Market Day

New look at Al Kafhe'

The Tuesday market has a different set of venders than on Friday. Today it was mostly clothes and linens. The good fruit and vegetable stand is always there. Besides fruits and veggies, we got three different kinds of basil and a pepper plant. As a “present” the guy threw in a sad looking flat of lettuce. I have replanted it and pulled off the dead parts and now it doesn’t look too bad. I am sitting on the terrace listening to the traffic below and looking out over the mountains. It is so hot the sky has lost its dark blue.

Fun stat: the average Italian woman spends 27 hours a week cleaning her house. That is more that I do in two months. I have even seen them out cleaning the sidewalk in front of their houses. I asked my friend to come over for iced coffee, but she needed to get the downstairs clean by 8pm. It was about 2pm. The average Italian man spends 8 hours a day in the piazza. If you sweep your floor you can be surprised by the real color.

Bakery this morning

My friend at market

Why this obsession with cleaning? Enrica and Salvatore are coming to dinner tonight. Her house is impeccable and everything is new. It would be better not to wear your glasses in our house and everything is old. I did sweep the stairs to the street and the terrace after planting the basil etc. The stairs need to be mopped, but I have done my work for the week. I need to keep American women free to do other things. I have my priorities. I did start a painting this morning. I am going to have to paint in the shade this year. No more standing in the sun. I still feel a little sick, but am putting salt on everything and trying to drink more.

Some of the produce at the market

Yesterday we made Italian ice, which is a lot like frozen lemonade, and ate it on a thin slice of Enrica’s cake with limoncello. Pretty good. I am hoping she will bring us another cake. She handed Jim the current cake over the balcony rail.

Our house is directly above the V shape in the trees. The house on the left of us is melon colored.