fever in the morning...

If fever is 40°C then there is plenty of fever here... today we hit 42°C which is 107.6°F, definitely not a healthy heat! Luckily for me where I teach at the moment there is air conditioning in the lounge.

It is after 10pm and still 34°C outside, but it is holding at 26° inside. Whew!

But thinking of 107°F and fever, here is a lovely song to take you way back when I was just a tad younger than I am now. 

Fever, with Little Willie John,  from 1956 (I love the record and needle arm; somehow those words had different meanings back then).

Or, if you prefer it, you can have a sizzling version with Peggy Lee.

Today I am grateful for plump, shiny and very tasty black cherries. 

grateful

Today I am grateful for my thick stone walls. 

The tenor has gone into the mountains, away from the heat. My other guests have headed for the caves at Pastena. Zacchi, Piccolina and I have opted for a quiet time listening to piano music and researching laptops and tablets. Today is rather warm...

I left the thermometre on the rail against the house, where it is usually in the shade. I noticed (when rescuing cooked washing) that it was in the sun, and registering 49°C, so I moved it in case it burst. An hour later it is still showing 40°C in the shade.

Inside the house it is a pleasant 26°C and a fairly constant temperature despite cooking lunch earlier. The vaulted ceiling is four and a half metres high, and takes up a lot of the heat I imagine.

I read that we have a strata of African sand over all of Italy, adding to our heat wave. Next Friday is supposed to be our hottest day. If today's "cooler" predicted 37 is really 40 in the shade on my north-facing hillside, what will Friday bring?

Earlier I read a health warning about the temperatures arriving between 5pm and 7pm today. I'll let you know if it gets worse, but for now that gentle 40°C in the shade has a sea breeze coming with it, through the gap in the hills across the valley, and I am sure that P, Z and I will survive. 

Today I really am very grateful for the metre thick stone walls that were giving me grief with rising damp only a few weeks ago! 

Update: It did get up to 41 (in the shade) at around 5.30pm, but not higher. And now, at 9.10pm, it is still 33°C. Needless to say the dogs had a shorter-than-usual walk this evening. And my fitness programme? Forget it! 

happiness is...

...listening to my favourite tenor doing his vocal warm-ups at my keyboard while I clean the kitchen he has been cooking in.

How magic is my life?

(And what strange sounds warm-ups include!)

Today I am grateful for my fabulously interesting life.

progress between thunderstorms

The colour is antique brown, which sits better with the house than the peeling black and white did. No doubt the "ringhiera" looked very smart in the 50s or 60s, but I like the softer more neutral colour it is going to be. 

Today I am grateful for anti-rust paint. 

six guests from four countries

...and five of them will arrive from three different directions on the same day.

Roll on Tuesday... but in the meantime, there are a few things to attend to!

You may not be hearing from me for a while...

Today I am grateful for my interesting life. 

concert at Arce

When I figure out how to get the videos onto the computer (they are not copying across at all) then I'll try to upload a little bit of the concert. 

Today I am grateful for visitors and animated discussion. 

guess who is back in town...

I thought I was out having a leisurely after dinner walk.

And then I received a phone call, the voice I had been waiting to hear :-)

I didn't know that I could walk so fast! Vrooooom! I was home in record time.

Walk was abandoned, quick change, and off to the concert...

Today I am grateful for a phone call from my favourite tenor. 

.