Yesterday was the hottest day ever here in CVS. It was 42c which is about 100f. We went out in the morning and worked on our paintings of looking up at CVS. We were under a tree on a bench so it was not too bad. Even so, we had to quit earlier than I would have liked from heat and exhaustion. We didn’t leave our house for the rest of the day. The sound of water trucks was constant. Today it is not so hot, but the tractors are lined up for water.
On the way to market, we pasted a construction site where they are mixing the concrete to put stones on the wall of a house that is being renovated. Things are done on a small scale with craftsman doing the work.
Further, we ran in to the street sweepers of CVS. They were happy and proud to pose for a photo.
Jim came so close to being hit by a car at the busy intersection. Cars come around a blind curve toward the most congested area in town. The driver must have been going 40mph. He was able to stop without a screech of brakes, but it was a near thing.
Apricots are now in season and it was quite the struggle of people to buy them. I can’t believe how nervous I look in these photos. I am going to try to look more relaxed in the future. I look so much like I did in the home movies of Christmas when I was 13. I am always wringing my hands without knowing it. People are nice to me and make sure I get my turn. No one ever cuts me in line.
Next I was sent into the bakery with my excellent Italian. Just outside the door, which is covered by a curtain of hanging plastic strips that make it impossible to see out into the blase of sunshine, there is a side walk of about 1.5 feet in width and then the street. I stepped out onto the sidewalk just as a car roared by. I was not in any danger, unless I had fallen off the sidewalk, but it startled me.
It is a much smaller market on Fridays than on Tuesday and it was smaller this week than last Tuesday or at any time last summer. We spent about $35.00 and here on the table you see what we purchased.
Jim stayed home, while I went back to my painting spot from yesterday and the day before that. I am now so advanced in my experience of Italy that I can go out on my own. I thought that I had not made any changes to my painting, but the photographs prove me wrong. I cannot get all the lines to go straight up and down. I used a triangle on it last night, but it was impossible. Other excitement of the morning: the mayor’s wife brought me a glass of water. She is well known for her niceness. The other morning she was cleaning up someone’s house in preparation for their arrival in CVS. When she turned on the water in the house, water started seeping up through the pavers on the street. This cannot be good. I hate to think of the beautiful cobble stones being taken up as I don’t know if they will ever be put back. They make a beautiful pattern. With the recent earthquakes in Bologna, there is less money for the repairs that were started here. Many industries such as balsamic vinegar in Bologna were destroyed. Hugh casts of it broke. Buy it now before the price goes up or make it in your basement.
The plumbers have been very busy here with all the pipes broken this winter.
Once again we have a little problem with the water. Two places are leaking, but not so much that we can’t turn on the water and use it from time to time. The inestimable Paolo is on his way sometime, but Jim has made a temporary fix.
Two people have remarked on my chubbiness. I think they mean it as a compliment. Well fed. One person compared me to one of those giant round vine bottles and today a person rubbed my stomach. Do I look like a Buddha? I asked her if she thought I was pregnant and she laughed her head off. I was not laughing so much. Possibly learning some Italian was a bad idea.
Jim has just left with the Danes for a local vineyard. I wish I was going, too, but I thought he would love it.
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