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. ~~~~~~ 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.
~~~~~~~~~ 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.
~~~~~~~ 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!
~~~~~~~
Jill’s garden…I forget what she said it was!
~~~~~~ Another day in our march of days. Stay safe…🌈
219,814 positives in Italy. Up 0.3% – 30,739 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.
There are 1,412 positive cases in Umbria. 71 total deaths.
1,340,643 cases in the US – 79,935 deaths. ~~~~~~ A new week. Pretty, if windy, day. Luther had grocery shopping duty so he went this morning. No waiting! We have new more comfortable masks…I don’t even mind wearing them. He tried his and liked it better too. He accomplished the shopping and brought it home. I promptly put all the dry goods into our decontamination room to wait 72 hours. Way easier than trying to wipe everything off. The cold goods I did disinfect before storing them. So we are set for another week or two. Of course I will supplement with trips to the markets for veggies. The next grocery shopping trip we will go together as we used to. Maybe even to the big IperCoop! If it opens back up. ~~~~~~~~~ Tuesday. Gray and rainy but pretty warm. Perfect for growing plants. I made a big pot of soup today. Tonight I’m planing coniglia braised in white wine. Otherwise quiet here.
My friend Joseph wrote a journal entry today. It really got my attention. He is having difficulty acclimating to this new Phase 2. I completely understand. Maybe this will sound weird to many in the US but we will miss our lockdown. First, the lockdown in the US was never anywhere near what our lockdown was/is. We could not even exit our house without a written reason of necessity. The polizia patroled. We learned to just stay home. Only food shopping, medical needs, or medicines were allowed. Otherwise we had to stay HOME.
So we all got used to it. We even embraced it. I would awake in the morning. I would think of my day ahead. Empty. Serene. No obligations. No errands. Bliss. The days ran together. Each just the same as the one before. Alas, that is coming to an end. I know that sounds strange…but we can love a thing, and hate it too, I think. Our markets returning have again, bookended our weeks in Umbertide. We again have anchors so the days no longer run on in an uninterrupted line. We must get used to the new changes. But we must be very careful. We will take no chances. And we will wait to see how this re-opening affects the numbers. Here are some pictures from Jill…
This iris is called Lemon Ice! Makes me think of gelato.
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. ~~~~~~ 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!
~~~~~~~ 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? ~~~~~~
218,268 positives in Italy. Up 0.5% – 30,395 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.
There are 1,407 positive cases in Umbria. 71 total deaths.
1,300,079 cases in the US – 78,320 deaths.
~~~~~~ Hi everyone! Sorry if you received two post emails yesterday. Operator error!
~~~~~~~ One of our favorite activities during this enforced inside time is….
As you know I bought artichokes. I cleaned them for a salad I was going to make. These are local. I’ve never had artichokes like these before. They are MEAN. Look at these stickers! The second pic is after I “processed” them.
Tonight we had a salad made from raw artichokes sliced very thinly, with fava beans, fresh spinach, toasted almonds and soft cooked eggs. It was inspired by the book “Six Seasons”, which I mentioned before, although I made a lot of changes. I served the salad with salmon. It was tasty. I took a picture but, sadly, it was blurry. 😔
~~~~~~~
Sunday morning. Beautiful day. The bells are ringing. One day they will, again, call people to Mass. Today I have to pick up our weekly meals on wheels! 🤣 Just kidding. The meals are from Calagrana. This time I won’t get caught by the cops as it is now legal to go over and pick them up. Whew.
~~~~~~~ Buona domenica to all! And happy Mother’s Day! Take care of yourselves…and stay safe! 🌈 Andrà tutto bene!
217,185 positives in Italy. Up 0.6% – 30,201 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.
There are 1,406 positive cases in Umbria. 71 total deaths.
1,273,887 cases in the US – 76,475 deaths. ~~~~~~ Hi everyone! Today, I am on my blog pulpit a bit. If you don’t want to read it scroll to the bottom of this post to read my bellissimo news about our Kilometer Zero Market.
~~~~~~~ US News. I can’t resist reprinting this little tidbit.
With polls showing most consumers still afraid to venture out of their homes, the Trump administration has intensified its efforts to soothe some of those fears through a messaging campaign that relies on tightly controlling information about a virus that has proven stubbornly difficult to contain.
So…they are controlling information (i.e., deep sixing the CDC report because it recommends waiting)…this is the information that people NEED to be able to make an informed decision on their OWN health and safety. When they intentionally delude the populace into believing it is OK to resume life, knowing full well that it is NOT safe yet, they are WILLFULLY putting (intentionally misled) people in danger of catching this virus. I am astounded at the very audacity of this! And the cold calculation by trump to allow people to get sick and perhaps die, all because he wants to get re-elected. Words don’t convey…
NY Times….A useful — if chilling — way of thinking about the new phase: It’s the “trial-and-error” phase, in which different countries take different approaches and the world witnesses the results.
Human guinea pigs. Sorry for all those who will suffer and die.
~~~~~~~ European News. I just read an interesting article in the Daily KOS about Sweden. I had been wondering how they were doing since they had taken an opposite approach to most everyone else. Herd immunity. No shutdown. It has not worked out well. We must also take into account more than half of Swedes live alone. And they have top-notch universal health care…unlike in the US. Nonetheless…
If nothing else, Sweden’s alternative response to the virus was … a good control group. And what we’re learning now is that failing to shut down hasn’t just led to more deaths, but—surprise surprise!—it also didn’t prevent its economy from tanking. In fact, Sweden is poised for more economic pain than its neighbors.
Some pretty big differences between stay-at-home strategy and let ‘er rip. And remember…the economy is no better for this choice.
It is good to have a “control group”. Maybe the Swedes would not be happy being classified as such. But there you have it.
~~~~~~~ Saturday! Bright and sunny! Exciting day as the Kilometer Zero market is here today. Yesterday I observed they had painted more marks in the piazza. It was confusing to me but I see the vendors figured it out. There are 13 tents. No crafts allowed. Only food. I am so so glad to see most of the farmers have survived. It must have been hard for them. And I note many are a bit sparse in what’s on offer. That is to be expected I suppose, since you can’t hurry the plants. Here is the view from my window. Next are the Polizia Municipale watching. Finally, the posted rules for entry.
The beautiful vegetables of early spring. I’m pleased I did not miss the peas. They will be in soon a woman told me.
Then the cheese stand with the Pecorino Staggione pictures. This is aged pecorino. Excellent and sharp flavored. They also had fresher pecorinos of course.
Here is the stand for Blassi, our closest winery. They sell their wines but they are also famed for their porchetta. Here It is!
The people. Everyone is excited. The farmers and the customers. The stated rule is one meter distant from each other. Most were doing that. There were some couples shopping together. Of course we all wore masks.
I came home with carciofi – artichokes, spinace – spinach, 4 fresh uova – eggs, fava beans, and some of Luthers favorite crackers. I’ve surely missed this market more than anything except maybe freedom to walk. Happy days.
~~~~~~ Signing off for now. Have a great weekend but keep yourselves safe. 🌈 We are the keepers of ourselves. No one else.
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. ~~~~~~ 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.
~~~~~~ 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.
~~~~~~~ Be careful everyone! Stay safe, wear the dreaded mask…🌈
214,457 positives in Italy. Up 0.7% – 29,684total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.
There are 1,404 positive cases in Umbria. 70 total deaths.
1,216,739 cases in the US – 72,233 deaths. ~~~~~~ Today is a very special day. The Mercato or Market has returned after more than 2 months. Sigh. A semblance of normality. It is a lot smaller but that’s OK.
Of course, I went out to explore. It’s kind of a gray day. There are six slots in the Piazza below. A cheese truck, a cured meats truck, 3 vegetable dealers, and a fish truck. All of the vendors are the ones we had before. You were required to wear a mask to enter. Everyone had one on. The town police were there to enforce. But they didn’t have much to do since everyone complied. I enjoyed saying hi to everyone.
My “favorite” neighbor Josapina. She yammers away at me and I seldom understand her. It doesn’t seem to bother her though.Lemone from SicilyIt is strawberry season. I seem to have missed the spring peas entirely — very sad.One of the big veggie vendors.
The fish lady that I usually buy from was in her normal spot just outside the piazza. Out there were the Porchetta trucks (2), the fish lady, my favorite vegetable vendor, and a cheese stand. I was very surprised that my favorite Porchetta truck had run completely out of Porchetta!
SOLD OUT!!!
Beautiful pesce. Fish! I have missed this.
Spigola – sea bassOrate (Bream) and octopus
While I was out I bought a nice Spigola from my fish lady. Dinner tonight. I decided to grill it. And I figured, with the grill hot I could grill some vegetables. I have a lot from our market basket from Ely. So here is my dinner tonight! It was very yummy.
On the grill.Grilled vegetables. Zucchini, tomatoes, asparagus, and peppers. The peppers turned out to be very spicy! I hadn’t known and ate a big bite 😳Dinner. The skin on the fish was charred. Crispy and yummy with the tender moist inside,
213,013 positives in Italy. Up 0.5% – 29,315 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.
There are 1,400 positive cases in Umbria. 70 total deaths. A six person leap in cases…not good.
1,194,494 cases in the US – 70,272 deaths. ~~~~~~ Some interesting statistics. From the NY Times.
Most countries with severe coronavirus outbreaks have come well down from their peak in new cases each day. It’s happened in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Turkey and, if you believe the official numbers, China.
But it has not happened in the United States. There, the number of both confirmed new cases and deaths has fallen only slightly in the last few weeks. Every day since April 2, there have been at least 22,000 new cases and 1,000 deaths.
Now, with many states preparing to reopen their economies, the toll is likely to start rising again, according to a private Trump administration forecast obtained by The Times. It projected about 3,000 deaths per day on June 1.
Why has the United States failed to bring down its caseload as much as most other countries?
The answer isn’t completely clear, given the complexity of the virus. But the leading suspect, many experts say, is the uneven nature of the U.S. response — like the shortage of tests so far and the mixed approach to social distancing.
The problem with the American response is that it’s so haphazard.
I suppose it is just the nature of the US. Our independent nature makes it less likely we will all obey the rules…even IF the leadership from the top had HAD any rules to obey to begin with! I think, in the end, this independent nature will not be a positive asset in this crisis. Nor a genetic trait to want to have right now. Darwinian… ~~~~~~ One of the loosenings here in Italy is that they now will allow funerals. Limited to 15 mourners and preferably outside. I have heard the mournful slow tolling of the funeral bells all day long. So many funerals, very sad. But at least now people can get closure that many could not get during the lockdown. The inability to say goodbye to the thousands lost will be with us forever.
~~~~~~ We left our a Comune!! First time in over 2 months. We drove about 20 kilometers north to Citta di Castello where my favorite nursery is. And I did manage to buy two habaneros – a chocolate and a red. Luther chose one called Beni Highlands Peperoncino – very hot. I got a Multi-Colore Eureka and a Peperone di Capriglio. I also bought a thyme plant, a coriander plant, and Basilico Violeta – purple basil. I still need regular basil, another pepper and parsley. I will plant in the morning and take pictures before I publish this post
Well, not planted yet but here are some photos…
lemon thyme.Luthers very hot pepper choice.Multicolore peppers.Two habaneros Basilico.Coriandolo (cilantro)
~~~~~~ Tomorrow I will have pictures of our mercato!
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. ~~~~~~ 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!
LOOK at this! Mmmmm.
~~~~~~~ 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.
This house was really enormous. Vegetable garden in the foreground. Vineyard behind.
~~~~~~ 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…
210,717 positives in Italy. Up 0.7%- 28,884 total deaths since beginning of the outbreak.
There are 1,394 positive cases in Umbria. 68 total deaths.
1,154,621 cases in the US – 67,451 deaths. ~~~~~~ You may have noticed I’ve changed the title of my post this time to a new marker point. The first day of Phase 2 of the lockdown. We will have a good number of new freedoms. One is we can leave our Comune (Umbertide)… But we must stay in our region (Umbria). It feels like the whole world to me! Wow.
We got our weekly delivery from Calagrana. Ely added a couple of cute little loaf cakes. I tasted in and it tasted JUST like a Fig Newton cookie! I shared the other one with Joseph and Paul, dropping it on their steps. Also got a whole bunch of veggies, the sweetest strawberries, oranges, I see a fruit salad in my future! While delivering the cake, I stopped to take a few pictures around town. Beautiful day!
I’ve always wondered. This church steeple houses the four bells that ring our time out all day, and for our masses. It seems to not be a part of a church. It is above some stores. I don’t know the story.
Our 15th century Colligiata. Our main church, largely unused during the crisis. But I note the door is open…
I just happened to notice this cool little window down near where we park…I guess I missed the black laundry day memo.
I thought this evening of having a spritz on the Piazza with Luther. A springtime ritual…and tears came to my eyes at how much we have lost 🥺 I guess in time, we will be able to do this again. Spero di si. ~~~~~~
Dinner last night. It was a new Calagrana plan. Pre-packaged ingredients to cook your own dinner. Instructions provided. We had tagliata with arugula, tomatoes with cheese shavings along with roasted potatoes. Very yum. The quality of the ingredients is key! These were excellent.
~~~~~~~~ You’ve probably notice I write my blogs on two days. I start right after I publish one post, and then continue with my thoughts during that day, and the next day I add anything new thoughts about the new day.
So now I am in a new day. The first day of actual Phase 2. Monday, May 4. This morning I woke to the noise of the construction equipment building some building behind us along the river. It has been silenced for these 2 months. I must say, they certainly wasted no time starting again! During the night I could hear the increased traffic on the nearby super strata. This morning, I stood on the terrace and realized how much I would miss the complete silence and the birdsong.
There are many people out in the Piazza. We spotted joggers by the river. And walkers. The two bars in the piazza have reopened I’m told. I haven’t been down yet. Luther said it’s not allowed but I’m told it is up to the Comune to decide. So I guess ours said it’s Ok. There is a limit of number of people coming in.
I admit it makes me nervous. Very nervous. Is it a new day dawning? Or can we just look forward to new lockdowns with a new wave? Only time will tell. ~~~~~~ Stay safe my friends! 🌈
