Market day again

Here is the score from today’s market. Food prices have gone up here. Pizza for three days, 5E, chicken for three meals including chicken soup, 7E, all the fruits and veggies about 15E, chess 9.40E. We got the garlic for free which was great because we really needed garlic. I am including a picture of all the garlic we already have. It would have been great to get something else free instead. We had asked for 1/2 a kilo of green beans, but I am pretty sure we have about 4 pounds of them. They are delicious and they are grown in this valley. We buy something from almost all the vendors to spread our support around.

The road up to the piazza has been closed because of work on this house. They are tearing out all the old stucco and they send it roaring down a chute into a large truck. This truck is driven away fully loaded multiple times a day. It completely blocks the road so even people have to go around. I want to go around believe me. The sound of all the rubble coming down is like a mini earthquake. Even painting near there gives me a little jump each time some more stuff crashes into the house. Today they started using the concrete mixer that you see to the left. It is electric and mixes all the time. Then bucket loads are hauled up with a winch to the upper floors to re-stucco the walls. What a job.  The company is Impreza DeAngelis. They must be very happy with all the earthquake work they have to complete. It is exciting to see.

Jim and I are painting just around the corner from the construction. The house under the bridge is the mayor’s house and he would like me to paint it for him. I just can’t get it drawn correctly. (faithful readers will know this is my second shot at it). I have been measuring and being very careful. My next ploy was to put the photo of the painting and of the scene side by side in a document on my computer. I inserted a horizontal line and used it to compare things, like the height of the doors, between the painting and the scene. I found that the doors under the arch are too small, that things don’t line up across the alley, and some other stuff that is too horrible to even mention. Maybe I will resort to drawing it from a gridded photo and then painting it on site. Well, tomorrow is another day.

Here is a picture of me sitting by a very yellow wall working on this morning’s painting.

 






















It was so exciting to get two pieces of mail that Jim is back to checking the box everyday. There is still time to write.