They must have had a pretty wet spring here – the grass is green, lush, fruitful.  The temperatures are high – 94 degrees today with no sign of it coming down.  But the landscape is far from burnt and the olive trees will be spending the long hot summer ripening their wonderful fruit for the ritual of picking in the Autumn, and the trip to the co-op to get the wonderful virgin oil pressed out of them to last in the kitchen through until next year.

Meanwhile Italian life at this time of the year is slow and sleepy.  In this a rare off the beaten track part of Tuscany where there are very few tourists at all – little English is spoken so it is good to get back to practicing my Italian.  Prices are low.  Spectacular ice cream for less than two dollars for a huge portion……super market prices around half those in Chicago.  So it is a pretty cheap vacation once you get here!

A trip up the hill to Gambassi Terme was a morning treat.  Nothing much happens there – it just sits there just as it must have for hundreds of generations.  But there is a bakery and fruit and veg to be had.  The male population stanno in piazza……the women?  Well they are at home working!  This is not the modern world – we can get over it!

Gambassi Terme