The hay is in the barn

CRESPELLANO JULY 24—The hay is in the barn, the corn is looking good and the flowers are in bloom. The 'fruttivendole' (road-side produce stands) are out in force. Instead of dodging cars stopped along the side of the road for Ladies of the Night, I've been careening around huge combines, tractors and other farm implements that have been working like mad to get the harvest in or avoiding cars stopping abruptly to buy 'duroni' (a kind of cherry) or watermelon. My favorite field is the onion field near San Felice su Panaro. I love the fragrant odor of the onions waiting to be picked up when I ride by on my bike. I'm really curious to see how they harvest the pears. For most things, including potatoes, they use machines. They must pick the pears by hand. This will be quite labor intensive as there are many pear orchards in the area.

The weather has been tolerable. I guess you just get used to not having air conditioning after a while. At any rate, the humidity is usually lower here than at home even though the temperatures have been in the low thirties during the day and cool off nicely to about 18 or 19 degrees at night. When we are here in Crespellano, we have to battle the mosquitoes. Most houses don't have screens, another thing I've wanted to buy. However, they're not so bad in Crevalcore.

Seemingly everynight here in the summer there are 'sagra' (folk festivals) or just regular town festivals or fairs. Last month was the week-long Festa dell'Unita' hosted by all of the left-wing parties in Emilia-Romagna. You buy a ticket and there are all of these outdoor eating areas where you can get traditional cuisine prepared by the local church ladies. This past week in Crevalcore, there was the Fiera or fair. This worked much in the same way; there were bands, vendors and places to get traditional food. They make quite a ruckus until after midnight. So we came here to sleep. In Italy, you have to get used to the density of cities and villages. Most of the houses and apartments are spaced very closely together. In Crevalcore, the facing building is less than two car widths away. No one has AC so you can here everything. The TV at night, kids screaming, dogs barking and the old ladies calling to each other in the morning.

Italy is one of the oldest countries in the world in the sense that it has one of the oldest populations and lowest birth rates. It never ceases to amaze me how many older, retired, gentleman farmers with their porkpie hats go buy on their way to the caffè. Everyone walks to the store or takes a bike to the bar. There is much traffic, too. The population is going down but people are richer so they have more cars per family. Remember that when I speak of Italy's recession and competitivity issues it is still one of the eight richest countries in the world. So everything is relative.

I've still been on the lookout for jobs. It's not a good situation, especially in the summer. Everyone is gone. I keep busy, looking and doingg translation work for friends at the Bologna Chamber of Commerce. I've really been riding a lot. About 13 hours a week now. I take four-hour rides into the Lombardy region, then come home, clean up the house, cook dinner, read and watch bad TV. Stefania is gone a lot, travelling all over Europe. She's going to Germany tomorrow.

I'm sure people are on edge in England concerning the terror attacks. But people here don't seem too concerned even though Italy is allegedly next on the list. Like most people, if I want to go into the center of town, you either sweat your ass off walking 10km or you park and take the bus. No choice. I took Stef to the airport the day of the London bombings and didn't notice any increased security except for a truckload of Itlaian soldiers smoking cigarettes in the parking lot. There is a long history of suffering attacks and invasions at the hands of friends and foes alike in Europe so I think most people take the increased threat level in stride. There isn't the 24-hour a day fear-inducing media coverage like at home. After the London bombings they covered it, to be sure, but only during the regularly scheduled broadcasts. I do feel sorry for all of the Muslims here. If something does happen, I'm sure people will tend to paint with a broad brush and be a bit more hostile towards immigrants. The only people that are ever likely to give me any trouble are know-it-alls who have never been anywhere and don't speak any foreign languages. But those people are in every country. I've never had any trouble so far. Half the people on my block are immigrants and get up early and work hard. I'm not too worried. When it's your time, it's your time. If I were in London I might not take the train but other than that I have a greater chance getting hit on my bike than stressing about terrorism.

It's almost August which means vacation time. Stefania and I might go to the South of France where we have friends. She needs a break; she's exhausted. I need a break from my break. I keep saying that I'm not on vacation because a vacation implies that you have a job to back to. Right now, we have to find 'pensione' for the cats. After August, I'll have to sit down and evaluate the situation again and see how much longer I can take being unemployed.