Wednesday April 6, 2022
Mike here, We attempted to run an early errand to Vasto this morning, which means we were on the road by 10:30. Best intentions, but Robert & Maria invited us over for dinner last night and consequently we slept in a bit this morning. We got back from Vasto at
4pm just before a light steady rain began.
We were envious of Robert & Maria’s living room with its fireplace and built-in vents that automatically circulated the heat. Our neighbor Paul was also at last night’s dinner and took pride of place when he showed off his forearm with its two snake bite punctures. His arm was only slightly swollen and he wasn’t worried about any adverse effects. His wife is still in England and the pictures of his snake bit arm prompted a concerned call. I will take this to heart when we are outside working. Along with the snakes we will also keep any eye out for the wild boars that roam freely, scorpions and foxes. We were warned that the wild boars are fast, vicious and large, 200+ pounds. We were also warned about the Fall boar hunting season that brings out the roaming hunters that are as dangerous as the boars.
We’ve been expecting this rain for several days and it finally came. I might have been tempted to hang laundry outside while we were gone but our little washer takes so long to do a small load we would have left even later. Tomorrow is a stay home/chore day and Margaret and I will be pumping small loads into the washing machine all day long.
As we were walking around downtown Vasto we came on a traffic accident in a parking lot with ambulances. An airlift helicopter landed in a nearby park for the woman who was injured. There was a helo pad at a nearby police station but the helo evidently could not land there for some reason.
Margaret wanted to eat in the old center of Vasto and we found a very welcoming & empty restaurant with an Adriatic overlook. Maybe it was just for us but the soft background music was all American crooners, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, etc. This was what we expected our Italian life to feel like, minus the American music.
While we are only renting this house, we needed to do some remedial outside sprucing up and yesterday, Tuesday, we spent the day raking, trimming and disposing of leftover material. We have more to do but what we did made us feel better about keeping up with the neighborhood appearance. Next up is mowing and trimming. Of course, that’s how Paul got his snake bite. We have a fig tree that after some trimming and groundwork, makes a statuesque, Medusa-like highlight outside our door.
Late breaking news…. Margaret just mentioned that Maria sent her a message that Paul was coerced into going to the hospital today to get his arm looked at. The Italian neighbors and the local pharmacist convinced him that he should have it examined. Really looking forward to mowing and trimming now!
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