Getting things done

Every year, the first couple of days here in Campomarino are pretty hectic. Opening the place up, washing laundry, sweeping, mopping, gardening, getting food and any necessities, and greeting a million people, all of this while trying to get used to the 6-hour time change. I guess a two year layoff from international travel has left me a little less ready for a time change than I used to be. The sixth load of laundry in less than two days is about to get hung on the line outside, hopefully it dries overnight because there is more laundry where that came from. When I arrived I quickly remembered that we had up to five people here right before we closed up the house in 2019. We all wanted to leave with clean clothes since we were all traveling, thus the beach and bath towels were left to be cleaned this year...three at a time due to the size of the washer. I had a load folded, a load hung, and another load in the wash before I went for a walk this morning...at 8:20. My goal is to get 10,000 steps everyday before relaxing. Today I’m over 21,000 so that was a good, hot, and sweaty first full day. I always want to get things accomplished in the first few days, and today was pretty successful. I took care of all of the garden that was reaching through the fence into the walkway in front of my house. I only worked on the outside, so that part looks much nicer. I walked over to the beach club and settled up. I’ll be at Lido Ritz post 113 Nord from August 2-22. I went into town this morning with Zia Carmelita to buy fruit and vegetables. I got a melone giallo (canary melon) as big as my head, four pounds of pomodorini (little tomatoes), two pounds of melanzane (eggplant), two pounds of zucchini, two pounds of cipolle bianche (white onions), two pounds of pepperoni rossi e gialli (red and yellow peppers), two pounds of patate (potatoes), two cloves of aglio (garlic), prezzemolo (parsley), and basilico (basil) for a grand total of 12.50 euros, or like $16. I also ordered two liters of olio di olivo (olive oil) from one of the local farmers who said he’d bring it tomorrow. I roasted a bunch of the veggies already and they were delicious at dinner. The melon was as sweet as I’ve ever had. Fun fact, before this area was developed for condos and beach clubs, this town was known for melon farming. Tomorrow, Zia and I are heading to the supermarket in Termoli. I have a whole list of things that i want, especially since I had many things to throw away since they passed the expiration date since my last trip.