It’s Sunday night. I arrived on Thursday morning in the middle of a hard, driving rain. Since then, it’s been wet, dry, and gray, with just enough blue to keep my spirits up.

Maureen Ewa 350

I’ve been piling on every layer I brought with me just to stay warm in my ceramic tile-floor apartment, but I’ve gotten sticky-sweaty when I go out walking about. Deja Vú; this is like last year. (Pretty soon I’ll be complaining about sweating in the muggy heat.)

Yesterday, in the rain, I walked to the subway station, Porta Genova, to meet my friend Ewa, then we walked back here, arm-in-arm for some chatting time. A couple of hours later, I walked her back to the station to, bid adieu, then I walked back home again. By then my shoes – ballerina flats for walking – were drenched.

I really have no active way of drying out my shoes (or clothes). The country turns the radiator heat OFF in April (or thereabouts) so I couldn’t put the shoes on the hot radiator to dry out. There is no clothes dryer, so they can’t be tumbled dry. Without sunshine I can’t find much of a sunny spot in which to perch them. So, I was considering turning the oven on low heat to dry them.

But, just before the next rain shower, a spot of sunny sky persisted long enough to display my shoes on the window ledge* and make my shoes dry-enough and wearable. (Just so you know, it’s not ALL “Under the Tuscan Sun” around here! Besides… I’m not even in Toscana – Tuscany – I’m in Lombardia – Lombardy. Every region is different.)

Glad I brought a long pair of jeans for the first time in 5 years. They’ll keep me warm(er).

(*Just like in Lizhiang, China)