovens for rotisserie cooking. And all the shelving for the products. I’m pretty excited to get a convenient store back. And I’m hoping it will be better than the Conad. That is setting the bar pretty low! Believe me! 
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Just LOOK at these Irises! Amazing flowers. We have an amazing iris farm near here — Iris Umbria. I have never seen such beautiful varieties. Jill has some from there in her garden. I’m saving the other two pictures for tomorrow 🙂

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Have a good, and safe weekend everyone! 🌈

221,216 positives in Italy. Up 0.6% – 30,911 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,419 positive cases in Umbria. No new cases! 72 total deaths. Up one.

1,381,696 cases in the US – 83,356 deaths.
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From the Guardian…

…in the US…”Many of the new emerging hotspots, both rural and urban, are in states where governors refused to issue stay-at-home orders, or are following Trump’s advice to relax lockdown restrictions, despite public health warnings about the dangers of doing so too soon.“

“There are more than 1.3 million cases of coronavirus in the US, including more than 81,000 deaths – by far the highest number in the world. There are only 16 states, plus Puerto Rico and Guam, where the number of new confirmed cases is on the decline.“

Please tell me when wearing a mask became an ideological issue? And why?

I know an issue that is very important to many folks who follow my blog is whether and when people can travel to Italy— An excerpt from an article that is talking about tourism whenever it returns for US citizens. Not good news…😢

One thing is sure: Gone are the days of the American abroad, at least for those hoping to summer in Europe this year. The new models on how to reopen European travel do not have room for the American tourist for the foreseeable future…

… The key to any successful reopening in Europe is based entirely on risk assessment, meaning anyone coming from a nation deemed risky or careless will be the first to be banned. Simply put, anyone who has been under the lax American approach to the pandemic….won’t be welcome any time soon.

… Access to previously restricted areas will be granted solely on a passport basis to ensure people aren’t traveling clandestinely to third-party countries to get to a Greek island or Italian beach when they open up. This means that if you have an American passport—as travelers from the U.S. aren’t included—you will be unwelcome no matter which country you are coming from or how long you’ve been there. (That would be us too)

Americans, instead, will have to focus their getaway plans closer to home, like Latin America or Canada—so long as they are coming from a state that is not a hot spot.

For us we will have to content ourselves with traveling inside Italy.  We have an embarrassment of riches so it is not a big issue. I guess we all (no matter where) just need to think of our own home regions and make an effort to explore them.

Here is our plan. We will plot a 2 hour circle (driving) around our town. And we will investigate what we can see inside this circle. This will allow us to drive 2 hours, explore the site, have something to eat, and drive home. A nice day trip. This lets us not need to stay in a hotel…which makes me a bit nervous right now.

Try this in your area…All places have treasures. Enjoy finding yours!! After we do some research I will post what we will try to see. But of course we need to wait until we can leave our region. Soon we hope.

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Be safe – tend to yourselves – be sure to remember and be considerate of others when you go out. A domani! 🌈

221,216 positives in Italy. Up 0.6% – 30,911 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,419 positive cases in Umbria. Up 7 cases which is a lot for Umbria. 71 total deaths.

1,358,901 cases in the US – 81,805 deaths.
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It seems my numbers on yesterday’s post were not updated. So I have done that now if you care about this. They are on the website.

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Wednesday. Market day. I am not going. I don’t need anything. So I will remain inside. It is a rather gray day anyway, but the cheerful hubbub from outside is nice. Like old times. I note, when I compare my pictures from this week and last week, that the same vendors are in the Piazza again. I had thought they may rotate so others would get a chance since fewer can come now. But no, they don’t do this. And now I’m thinking, not for the first time, that I wish I understood the underlying mechanisms of these markets. 

Someone sent a nice list of things that are open for takeout in town now. Just about all restaurants and pizzerias. Also many Bars and Pasticcerie and Rosticcerie I didn’t list here.

I actually have never seen a list of places to eat in Umbertide. There are more than I thought. We will order from San Giorgio maybe instead of Pizza night. It has the best food in town.

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Last night I woke up and my computer monitor was lighting up our office like it was day. What the? I thought to myself. I went in to look and the screen was totally white with a big icon of a folder in the center with a blinking question mark. I rebooted and it seems OK but it kind of gave me a wake up call. My old MacBook Air is pretty long in the tooth. It must be ten years old! And I rely on it for a number of things. I believe I will begin to research new ones today. Nice! Something to do!

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Another day in our march of days. Stay safe…🌈

219,070 positives in Italy. Up 0.3% – 30,560 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,411 positive cases in Umbria. 71 total deaths.

1,323,028 cases in the US – 79,124 deaths.
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A beautiful Sunday. I picked up our meals from Ely. Of the few people there to pickup our food, every single person expressed dismay at the number of people out now, and the lack of social distancing and (sometimes) masks. It makes us all a bit nervous. And next week it will loosen further with more stores open. Umbria has done a stellar job during this crisis. Our numbers are low. The outbreak is under control. I guess in a couple of weeks we will know if loosening up will bring the infection back.

While I was out I  got a few pictures of the nearby park.

Tonight we had a really good meal. Half from Calagrana, half from me. I’m still on a salad kick using the Six Seasons cook book. This time I blanched a bit of asparagus. Then I sliced a spring onion. Added a few leaves of torn spinach. I went out to the terrace and snipped a good amount of chives and added them. Lemon juice from half a lemon, olive oil. Bread crumbs and grated pecorino. Finished with two soft boiled eggs. I pronounced it excellent. The main course was the Vitello tonnato. Classic dish from Torino. Thinly sliced veal on a tuna sauce. It is one of Luthers favorites. Thumbs up all around. Thanks Calagrana!

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I read a good column by Dana Milbank today in the Post. A couple excerpts with which I couldn’t agree with more.

The mindless reopening is as stupid as it is immoral. Does anybody truly believe Americans will return to work while the virus rages? Send our kids to schools without tools in place to stop outbreaks? Put our parents in retirement homes that, without adequate testing, are often death traps? Enjoy a restaurant, theater, flight to Disney World or trip to the mall, knowing it could kill us? Reopening masquerades as a political cause — LIBERATE! — but it is really a lazy unwillingness to do the hard work to defeat the virus, and to restore our economy.

If “we see an uptick again in the covid-19 pandemic coming back because we didn’t handle it right the first time — we still don’t have testing and we don’t have a solution — that is devastating as an incumbent president.”
And rather more devastating for the people dying.

Yes, that last bit…it is truth. People are dying. What cost, a life?
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Be careful with yourselves…🌈

215,858 positives in Italy. Up 0.7% – 29,958 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,405 positive cases in Umbria. 70 total deaths.

1,250,805 cases in the US – 75,423 deaths.
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It is Friday. Another beautiful spring day but a little chilly. Luther got out for a jog yesterday. Not much happening around town. Last night we had a nice tagliatelle with norcina sauce. Courtesy of Calagrana. Very good.

I did my homework for my lesson coming up shortly. My teacher assigns a different famous Italian for me to read about and then retell their story in my own words. This week it is Alberto Sordi. A famous actor and director. I have to admit I do not know many of these famous Italians. It is a little embarrassing. Italians know all the American actors and directors.

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So pretty on the terrazza. It has been dry so I must water the plants everyday. They are growing well. Here are a few pictures. We don’t get sun in the morning until high summer. The flowers are in shade. In the afternoon we get nice sun at this time of year.

These are my sage, mint and the grass our cats enjoy.

In our building there are three apartments, each on their own floor. The first floor (2nd in the US) has a man (Pietro) who lives mostly alone. Sometimes a sister stays there. His mother passed away in the apartment just before we moved in. He is said to be mentally slow, which I believe. His apartment owns that floor and also it owns the old arched cantina beneath the building, and a big garden. Normally Pietro works in the garden. He is very good at gardening. All vegetables. But, sadly, not this year. It lays dormant. I do covet the garden.

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Be careful everyone! Stay safe, wear the dreaded mask…🌈

211,938 positives in Italy. Up 0.6% – 29,079 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,394 positive cases in Umbria. 70 total deaths. No new cases!

1,172,670 cases in the US – 68,326 deaths.
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Tonight’s dinner was also courtesy of Calagrana. Wonderful farro salad with seafood and a balsamic drizzle. Oh my god. It was sooooo good. There were tons of shrimps, octopus, mussels, squid. We really enjoyed it! Thanks Calagrana!

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New day! I went for a walk with my friend, Susan. Because I CAN! What freedom. How sweet it is! She met me outside and we walked upriver since she hadn’t been on my side of the river in months. I say my side because both she and I live along the river. The town walls go along the river and houses are built into the walls. We live at kind of the ends of the walls at opposite sides of town.  

So we walked along turning down the path which runs behind my house to the river. There is an apartment with two big sliding glass doors right next to Bar Mary. I had wondered if it was the apartment of the artist who had passed away a couple of years ago. So I asked Susan. It is a lovely looking space. It has  pretty white modern furniture inside, not typical. It is also where the little Jack Russel terrier lives that I see out with a nice looking gray haired man. I know this because I’ve seen him sitting in the windows. The dog is never on leash when outside so he’s noticeable.  And if you see the man, the dog can’t be far away.

Anyway, the window on the left was open to the outside air. The other window was curtained. As we stood there discussing this stuff suddenly the curtains were pushed back and there stood the man in is black bikini underwear!! Oh my! Susan and I quick started walking behind the hedge. I’m sure he was as surprised as we were! Hah!

We headed up the river and before long came to a long row of fishermen. I’m sure they were happy to be out fishing for the first time, and I’m sure their wives were equally as happy to have them finally out of the house! We turned into the fields away from the long poles blocking our way — away from the river.

This took us out among the farms. I snapped a couple of pictures of the typical farms.  These farms are comprised of big fields, newly planted in corn, wheat, sunflowers or tobacco. The farmhouses sit among the fields and are surrounded by fenced in growing areas with a few grapevines, usually enough to make wine to get the family through the seasons until the new harvest. Also small orchards of fruit trees, large gardens of vegetables for eating and canning for the winter,  chicken coops with lots of types of poultry. Of course pens of sad hunting dogs living their lives in, what I consider, horrible conditions. A friend says it is all they’ve ever known so they live and die in the pens. In the fall they are let out to hunt. Until they are too old or don’t do their job well and are disposed of. It is a sad fact of life here — the old ways don’t change. Of course there are also the pet dogs, and many, many cats and kittens in the yards. These yards are immaculately groomed with ornamental bushes, trees, paths, eating pavilions, etc. Anyway, these two pictures are of the typical farms outside of Umbertide. We can see them from our apartment in the distance.

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Tomorrow is our newly revived, if abbreviated, mercato.  It will be a bit of new excitement for Umbertidese. I will be reporting on it tomorrow…

Stay safe everyone…🌈