It is the last day of August. The summer has passed. It feels like fall. The temperature was in the upper 90s just a week ago and today it won’t get out of the 60s. It is also raining steadily. Soaking the fields. The growing season is nearly done. The corn is drying on the stalks. The sunflowers are sad and drying as well. The tobacco is halfway harvested. The wine harvest is just starting. I am sure the rain is not appreciated by the vineyards. But it is just raining for today so I imagine the growers can let the grapes dry in the next sunny days and all will be well.
1,365 new cases in Italy. The good news is the summer vacation season is over today. So I hope our numbers will steady, or better yet, decline. 23,000,000 people were on the road going home from vacation over the weekend ! Considering there are only 60,000,000 people in Italy, that is quite the onslaught. I’m glad I wasn’t out there.
School is scheduled to begin in person classes next week. The kids won’t have to wear masks, but the teachers will. I’m not sure of the reasoning for this. They had to scramble for more desks because kids traditionally sit at two person desks. Now they can’t. They also mandated the school buses only carry half of the capacity so there is a shortage of buses. Our Italian teacher told us they have a rule the kids can only be on the bus for 15 minutes. This is creating its own set of problems and issues. For example, her son rides a bus for an hour to his school. Now what? I don’t know the answer.
~~~~~~~ Stay safe everyone. Sooner or later we will get that vaccine. It is the only thing that will really help end this thing. But we mustn’t rush the process. Better safe than sorry. 🌈 Andrà tutto bene!
I had a hard time with my title today. It is definitely not a pithy headline!
Numbers here in Italy have been fluctuating. For a few weeks they crept up steadily. Then the last couple of days they dropped from around 1,200 new cases a day to 800 or so. But yesterday it shot back up to above 1,400. Sigh. At least I know the people in charge are watching it carefully.
I am happy to note, since the closing of the discotheques and the new mask mandate our piazza has calmed considerably. No longer does Cafe Centrale have bands or loud music. They have a sign that all must wear masks. This has definitely dampened the party atmosphere. I am feeling good about this development.
There have been a couple of publicized issues here regarding anti-maskers. It is the law you must wear a mask on public transportation. A German tourist on a Vaporetto (bus boat) in Venice, was forced off the boat by fellow riders for repeatedly removing his mask. He was kept from reboarding by the passengers.
The MSC Italian cruise line started limited cruises out of Genoa along the Italian coast. They have taken extreme precautions to keep the ship virus free. They try to keep everyone in a bubble. All transport drivers are vetted. All shore tour guides are vetted. The rules are if you go into port you stay in your tour. A family decided to go off on their own in Naples even though they were told they could not. When they tried to re-board the ship they were denied. They were left in Naples. ~~~~~~~
I’ve been very good with my walking since I decided to do it first thing when I get up. All my life I’ve excercised in the morning. For 20 years I rose at 5:30am to run. Then I changed to walking with my neighbor In Alexandria and we met outside at about 5:30am everyday. I find if I put off my walk until later, well, I simply won’t do it. It is also more pleasant in the morning. It’s cooler during these hot summer days for one thing. And I enjoy the quiet of the morning.
Today I walked along the river. Behind our house is a colony of feral cats. The latest batches of kittens are out and about. Someone built a little lean-to house covered with plastic and there is food out. No sign of mamma but here are two of the kittens. Tiny ones.
The Tiber in the still of the morning.
~~~~~~ Stay safe all…🌈 andrà tutto bene…spero di si!
In Europe the virus is making somewhat of a resurgence. France has become the new hot spot in Europe. As for Italy, we had 642 cases here yesterday, that is even with the numbers on May 23. It had gotten down to only 100 cases a day at one point. So, there is cause for concern. In my last post I made an error. The Italian officials have closed all of the Discotheques. The spread here, as in most other countries, is due to the young people flauting the rules, gathering in big groups, no social distancing, and no masks. The new cases everywhere are overwhelmingly among the young. But then, they bring it home to grandma and Mom and Dad who tend to get much sicker. I just heard we have 4 new cases in Umbertide. Kids who vacationed outside of Italy and brought it back.
In every country, people experience this pandemic in different ways, depending on what they do for a living, where they live, their race, etc. If they are poor and live in crowded conditions, must work, and have no health care, they have it much worse than someone who is say, a professional, perhaps a white collar worker allowed to work from home who still has insurance and income.
From a Washington Post article… “Not everyone is experiencing the same level of stress, and everyone’s pandemic struggles differ. Any “essential” worker exposed to high-risk conditions day after day has more urgent concerns than someone merely stuck at home and missing out on summer barbecues.“
“No question, epidemic fatigue or pandemic fatigue is real. We are experiencing it,” Markel said. “But throughout human history, there have been terrible pandemics and contagious threats. Every civilization, every nation, has come through to the other side. And we will, too.”
I do know about epidemic fatigue. Just about everyone I know has it. Here in Italy we are a bit freer to do things, but everyone feels the threat of the virus, and has the fear of another lockdown. It kind of looms over us. The US hasn’t gotten there yet. They’ve got a ways to go but I see a downward trend so that’s a good thing. Still, that damn virus will loom over us all. Until we get a vaccine. But humans are pretty adaptive and resilient. Amazingly so. We will get through this…as long as we stay careful until then.
~~~~~~~ Dinner out tonight. With new friends. We went to San Giorgio in the Piazza. It was nice to have a good amount of time to get to know each other better. Here are pictures of what I had to eat.
~~~~~~~ I scored two big, fresh Porcini mushrooms yesterday at the market. They are destined to become tagliatelle funghi for dinner tonight. I adore these big meaty mushrooms. It is not possible to cultivate them, they must be gathered from the wild.
~~~~~ Stay safe everyone. Now is not the time to let down our guard.🌈 Andrà tutto bene…
I was super gratified with all the support I got after my last post from people who regularly read my musings. Thank you! I will keep on posting, I will try to always be fair and I will just try to tell my story. One thing…we’ve been here 6 years. We left during the Obama administration. Many people now are seeking a way out of the US. But that was not why we came here. We did not leave the US because of any disgruntlement. We came here for the adventure. For the opportunity to learn a new language. To experience a new culture. It keeps us young (ish 😉). I will add, we are glad we are here now where it is easier to ride out the pandemic. At least for now…
~~~~~ I mentioned Rocky has been sick. It came on very suddenly. He began sneezing and digging at his nose and face with his paw. His eyes got very runny. We waited a bit and he was no better so we took him to the vet. We had only had gone to the vet once since we have been here and that was merely an introduction visit.
I had thought it could be a dental problem since he has never had any dental work done. But, in looking at his teeth I saw no obvious problems. Laura, the vet pretty much only did one thing. She listened to his chest and said he had some congestion. She didn’t take his temperature, nor did she look at his teeth. I asked her to do that. She said his teeth looked good for an eleven year old cat. I was kind of disappointed she didn’t do any more extensive examination. She gave us an antibiotic prescription and we made a follow up appointment.
I spoke with our friend Paul who is a retired vet here and he said they don’t want to spend your money so you have to pretty much ask them to do any tests. But if you’re not a vet I don’t know how you’d know what to ask for? It is actually similar to our own care here. We must advocate for ourselves at our doctor and if we want a test we have to ask for one. It’s not at all like in the US where they, many times, do too many tests and procedures.
So, we returned yesterday. Rocky seemed much better. No sneezing, no pawing his face and his eyes weren’t running anymore. She listened to his lungs and said they sounded clear. I hope that is the end of the saga. We have lots of friends who have sadly lost their pets in the last year or two. And some still deal with chronic conditions. They all tended to go to a vet in Foligno, a town about an hour away. Maybe if either of our cats ever gets very sick, and I don’t feel confident in our local vet, I may go there.
Recently, I had a comment on my blog that said, “I’ve noticed that people who have made life changes and are thrilled with their choices often will then mock or downgrade those or situations they’ve left ”. Wow. I hope most people who read this blog don’t feel like I come across this way. I certainly don’t feel this way. I am happy with my new life, yes, but would never, ever “mock or downgrade” people in the US.
My Ferragosto blog post had a paragraph at the end where I expressed my concern for my fellow Americans and their difficulties right now. Maybe it was the way I worded it. To clarify…. I’m sure not everyone is experiencing difficulties but I know from what I see, and read, that there are a lot of people hurting out there right now. I do realize there are also many people unaffected financially who can do most of the things they have always done. I am happy for them. I just meant to express my concern for those not so fortunate.
I write my blog because I want to. It is not commercial in any way. It is a way for me to remember my life here. I can go back and re-live things if I want. I am gratified that some folks like to read it…thank you!
Mostly I try to stick to relating everyday events going on here. Back during the lockdown in Italy, I felt like I needed to relay all we were going through. So I posted for 83 days straight. I feel that is quite an accomplishment. As you can imagine it was a roller-coaster of emotions for me.
Sometimes I do compare the US and Italy. They are my two countries after all. I enjoy my life here, but remain interested in all that is happening back home. And I vote. What happens in the US affects us too. We are still US Citizens after all. ~~~~~~~ OK then. Enough of this. We are in a new week. It will remain hot for the foreseeable future. We have been dealing with a sick cat. We went to the vet last week and she put Rocky on antibiotics. He is much better. I don’t know why he was sick but I am really happy he is feeling better.
This one is Simba, Rocky’s brother. He always looks so comfortable when he’s sleeping.
~~~~~ I recently read that the Italian government has become concerned due to the rise in new cases of the virus here. They have added requirements that anyone traveling here from a few countries, Malta, Croatia, Spain and Greece (for now) must be tested before they can come or return here. They also have instituted new requirements that between 6pm and 6am, everyone inside or out must wear the mask and socially distance at Bars and Discos. There has been an uptick in young people getting Covid and it is related to the fact that the bars and discos have huge crowds of young people partying together and not being careful. Schools are reopening so the concern is the kids will bring it into the schools. We are not out of the woods yet. I’m glad Italy is being vigilant. ~~~~~~~ Stay safe everyone! 🌈 Andrà tutto bene.
Our first Covid case in months has been announced by our Mayor. A man, who returned from travel in the north of Italy brought the Virus with him. He is being isolated and there is contact tracing so I’m hopeful this will be a one off. We will still stay vigilant. ~~~~~~~
This is Sunday. Beautiful and hot. Just like August should be. Yesterday I made summer soup. A mish-mash of a few recipes I read. It is delish and people have asked for the recipe so I’ve included in the recipe bar above.
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Today, we decided to visit Calagrana for Pranzo. It had been too long. What a big crowd they had! Yay for them. A few pictures. The view from their terrace is always beautiful.
My lunch was excellent. My first course was amazing. Deconstructed gazpacho. But…I ate it before I thought to take a picture. Sorry. But I did take a picture of my next course. Seared tuna with a poached egg. Yum.
This next one is for my friend Jen who always loves anything fashion. These shoes, worn by the lady at the next table, and the purse to match, were amazing.
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Last night we had the most amazing cloud formation. I suppose it was a thunder head. It towered maybe 50,000 feet into the sky. Love the sun coming over the top. Or maybe it is not coming over the top. 🤔
Today is August 15, also known as Ferragosto. It’s the holiday in the center of the month of August, which itself is the big vacation month in Italy. It is also a religious holiday — The assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption day.
Ferragosto originates from Feriae Augusti, the festival of Emperor Augustus, who made the 1st of August a day of rest after the weeks of hard work of the agricultural sector.
The popular tradition of taking a trip during Ferragosto arose under the fascist regime. In the second half of the 1920s, during the mid-August period, the regime organized hundreds of popular trips through the fascist leisure and recreational organizations of various corporations. The initiative gave the opportunity to less well-off social classes to visit Italian cities or to reach seaside and mountain resorts. The offer was limited to 13, 14 and 15 August, and comprised two options: the “One-Day Trip”, within a radius of 50-100 kilometers, and the “Three-Day Trip” within a radius of about 100–200 kilometers.
Today, here in Umbria, everything except for bars and restaurants, are closed today. If the Italians aren’t at the beach they are eating and drinking and having fun. I’m happy for them after all they’ve (we’ve) been through this year.
It still is a mystery to me, though, that people whose businesses were closed for 2-3 months and with the economy in the toilet, can still go on vacation. I still see “closed for vacation” signs everywhere. I noticed Bar Mary is closed for three days from today. Normally they take a week in summer. At least they are at the beach as we speak 🥰. Maybe it is the safety net the Italian government has put into place for its people. And they even have incentives for people to go on vacation. The people get to go on vacation and it’s a boost to the hard hit tourist industry.
It is certainly a lot different from the US right now. No one seems to be helping our hard hit populace. No one can afford a vacation. I worry about them paying the rent or mortgage, or even having enough to eat, for heavens sake. Molto triste. 😢
~~~~~~ Please let’s all work to stop this pandemic. We all can help. Andrà tutto bene 🌈
Things have been changing around Europe (and the world) with the virus. Italy has had an uptick, but the numbers are still low compared to many countries like the US. And we have good tracking and testing methods in place. And quarantining.
We are having a lot of people from other places In the EU come in. As well as some other “allowed “ countries, also immigrants from many places. Many of these have brought the virus as a “gift” to us here in Italy. 😕
I’ve also been reading the US newspapers and watching this reopening of schools. I’m seeing it as a poorly thought out strategy. Super dangerous to so many.
In Georgia a high school opened. They said they couldn’t mandate the kids wear a mask. But they can punish a girl for wearing spaghetti straps, shorter skirts and scooped necklines (all prohibited by dress codes), yanking those girls out of class for “distracting” their fellow classmates with scandalous body parts like knee caps. 😳 oh my! Kneecaps! So tell me…if they can make a girl comply with dress codes…why can they not make the student populace wear a mask? Hmmmm? 🙄of course they can! Don’t be dopey.
~~~~~~ Life in Umbria is good, but we also have upticks. Seven Franciscan monk acolytes from all around the world arrived infected, and from them many other Monks in Assisi. A bunch in Passignano from an Romanian guest worker. Perugia has had an uptick also from guest workers. Marsciano 2 cases, both Belgian tourists. I, for one am hanging pretty close to home. Good food, wine and views. Summertime is splendid here.
~~~~~ Andrà bene 🌈 You are your own keepers. Stay safe.💕
Una bella domenica! A beautiful Sunday. Our weather has settled down into August. Typical hot weather. But at least it’s not scorching. Highs from 35C today up to 37C later in the week. That’s 95F to 98.6F for you non-metric folks.
Anyway, I decided if I didn’t walk in the morning I wouldn’t walk. So off I went about 8AM. My intention was to walk along the river. But I was thwarted. There was a sign that said “International Fishing Competition”. And there were maybe fifty people with all their gear along the river, blocking my way. This is not unusual. It happens almost every weekend here. I paused to take some pictures.
Fishing here on the Tiber is a “Big Deal”. This is the fishing capital of Italy. Really. I’m not making this up. As with most things, it is very orchestrated. The participants gather In Umbertide, and are given numbers which correlate to spots along the river. They all then go rushing off in their vehicles to set up. You don’t want to be on the narrow roads leading to the river at this point 😳!
Once they get to the river they unload and start preparing for the starting gun. The fishing here is NOTHING like any fishing I’ve ever seen anywhere before. They don’t cast. They have very long rods that are in pieces that they fit together to extend them about 10 meters or 35 yards out over the water. I looked this up and I think it’s a form of Feeder Fishing, although none of the pictures had rods as long as these. They have complicated stands on which to prop the rods during construction and afterwards to help hold them above the water. They have very fancy, collapsable chairs with matching umbrellas. And a creel which is a canvas tube which goes down the bank into the water in which they keep any fish they catch alive. The fish are never kept, but returned to the river afterwards. The Tiber teams with fish. The fish are Common Carp, Common Barbel, Common Roach, Catfish, and Asp.
When I got down on the path, it was dead silent. Everyone was intent on getting everything set up perfectly and not scaring the fish (I assumed).
This looks chaotic, and it IS! It is a sea of poles!
A little closer to the action. Today I saw my second female fisherman ever. It is a mostly male sport. Today, though, a lot of women had accompanied the men. I believe since this is an “international” competition these people could be from far away and the wives don’t have much to do. They sit in the shade and looked quite comfy.
Note the creels going into the water. This picture looks almost organized. Now, they wait for the starting gun. We can hear it from our house and these competitions happen almost all year, but mostly in the spring, summer and fall.
This is a mini trip report. We decided to do an overnight to one of our favorite areas, Abruzzo. We also traversed Le Marche on the way. The motivation was to revisit a restaurant we had visited a couple years ago that we really liked then, and also to arrange a winery visit and tasting. To get away for a while. Change of scenery.
We were just coming off of a bad heat spell that had broken with storms. We left on a Tuesday morning with fresh air and sunshine. Perfect top down weather. We drove south through Spoleto and headed east along the river and through the gorge that cuts through the mountains to Norcia. Then over the mountain pass and down into the flats near the Adriatic sea.
Our winery, called Tenuta Torretta, was up in the hills just into Abruzzo. We had an appointment at 2:30. We were having some pretty spectacular thunderstorms. The winery had amazing views to the Gran Sasso mountains and the sea. And a ringside seat to the lightening show as the storm moved up the coast.
Here is the storm over the Adriatic. Lightening streaked from clouds to ground as we watched.
Later, after the storm passed. The sea is a pretty aqua.
Here is the view towards the Gran Sasso – I’m sure it’s spectacular when the storms aren’t around.
The view out over the olives and through the vineyards is gorgeous.
We were met by Cinzia (the Italian version of Cynthia, my sisters name). And afterwards her sister-in-law and her father. It became a real family affair. I think they have missed having visitors during the Corona lockdowns. Anyway we sat outside at plastic tables and tasted three whites, a Vermentino, a Pecorino, a Chardonnay. The big surprise was the Cerasuola, a wine made from Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grapes which they allowed to sit with the skins for only half a day. Then the skins removed. But in that short time the wine becomes quite red, redder then a Rose but served chilled just the same. And more full flavored. Then we had two reds. Along with the wine we had good bread and sausages.
I liked all the family. The two sisters were super friendly. And the Dad mostly talked to Luther about the winery. He was probably our age. We bought three cases (of six). It was WAY more than a tasting and I think it lasted almost 2 hours! This is the kind of experience I enjoy most here.
Cinzia.Dad.The brother is missing. They missed having visitors I think!
Here are pictures of the wines we tried and the sausage nibbles we had along with bread.
Cerasuolo. Interesting cross. Not quite red, not quite rose, and served chilledCerasuolo – see the color?Chardonnay. Vines were very old.
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo – the big red of this region.
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We headed down to our destination for dinner, Villa Maiella in Guardiagrele. The hotel is mostly empty. From the breakfast tables there were five rooms occupied. It is also a very basic place. It sorely needs an upgrade. The bed was comfortable enough and the AC was great.
The claim of this place is its restaurant. It does not have an a la carte menu. Just tasting menus. Differing sizes. We didn’t feel up to a 12 course dinner so we chose the smaller menu. It was good-ish. Not as good as I remembered from last time. The biggest downside was the dining was inside. Widely spaced tables but still, I am not comfortable in an enclosed, interior space. And most tables were full.
Good bread.Stuzzichino – gift from the chef.Gift from the chef. Mousse.Chitarra di patate – literally, Guitar of potatoes. The circle is pasta made from potatoes. The type (shape) of the pasta is Chitarra. Loved this course!Bianco di tacchino con finocchi, arancia, nocciola – Turkey 3 ways.Ravioli di burrata allo Zafferano deL’Aquila e Lenticchie di Caprafico – mmm mmm good.Stinko d’Agnello – Shin of lambNettarine e bavarese biancaOur wine. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.The terrace where people had drinks and got the menu.The dining room. Pretty well spaced tables but I’ve been reading a lot about ventilation carrying the air hither and yon.
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The morning dawned very cool and partly cloudy. Someone said, we went from August to October overnight! We had a nice view of the Gran Sasso mountains, the biggest in Italy and they are now a large park. We had a nice breakfast in the basement. The hotel, after reopening from the lockdown, moved the reception into the basement.
We set off for home, deciding not to visit another winery. We drove through almost continuous thunderstorms all the way up the coast super strata. This highway is very nice. It runs from Bari all the way to Ancona. We turned inland and passed through some of the pretty Marche countryside. The rain finally let up just after we arrived in Umbria. All in all a nice short getaway and change of scenery.
~~~~~~~ Stay safe everyone and be vigilant. 🌈 andrà bene.
