Yesterday, on a whim, Jonathan and I decided to go see if the gelato store at the beach was still open. The beach clubs are all closed now and the striped umbrellas and beach chairs have all been put away for the winter. The sand is empty. But, miraculously, the gelato store was open even though no one was in it and the owner was sitting on a chair out front under the awning watching the white geese in the park quack at each other and the misty rain fall. We chatted with him a bit and he told us that today would be their last day of the season and then they would close up until next spring. "So come by tomorrow," he said, "and get something to keep in your freezer."

So today we went down and bought two big tubs of gelato to put in our freezer and eat this winter while we dream of hot sand and cool ocean water and sunshine. And then his wife (we don't know their names -- yet) said to us, "Would another container fit in your freezer?" And they gave us as a gift another giant container of gelato and a bunch of cookies -- the kind that I always associate with gelato on the Riviera. The white geese came up almost right into the store while this was going on, honking and looking around. There are no tourist crowds these days to shoo them away.

These are the six flavors of gelato we got:

1. Mango (mango), 2. Frutti di Bosco (blackberry, raspberry and blueberry, mixed), 3. Caramello Saltato (salted caramel), 4. Cioccolato (chocolate), 5. Pompelmo e Campari (grapefruit and Campari), and 6. Limone, Salvia e Menta (lemon, sage and mint). They did not have my favorite Cinnamon Apple today, but that gives me something to look forward to next summer. We brought them home and took all the ice cubes out of the freezer so that we could fit the containers in. 

Sometimes, it seems like Jonathan and I have behaved in a very rash and foolhardy manner by moving to Italy on a whim like we did, instead of acting sensibly, with forethought and prudence. And so we keep expecting one day to get our comeuppance. We keep expecting to have to pay the price for our recklessness. So far, though, for at least today, the comeuppance seems to mostly have taken the form of free ice cream and cookies. I've had worse comeuppances, quite frankly.