A few notes on some random topics:

The weather has been hot with clear blue skies. Very, very hot. The day we were in Pico, the car read 42 C which I think is 107 F. Most of the other dates have been on the 90s during the day, and high 80s at night. I don’t think I’ve ever drank so much water in my life.
We aren’t paying for air conditioning at the villa…it costs a lot extra…and instead have been sleeping with the windows open enjoying the breeze. All of the upstairs rooms have 4′ x 3′ windows with screens, so when there is a breeze, it’s very comfortable. There was no breeze last night so I was up for two hours listening to the animals trying to keep cool. It’s definitely hotter on the second floor where 2/3 of the bedrooms are located.
During the day, we open all of the doors on the first floor and it’s very comfortable inside the house.

Miss M’s skin is getting VERY dry with all of this sun, and many of you readers know how much of struggle it is to keep her skin from itching and not bleeding from all the scratching. I brought her prescriptions with me, but her skin is still having a hard time with the sun exposure and daily visits to the pool.

I’ve been dousing myself with bug spray. Bought the Italian stuff which is stronger than what we can get in the U.S., and I am still getting bit. More than a dozen bites on me, a few on the kids, including what we think is a bee sting under D’s foot, but none on Paul.

Went to the farmacia in Perugia and successfully purchased azithromiycin over the counter for 7 Euro. No prescription needed! Bringing it back to the States to have on hand for the next time I travel in case I get sick.

We’re halfway through the Italian countryside part of our trip, and while I enjoy the pool, the views and the day trips from here, I am looking forward to being back in a more urban environment. I am a city girl at heart. Everywhere I look, there are bugs. Bees flying around, little spiders crawling by, and bugs that I cannot even identify marching along. And of course my friends the ants and mosquitos. Most bugs stick to themselves, but I won’t shed a tear about leaving the country and heading to Parma, our next destination

Last night there was some hedgehog type thing running around which curled itself up next to the door. This morning, there was a little frog in the pool which Miss M rescued with a net and he did an army crawl, versus hopping, to safety. And this afternoon we were ant free but had a gecko visit us in the living room!