Summer is too fast

Last days

Two more beach days giving Jessie a total of four and us a total of five. Each day has been different. The next to last day there were small waves that made it hard to float without an unexpected face full of water. The next day it was so smooth you could have woken up in Croatia. Ears under water you can here the rickety, clacking of the stones rolling up and down with the tide. Experiment of the day was, “how far away could we hear Jim clap two stones together underwater?”  Answer: it was the same no matter how far away we got. Now I understand the silent running submarine thing in old WW2 movies. Sound carries well underwater.

 Not long before we had to leave on our last day, a man arrived on the beach with a saxophone and started playing along to a mellow, jazz, CD. The water, the stones, the soft music all provided a romantic mode which started to be acted on by a couple near us, first I heard that low, but a little rough male Italian voice and then....but you don’t want to hear about that. Did you know that when women don’t wear their tops on the beach they look more like men? The tan is the thing. One woman was spread out on her back like she was crucified, with her arms turned up to get those all important underarms tanned. She also had her bum resting on a bright, orange, towel to get, I am not sure what, tanned. Like clockwork she changed from upside to downside. Her boyfriend’s visor was bigger than his swimming suit and everything in the world was bigger than her swim suit, especially since she was only wearing 1/2 of it.

Our only consolation was the end of the day gelato. Without that we would probably still be at the beach.

Nights in CVS were rocking. Jessie said we have lost all credibility about the great music in CVS. I say that it is more about the experience. Our next to last night together we went down to see something near the piazza that had a large and expensive brochure produced in explanation of the event. Jessie and I followed the candles, all marked with the emblem of a sheep, up the winding streets from the piazza. At the top was a ceramic sheep covered by felted white and black sheep wool. The designs, done in black wool, were evocative of old Abruzzi patterns. These artists are part of a start up program to provide jobs for people in the arts using old Abruzzi crafts. I think it is an awesome idea and hope to find a way to support it. The karaoke was less inspiring so we went home.

Sheep by day

Candle lit sheep trail

Sheep by night

Kareoke

 

On Jessie’s last night here we had dinner with CVS Danes, always an excellent time and great food. Jim’s maybe all time favorite food in Italy was walnuts in honey and a very expensive, old balsamic vinegar. It was amazing on cheese and Danish rye bread. Finally, there was some good music advertised: three Jazz guitarists. We started off for the piazza, but ran into our next door neighbors who invited us in for snacks. We stayed so long that we missed the music, but it was so much fun. Jim was so tired he went home but Jessie and I stayed. We looked at Enrica and Salvatore’s wedding photos and, amazingly, considering how much Dane food we had had we ate some gelato.

When Jessie and I got home, only 20 feet away, we discovered we were locked out. Jim was asleep and had left the door ajar, but it had gotten closed somehow. Luckily the Danes were still awake and they have a key. So we finally got in.