A Restful Start to Palermo

First let me say thank you to the fans. Obviously reaching such a massive viewership means the world and we can’t thank everyone enough for tuning in. There are practically tens of you. 

As those who stayed to the end of the last blog post know, I am the host to an infection of the throat. I have taken many medicines so far and the latest is an antibiotic so I’m hoping that will work. The doctor I went to in Rome left something to be desired but I think I’m going to be fine. 

Since arriving in Palermo, I have been up violently coughing through the night and sleeping during the gorgeous beautiful days, until noon, when I wake, keep coughing, eat a banana, and then around 6pm, go out to wander in the dark. A terrible schedule. 

Last night, I slept through the night for the first time since arriving in Italy - wow. A week of no real sleep. Very interesting! So today, in the sopping wet rain, Raffi and I went out while Liz worked on her thesis (she is in grad school and has a full time job. Meanwhile, we are full time women of leisure). We went to some cathedrals and walked around in the rain. 

We went to a contemporary art museum - much of which was under construction but its a gorgeous space and I loved the paintings they had by Danielle Balsamo (pictured). 

We sat in a cafe for like 2 hours to zone out and let our shoes dry. We spent 3 euro to go inside a gorgeous church and we really got our money’s worth because we spent like 45 minutes in there. 

Then we went to the church’s bakery where nuns make Cannoli. The cannoli here is SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD. I want to learn to make my own. I know I’m not being specific with the names of where we went but Raffi is rushing me out the door for pre-dinner snack because she’s starving.

I have decided to raise a family of sheep because we learned that the milk needs to be really fresh to make the ricotta, to fill into the Cannoli. Also a woman in a jewelry store with black lipstick on told us that ricotta is a seasonal product and tastes very different in different seasons. Spring Ricotta is the best because the sheep have been eating hydrated grass all winter. Summer is the worst because the grass is dry. 

The sheep I will raise are named as such: 

A mother sheep for milk and wool named Raffaella (no relation to R.S. Donatich) 

A ram named Fever.

3 lambs named, 

Gigolo (boy)

Firenze (or in English, Florence. girl) 

Mary (girl) 

Also the woman in the jewelry store told us her dog is non-binary, iconic. 

If anyone has land where I can raise my sheep, please let me know.