An amazing opportunity

Yes, this is a great opportunity to go deep, to learn about life without distractions, to find self care.

But it’s also a great time to discover how much wine you can get through in a week, to learn how much butter really goes into scones that you like to eat most mornings, and to see how long you can go without washing your hair before someone says something.

My life is empty of stress. My life is bathed in stress.

I have no appointments to go to, no retail therapy, no bike trips w/logistics, so my days are calm and pleasant. I can write blog postings, try new dishes, and explore drawing.

I have the uncertainty of not knowing how long this will last or who in my social circle will die. I have the certainty that the world will be severely impacted by this medical and economic catastrophe. I am relieved every night when it’s time to go to bed. Whew, another day wrapped up. But some nights I don’t sleep well. It’s too unsettling.

And some mornings I wake up feeling that I must explode! I cannot take this one day more!Then I tell myself to calm down, to have my cup of tea and scone, to let the day come to me. And it does, with its energy and enjoyments. But the day starts are sometimes rough.

Here’s a rich color-filled photo for you in the mornings. A friend in my photography group took it. It’s a perfect classic, isn’t it?

and more scones…

What news here? The numbers of new cases are finally dropping (only a 2.3%, down from a high of 15% on the 19th March. We all hope that after Easter some restrictions may loosen, but most will continue for a long time. And once we can stop fearing death, we can switch to fearing economic collapse. Italy and everywhere will be very different afterwards.

Every country seems to have different rules. You’re supposed to only wander within 200 meters of your home. Garden shops and nurseries are all open, so I can get started on my balcony garden. Opticians, bakeries, and fruit/veg shops are all open. Here in Tuscany you must now wear a mask if you go outside. Finally I bought one yesterday and it came with its own certificate of functionality from a city in Jiangsu China.

Stationary stores are closed. An odd result of this was that the aisle in the Esselunga supermarket that held pens and pads of paper and crayons had police tape over it. You could see the items but you couldn’t buy them. I needed a red biro pen, but no luck. The government wanted shoppers to focus on only essential and necessary things. Well, with all the kids at home all day every day, mothers around the country made a huge internet protest and the government backed down. Turns out crayons and magic markers are essential and necessary! So now the tape is gone.

My neighbor Patricia and I take a walk into the hills behind the house every couple days. The visits with her, a real person (!), keep me sane. She’s not confident in her English, so we speak Italian. I discover I can carry on a normal chitchat in Italian. Yay! We hike up a combination of paved roads and rocky narrow trails. Up and down, up and around. On the way back down from Santa Lucia we stop at an abandoned washing area to drink pure clean water.

Once in a while, we go the other way, down Via Cannoreto. Patricia has a friend, Pier Paolo (with a gorgeous deep voice!), who grows his own veggies. We go over with a backpack and buy today-fresh green onions, chard, chicory, leeks, celery, and cabbage. We’ll probably go tomorrow. Pier Paolo used to with for a high-level government agency for agricultural research. Now he farms. His wife is an accomplished jeweler. Neighbors.

But Easter is coming and two good things are this shop window

and this wonderful Easter loaf!

I had to go to Camaiore last Sunday to get a newspaper and the streets and piazzas were completely empty.

I took that excuse to ride around the town and see this lovely church (the Badia)

and to discover the gassed-water dispenser. Room temperature and cold natural water are free, but you pay E0.05 for a liter of fizzy. And parked next to it a raw milk trailer. I can get a bottle of fresh raw milk for E1.

There were a few low energy days where I feared I’d caught the virus, but I’ve bounced back. Reminds me of the early 80s in San Francisco when you feared AIDS with every cold.

To end this post, here’s a photo of priest who’s speaking to an empty church but with photos of his parishioners.