We have started going to Porta Palazzo market every few weeks now that Grace is gone.  We need to fill our lonely childless hours....  Porta Palazzo is the huge food market in the city, the largest in Europe.  I love to go.  It's hectic and loud with vendors yelling in different languages.  The smells are incredible, the herbs and cooked foods, and flowers. (they sell everything actually but it's known for the food).  The fish section is in an old building, cold and white and very wet.  The stalls are terraced with flying fish everywhere as vendors helping customers throw the fish up to the weighers working the scales and packers wrapping purchases up in waxed paper.  It's wonderful.  Though it takes a good half day to get what we want, it's well worth it.  For the equivalent of about 30 bucks we got fruit and vegetable, bread and eggs for the week and fish for 2 dinners.  Spring is here in force.  It's all green and pink and white.  Unfortunately is also rainy but we need it.  Grace will be home for Easter and is bringing a friend.  I can't wait.  My first empty nest year has been VERY DIFFICULT I tell you!  I've turned into one of those old ladies that freaks out at the sight of a baby or a dog for that matter.  I need to be nurturing something.  My Pilates instructor, the little Brazilian sadist, had a baby in the fall and she brings him to class some days.  He is so well behaved, usually just sleeps, and when awake loves to just sit and watch all these strange women sweating and groaning.  He stares at us wide eyed and grins.  He's gorgeous and I could eat him.  I think Rosie gets a little nervous when I carry him around.  She suspects that I might just abscond with him.  Pay back!  Off to do me Sunday house cleaning.  Dinner with MIL tonight who may just outlive us all.  MIL, who is rather rotund, says she simply doesn't understand why she is overweight as she tucks into her second helping of polenta with sausage and fontina cheese.  But he blood pressure and cholesterol are great.  Anywho.  Life goes on.  xxoo me

THANK YOU JESUS!  We may be able to retire at home after all!  Was afraid medicare would be cut and we'd be high and dry!  This deserves a toast!  xxoo me

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-20/italy-s-struggling-economy-has-world-s-healthiest-people

So here's the thing.  Italians outlive us.  They outlive everybody apparently.  (We are sadly way down the list.)  And in fact this is an OLD/ageing country.  The only people having kids are immigrants.  And thank God for them because they are the ones taking care of all the old people!  In-home caretakers are predominantly eastern European.  Housekeepers tend to be from Asia.  Even priests and nuns here are now coming from Africa and Asia.  Italians are just sitting around getting REALLY old.

What I don't understand is that in this country of outlivers the outliviest of them all are the Sardinians.  Saturday night we went to a Sardinian pig roast. Or should I say a piglet roast.  A many piglet roast.  This is an annual event but it was the first time we have gone.  Our friend Riccardo organizes it with a Sardinian pizza-maker buddy.  The pizza oven is closed to pizza for 12 hours and loaded up with sucking pigs, a Sardinian specialty.  There were 35 of us at one very long table.  There were about 50 bottles of new wine, Sardinian cheeses, salamis and hams, and massive platters of roast pork.  If this is how these people eat I'm confused as to how they live so long.  Maybe it's the island air or something in the water, exercise, sex.  Who knows!  But they ain't got no Mediterranean diet, that's for sure.  I love roast pork and this was very good but I'm on veggie regiment for the next few days.  Maybe I'll have added a few minutes to my life!  xxoo me

View down to the beach the Giant Steps.

Way down to above mentioned beach

The beach

Port Isaac, where Doc Martin is filmed

Wow

Poor little car.....

 more to come  xxoo me

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/03/10/519707931/italian-band-soviet-soviet-denied-entry-to-the-u-s-jailed-and-then-deported

This is what is in the news here today.  Can bet American artists are going to start having a little trouble performing in Europe.  They are actually pretty good too!

So glad GP got his American citizenship as all foreigners are going to be looked upon with suspicion under hewhomustnotbenamed.  I won't actually be surprised if they come after us and the millions like us for having duel citizenship.  Freaking nazis.

Oops.  Politics.  Sorry.

xxoo me

I haven't been writing because I told myself this wouldn't be about youknowwho and honestly that's pretty much been the only thing on my mind since October.  But now I have something else to recount!

I just returned from a lovely trip to Cornwall.  On either end I had a couple of days in London and saw the child who against all of my teachings is growing quite independent of me.  I don't approve.

Cornwall is gorgeous!  Traveled with 3 of my favorite people.  We rented a cottage in Fowey, a little fishing/tourist town on a protected harbor much like BBH.  We found a couple of great pubs for our evenings, one of which I would gladly still be sitting in with it's warm fire and low ceilings and cats. 

The scenery is spectacular, especially when clear, which isn't often.   But when sunny the air is so damned clear the clouds really are like little sheep floating around up there.  They are 3 dimensional and just past fingertip reach.  One day we saw all four seasons, from sun to torrential rains then hail and wind and back to sun again, over and over all day.  Schizo weather.  We descended the giant's steps down a huge cliff and walked along a beautiful golden beach.  When the tides are out they are WAY out and the beaches seem endless but when in there is little sand at all.  D told me that a well-known artist loved painting in Cornwall for the light and these beaches with their gold sand.  Of course I can't remember who it is...

We did have one weensy EPISODE.  Mind you the first (and only time) I have driven in the UK was years ago when the sisters and I went to Cotswold.  In the first half an hour I had the left side mirror hanging by its' wires.  This time around N and P were our volunteer drivers.  We don't know whether it was the traffic cone or the weak bridge with it's unexpected curb that did it but alas our left front tire was kaput.  This was the 4 seasons evening and by the time we made it to a gas station to put air in the tire it was raining.  Hard.  From there we made it back to our village arriving on the rim and stopped just short of our street.  Our selfless drivers insisted on staying behind with the car to wait for the tow truck.  Fortunately we were not 10 feet from a conveniently located corner pub.  D and I delivered Gin and Tonics to the car and we all had a little cocktail. 

All in all a warm welcoming beautiful comfortable place.  Fish pie, local beer, cozy pubs, sea air, endless vistas, sheep (tho not enough for D who if she got off her skinny ass and came over here I could show her sheep!) hedgerows and camellia in abundance.  It was lovely.

 xxoo me
pics following