Hi, kids – 

I’ve heard that there’s still no swimming because of the Mississippi floods.  So, what do you do instead, Ceci, Finn, Gus, and Kieran? Mary, are you in a kiddie pool in South Bend? I hope so.

You know I am in Sicily, right? In a couple days, I’ll meet Auntie Elizabeth and Uncle  Roy here.  Over the weekend, I was in Palermo, which is a city with as many people as Minneapolis and St Paul put together. Palermo has many wonderful old buildings and hardly any Mafia (ask mom or dad). On Saturday while I was eating dinner outside near a church, I looked up and saw —

I left Palermo Monday morning, but not before this…

 And this (on the left, below). I know it looks like fruit, but in Palermo this “Martorana,” or Marzipan, is everywhere. It’s made of lots of sugar and ground almonds. I looked, but didn’t bite. 

 The other photo is one I took of some girls racing home – I was walking back from dinner a couple days ago, when I was staying in the village of Cinisi. I think they’re about Ceci’s age, don’t you?

So, now that I’m in Cianciana, I can show you the first  place I’m staying, waiting for Elizabeth and Roy. Here’s a 23-second video of the kitchen and stairs. As I say in the video, everything is very narrow (and steep!), I think because the walls are so thick. Can you guess why the houses are built with this kind of wall?

(Hint: it is very hot here!)

Yes, it’s very warm here during the day. Maybe some houses in Cianciana have air conditioning, but mostly, it’s fans. They work fine.

 In the early evening, I  see this little fountain from the kitchen and from the balcony —

I’ve been trying for an hour to upload a short video of the BLUE SMURF gelato I saw when I stopped at the cafe-bar this morning. The video isn’t working, so I’ll try it another time. I think it will make you laugh!

I miss you all very much, but know you are doing a lot of fun things this summer.

Love,
Eebie