and on sunday...

...spring cleaning in autumn feels good. Loud music helps it along, but (oh dear) I have finished the chocolate from Alabama already!

Last night saw a picnic dinner at tables outside a bar with friends - who knows what the festa was? We purchased our drinks and then others produced bread, cheese and sausage from another shop, requested a bowl of olives from the bar owner, and set out an impromptu picnic - it could only happen in Italy!

Dining alfresco is something others do... oddly enough the Italian expression used elsewhere is not used by Italians for eating outdoors. Perhaps here it has associations with being thrown into the cooler, which is another phrase which crosses cultures!

The street was home to a much bigger rural picnic, with free pasta with tomato and haricot beans spooned out to any passers-by. A cow tethered by the road nuzzled the calf that didn't stray from her despite the music, the children, the antique tractors or the horses that clattered along the street. Finely marked and fine-boned goats peered from their perch on the back of a vehicle, beautiful and curious. I wonder what my affinity with goats really means?

Tomorrow I go back to work across the road, re-touching the fresco and tempera works. I had a sneaky peek at the work I had completed two months ago and it looked pretty good; seeing it with fresh eyes and no dust around removed all the angst that came with it.

Today I am grateful for friends.