FIXING THINGS UP, GOING TO PAOLOS

This morning was gorgeous so we took a walk and we took some pictures of the repairs that had taken place after the rains. So here are the details. The sand boat is no longer stuck in the water! There will probably be others this year, but this one is safely moored farther out. The washed-out road got a little pile plowed out of the way and a plastic tape across it which shows it is closed to traffic until more work can be done on it. And the collapsed wall got rebuilt with the help of a good deal of cement, only much lower this time. They even cemented a tree in!
We spent the morning at Paolo’s while the bread was baking, and he made Steve cut up olive wood with a tiny hand saw and he made me climb up onto a wall to pick the big fat olives on the top of the tree. Apparently he can’t get his kids or grandkids to do it but he knew I would. Then he showed us his cotton plants and his partial almond and olive preserving. All of the kids and grandkids were around, it being Sunday and the first day off of the week…the kids and adults work and go to school Saturday till 1 PM. Then the families split up, with the boys taking their kids to their in-laws houses so they can spend time with their wives’ families each week. That must be where the tradition of Sunday dinner on Bennett road came from (my grandmother always came out with us after mass)! All of Paolo’s kids and families are still living at the sea here until the end of September, when they will move back into their houses in town.
Back to Paolo’s cotton plants. He gave me some seeds several months ago and I even put them into the ground! Now I wonder where they are. So he asked if I would like to plant some next year. I told him if he would give me the pots full of compost and the seeds I’d give it a try. His plants do so well because he puts them in pots full of manure and waters daily from a spring. He also has a low ledge that keeps the lower plants out of the wind. Maybe next year I’ll have my own harvest too.