What Fills My Plate

            What a great day in northern Italy. The sun is bright, the sky is blue, the fields are green.  My cat sits in the window dreaming of catching the flying  insects on the other side of the window.  A window that is closed because the cottonwood trees are losing that little snowflakes of cotton that are floating  in the air.  Those snowflakes and the dust cause my allergies to spike making it difficult to breathe while my eyes feel like someone threw minced jalapeños into them.  There is hope as on Wednesday it is predicted to feature rain, and this will clean the air somewhat.  One can only hope.  It was a good weekend.  Everyone seemed to be out and about enjoying the sunny weather.  We went through our volcanic hills and stopped at the other side to see a small castle.  Then for "pranzo" we had lunch at a fish restaurant.  It was a nice day.    Here it is also poppy season. an...

  Hello from sunny Italy.  You can go out and feel the warm sun for most of the day here.  Rain predicted later this evening.   There are a lot of Italians out with a stop at their local bar.  (coffee, mostly.)  You see my espresso, which consists of a bit more than 2 large tablespoons of strong coffee. Here is a snapshot of my local coffee bar, you can see it is clean and it is time for most people to begin to leave and continue their day.  10:40.   I remain and write in Italian, working on my vocabulary list. You can also see few jackets, Spring has arrived!   The barista is busy cleaning tables and her working area.  Today she was busy and my request was met with a short comment.  This makes me miss the bar in Due Carrare where I went almost everyday for ten years,  Covid closed it.  I miss seeing my friends there.   It is difficult to make friends in Italy.  People who visit coffee bars ar...

Scroll down below foto  and CLICK ON  READ MORE TO OPEN   And....I'm back.  Greetings to all.  I want to first catch up on life, etc.  The next  blog will be more about life in sunny Italy.     My last posting was made in 2022, covid had destroyed most of my motivation.  It was such a mess, creating shutdowns, lockdowns, and economic turmoil . I still wash my hands much harder and longer than before covid.  I stayed in the house as asthma and old age were factors in surviving.  Tom Seaver, Larry King, Gaylord Perry, Trini Lopez and Charley Pride, all famous people who were victims known by old guys like me. Jumping ahead in time:  We moved to a suburb of Padova, Abano Terme, famous for thermal water used by a great number of hotels here.  We have old Roman ruins of thermal pools.  The Romans were like us, loved to travel and enjoy new things.  They would pack up and leave for over a year to travel....