Jonathan had his post-op check-up with the surgeon last Thursday. All looks well. The results of the biopsy are not back yet, but the surgeon was very off-hand about them, telling us that the biopsy is really just a formality and that he sees no signs of anything to worry about. This is a huge relief and the world seems much sunnier as a consequence.

Which is odd because it has been a torrentially rainy week -- so much so that we have had to put towels at the bottoms of all the east-facing doors and windows to soak up the water that is blown in under them by the lashing winds.

In such a situation, it is lovely to take refuge down at the pub where absolutely nothing is going on -- in the most convivial way. Last night there was no dinner being served and Valentina was holding the fort on her own. The boys were playing cards in one corner  while Serena and Mario talked together in the opposite corner. We sat with Nonno and Geppolino and Valerio and watched the news and talked about the excellence of the mutton that Daniele had made for lunch that day, the procedure for the throat blessing at the Duomo tomorrow, how Semina has been out hunting, the cingiale that has obviously come into our olive grove and made his presence known by digging up the ground in a big trench, who is living in Mirio's house now, how Nonno has a secret method (accurate, he says, eight out of ten times) for predicting the sex of an unborn child, the medicinal value of red wine, and other topics of general interest.

We watched the last half of a soccer game between Bergamo and Torino and I was happy to see that one of the players was named Belladonna, emblazoned across the back of his jersey. It ended in a 1-1 tie. Nothing much happened. I drank a hot punch al mandorino against the cold weather. For a little while, the world seemed tranquil and serene. For that space of time, it was impossible to imagine the chaos of the horrible political scene so that the ugliness coming out of the US, like a pestilential miasma, seems very far away.

The third episode of our podcast is out now. I am working (sporadically) on our taxes. In two weeks, we are going for a few days to Ireland on one of the cheap flights out of Pisa. Next week, Jonathan will be taking driving lessons in a desperate continuation of our never-ending quest for a valid Italian driver's license. The first purple crocuses have started to appear outside.