Avocados and cilantro

Tuesday morning I walked down to Conad to get some produce for Taco Tuesday, as well as some things to prepare food for the refugees during our monthly trip to the Baobab camp Wednesday evening. I also went to the Chinese store to replace the missing cover for one of our frying pans at home. It was drizzling just a little bit and the high temperature was in the upper 50s, so a light jacket was in order for the day.

We left home early to go prepare the Taco Tuesday meal, and, as we prepared to leave the building, it started absolutely pouring!  This was as hard as it has rained since we got to Rome. Dee moves rather slowly these days, so that was a problem, as she cannot hold her own umbrella. I walked her across the piazza to the covered walkway where she could wait for me to get the car, drive it around the block, and pull up in front to let her in. Fortunately we have a very large umbrella, which allowed us to keep somewhat dry, but it rained so hard that both got wet, particularly while transferring her and the scooter into the car. Of course, thanks to Murphy's Law, about a minute after we both got into the car and closed the (soaked) doors , the rain stopped almost completely. We got a good chuckle out of that timing. After all that we were a bit late getting things ready for Taco Tuesday, but Ugo and the Ganziani pitched in and we got started only about ten minutes late. There was a smallish crowd, so there was plenty to eat.

 

 

Ugo also brought us some rare treats: avocados, limes, and cilantro from a local international market. Dee mixed up a nice salsa instead of the usual plain tomatoes. 

It was Anziano Conatti's final lunch here, and he said goodbye to everyone. Dee writes: He gave his old ukelele to the Institute, which will be a lot of fun and a fond reminder of him.

Soon after lunch the place cleared out for a while. There were a lot of dishes and cleanup to do, after which it felt very good to finally sit down for a while. Lorenzo had to cancel choir class, so we had some prep time. I sent out my class schedule for the upcoming Friday night summer term, now that we have finished the Book of Mormon. There are eleven Fridays before August vacations get in high gear here, so I decided that we will cover just the gospel of Luke, bringing in some items from the other gospels when appropriate. Thus, we will be discussing only 1 - 3 chapters per week, so we can really take time to focus on things: we could probably read the entire assignment in class each week if needed.

The Anziano taught their English class and everyone sang happy birthday to Junior. I didn't know about it beforehand, but I will make him a special treat soon.

Ugo has now started a new Tuesday night course on church history, including the Joseph Smith papers. He had Alex Baugh, head of the church history department at BYU, online via Zoom to discuss his areas of expertise in church history. Ugo really has good connections and is not afraid to ask people to help. Of course the lecture was in English, which leaves some people out, but it doesn't happen a lot and it is cool to have access to the experts.

We had a ton of stuff to bring home in the evening. Fortunately Sorelle Summerhays and Helgesen were at the campus for English class, so we gave them a ride home. They helped carry it all in and get Dee's scooter up the stairs to the elevator while I parked the car. It has now been two weeks since Dee broke her foot, and we are hoping that in a few more weeks she will be able to get around at least somewhat more easily.

I can cook pretty well by doing the prep at the table while sitting down, then raising the chair to stir things on the stove. At the Institute, I scoot around in my "chairiot" all the time, and I can do just about everything. My main limitation is carrying stuff, so Doug is getting quite the workout by carrying everything. My scooter nearly fills the elevator, so Doug does a lot more stairs, too. I sure appreciate all he's taken on.