228,006 positives in Italy. Up 0.3% – 32,486 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,429 positive cases in Umbria. 74 total deaths.

1,562,714 cases in the US – 93,863 deaths.
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Friday – Another bright sunny day. We just finished our Italian lessons. Last night we didn’t go for Aperitivo. I would have said Aperitivi (plural of Aperitivo) but I was corrected by my teacher. If four people go out for drinks, it is Aperitivo. As in we go out for lunch (Pranzo). Not lunches. Or dinner (cena). Not dinners. I just automatically assumed four drinks are plural…duh…what do I know. So tonight for sure!🍹🍹
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From The Guardian — Nine top scientists who advised Barack Obama in the White House are warning that the US has just three months to rebuild its national stockpile of emergency medical supplies or risk further drastic shortages of testing kits and protective gear should coronavirus strike again in the fall.

OK then. Plenty of time if people get on it right away. It would be very good to avoid the mistakes made previously at the beginning of the Pandemic. No excuses.
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I have had a pepper plant fatality. It must have happened during the rain storm. Broke right off at the base. Now I need two more since I had not gotten my Jalapeño yet. Let’s turn our attention to the upcoming weekend. It is supposed to be beautiful. We have errands to do. Groceries and cat litter. Maybe peppers to buy. And two new small pots. Oh, and dirt! 
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Todays soup. Chicken with pozole and cilantro. 

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Be safe everyone and have a nice weekend! 🌈

227,364 positives in Italy. Up 0.3% – 32,330 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,427 positive cases in Umbria. 74 total deaths.

1,541,110 cases in the US – 92,712 deaths.
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Thursday – Brilliant, blue sky after the cleansing rain of yesterday.  Cool and breezy. Vera is here cleaning our apartment. I made a pot of duck stock this morning. I will use it to make a soup. I have just noticed the cilantro is trying to bloom. I need to use it or lose it, and since it is so rare here I don’t want to waste it. So I think a chicken and lime with hominy soup would be tasty. Nice and spicy! I have one last bag of hominy left.😢

Not a lot going on, we got an email for our (maybe) upcoming cruise in late November. They say it is going to happen. I will wait until the last minute to commit to it. Which will be in August.

This evening I think we will go down for our first spritz. How fun! I will take a picture.

Everywhere the poppies are blooming. They are one of my favorite flowers and there is nothing prettier than Umbria in May when whole fields are abloom with red.

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Stay safe ! 🌈

225,435 positives in Italy. Up 0.3% – 31,908 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,424 positive cases in Umbria. 73 total deaths. Two new cases, zero additional deaths.

1,528,661 cases in the US – 91,938 deaths.
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Wednesday, Market day — pouring rain all night and all day. I didn’t need any produce or fish so I didn’t brave the nasty weather. I suppose this rain is good for all the crops. On Sunday, on our way to Calagrana, we observed workers planting the tiny tobacco seedlings. They are maybe an inch tall. And it has to be completely hand done. So labor intensive. I guess this rain is good for the baby tobaccos.

Otherwise all is tranquile in Umbertide. We missed out on the first spritz outing with friends on Monday. It was my choice. Too many of us. Made me uncomfortable. And truth be told, I am loyal to my good friends at Bar Mary so going to the “other” bar would have been strange. Especially our first time. Not that I have any issue with the “other” bar, just a loyalty thing… We plan to go out as soon as the weather gets nicer. And we will invite our friends to join us. I know they feel kind of the way we do about “their” Cafe Centrale. It is a funny little phenom. 
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Roses continue in Jill’s garden…💕 With notes from Jill beneath the pictures.

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Signing off for now… as always, be careful. 🌈

225,435 positives in Italy. Up 0.3% – 31,908 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,424 positive cases in Umbria. 73 total deaths. Two new cases, zero additional deaths.

1,496,509 cases in the US – 89,874 deaths.
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I enjoyed this article from The NY Times...I excerpted it…

Life in NYC felt pretty normal in early March…in hindsight, we know that the coronavirus was then sweeping across the city. Deaths peaked in early April. And the typical time from contraction to death is from three to five weeks — which suggests early March was near the peak for transmission.

Over the next couple of weeks, it’s going to be important to keep this recent history in mind. Without mass testing — and the United States is not doing mass testing — there is a lag before a virus outbreak becomes apparent. Most people who develop symptoms don’t do so for at least five days, and sometimes longer. The worst symptoms usually take almost three weeks to appear.

With more parts of the U.S. starting to reopen, many people will be tempted to look at the data this week and start proclaiming victory over the virus. But this week’s data won’t tell us much. It will instead reflect the reality from early May and late April, when much of the country was still on lockdown.

“The data are always two or three weeks old,” Ezekiel Emanuel of the University of Pennsylvania told me. “And we have a hard time understanding that things are different from what we’re looking at.” Crystal Watson of Johns Hopkins University told The Associated Press that we wouldn’t really know how reopening had affected the virus’s spread for five to six weeks.

It’s possible that the reopenings won’t cause the outbreaks that many epidemiologists fear — because many people will still stay home, or because they will venture out cautiously, or because the virus may spread more slowly in warmer air. But it’s also possible that the country will find itself suffering through a new wave of outbreaks in June.

Either way, I’d encourage you not to leap to premature conclusions.

And all of the above will pertain to all countries trying to reopen, including Italy. Caution and care is advised.
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This morning I took a walk early along the river. Cool morning air, few people out.

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Enjoy your day! 🌈

225,435 positives in Italy. Up 0.3% – 31,908 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,424 positive cases in Umbria. 73 total deaths. Two new cases, zero additional deaths.

1,480,873 cases in the US – 89,318 deaths.
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Monday — gray day with sprinkles. We have started a new Phase today. I am calling it Phase 2.1 — Our numbers in Italy are impressively small, only 145 deaths. 675 new cases. I just hope opening up doesn’t ruin all our hard work. But I am happy for the merchants, bars, and restaurants. It was extremely hard for them all.

We went out with the intention of taking the Porsche out for a much needed drive. It’s been sitting for over three months. But on our way through town we ran into the Books for Dogs team. When they closed up for the shutdown, it was wintertime. But now, it’s spring. All the clothes they have in the shop are winter clothes. So they’ve got to sort out the merchandise and change over. As we strolled along we noted all the shops have opened. Lots of bustle going on. A stop in the farmacia, then we crossed the river to the garage. 

We keep the Porsche on a constant trickle charge since it isn’t drive all that much. But, for some reason, it didn’t seem to keep the battery charged this time. Luther thinks it wasn’t plugged in right. So, no ride for us and we have to sort out how to get it started. Also it needs its annual servicing so it needs to go to the dealer in Perugia.

So much for our Monday outing. Other than that we had nothing planned for today.

I did get up this morning and made a nice big soup for our lunches this week. So, on that note I will close for today. 

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Jill’s garden is here to brighten up our gray day! The Irises have given way to the roses! So beautiful.

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Enjoy your week, whatever you do. Just be careful. 🌈

224,760 positives in Italy. Up 0.4% – 31,763 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.

There are 1,422 positive cases in Umbria. 73 total deaths. Zero new cases, zero additional deaths.

1,456,841 cases in the US – 88,230 deaths.
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It is springtime. Early summer almost. And that is the time for taking the duvets off the beds. It is getting too warm to sleep under them. So I occupied myself with that today (Saturday). Removing the covers and washing them. On Monday we will bundle up the down duvets and take them to our lavanderia. We found out a year after we got here that they will clean the duvets and then store them for the summer! Everyone takes theirs and leaves them. They are bulky and most people don’t have much storage, including us. So a springtime chore…
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It was a rainy day. All day. We stayed in for the most part. After visiting the market this morning.

Last night we finished an excellent series on Netflix last night. Il Processo or The Trial, in English. It was a window into the differences between the US justice system, and the Italian one. Takes place in Mantova (Mantua). In Italian with English subtitles. If you like Italian stuff you may enjoy this. Tonight we begin Orthodox. I am really looking forward to this one.
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Sunday — what a glorious day! Wow. No clouds and nice and warm. Predicted to hit 30C today. That’s 86F. Almost hot. It would be perfect for a lunch outside at a nice restaurant. Sigh. Not yet! But, speaking of restaurants, we are taking a little ride to Calagrana to pickup our food. I will take some pictures!

It was such a lovely, but short trip. OK. I admit it. We hugged. Oh, but how wonderful it was. Susan, Gary and Luca came too. It’s been literally MONTHS since we’ve seen anyone we know or love, so it was lovely and tear provoking. 

Albi kept his distance but it was nice to see him. He’s the “old man of the mountain” with his bushy beard! Ely showed off her garden. Sigh.

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From our walk a couple days ago. Look at the fish in the Tiber!

And last, but not least, the answer to my question about tables in the Piazza…Mirko is busily setting up for tomorrow! Very exciting! Spritzes are in our future!! Spiffy new tables too!

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Buona domenica to all. Stay safe, wherever you are …🌈

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! 🌈