This morning was our last Friday market of the summer. We
bought some items to eat here over the next few days, and a couple of things to
pack in the suitcase to bring to the US. I have a feeling Mom and I are both
leaving clothes behind to make a lighter load in the suitcase, thus making room
for gifts. I know I’ve lost a bottle of mouthwash, a large thing of powder and
about 12 oz of gel deodorant, as I’ve been using those things here and will
leave behind what’s left. Mom and I also picked up some fresh veggies. We got
over four pounds of pomodorini (small tomatoes), one pound of fagiolini (string
beans), one meloni giallo (yellow or canary mellon), one cipolla Bianca (white
onion), two big heads of trocadero lettuga (bib or butter lettuce depending on
store), and a fistful of basilica (basil) and prezemolo (parsley) for 8 Euros ($10
dollars). I also realize that I’ve spent maybe a bit too much time here. I went
up to the vendor and immediately grabbed a bag not waiting, filled it, and then
cut the line to pay. It was what everyone else was doing and no one seemed to
mind.
When we got back from our morning shopping, I decided that
getting all sandy at the beach was not appealing, so I did some patio tanning.
I started with topless gardening and chopping down some fast-growing vines,
then I did topless sweeping, as I cleaned off the patio. When I was done, I sat
in one of the patio chairs, and let the tanning rays rain down on me. I feel
the heat as I was already pretty tan.
Tonight we did some of our last shopping here for the year.
It’s always a crapshoot of what to get when you never know who is coming to
dinner, or who is going to host you. At this point we open what’s necessary and
watch expiration dates when we buy things. We went to Lidl, which is a German
owned store. It’s a lot like and Aldi in the US, and the prices are tough to
beat when compared with other supermarkets.
