LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE September is over. I’ve written next to nothing, but our cantina is filling up nicely with potatoes, onions and winter squashes, apples for cider, jars of salsa, fruit preserves, pickles. Any thoughts that might have been worth…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE It’s been 26 days since travel resumed between regions in Italy. We are watching 10 new coronavirus clusters, located in every part of the country, from Piemonte, Lombardia, and Toscana to Campania, Sicilia, and Calabria. Despite the…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 15 May I got a call today from the receptionist in our dentist’s office, and now my appointment of 13 March is re-scheduled to Friday, 22 May. This feels like a momentous occasion; the cancellation of my…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 8 May Forget everything I wrote earlier about getting accustomed to leaving the house with protective gear. I feel the way one does around the end of January–weary of arming myself against a harsh environment every time…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 2 May Here we live slowly, synched to daylight and the weather (and the recycling schedule, but that is a topic for another day). Our bedroom windows face east so we are up early. Coffee, then breakfast,…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 23 April The numbers still mount in Italy: more than 25,000 are dead. In the United States almost twice that number have died, but eight state governments have yet to issue a general stay-at-home order. Beaches are…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 13 April A grim milestone this evening: 20,000 Italians have died from COVID-19. Five hundred sixty-six died today, which is 135 more than yesterday. The numbers roll out day after day until they begin to lose all…
