In the midst of travelling I lose all account of what I have eaten and all sense of when I should be eating and what to eat. When I first got back to Mercatale from Rignano, I ate everything that had been in the car for Lord knows how long, as soon as I got into the house. Less to put away. Unfortunately, it was a really hot day, and more than one type of bacteria had been growing itself into a small but significant colony that my stomach couldn’t cope with. Today I am back on toast, sugar and cheap potato chips, which Ferdinand is all over like a cheap raincoat. He has been saying things like, “I really love these chips, Mom.”
I am staying at my friend Caroline’s house for a few days before going back. My friend Caroline has been away herself for a while, and she is madly cleaning her house to get things back to the order she knows. When I get home to New York, I will do the same with my food. A little chaos is always good though. You really have to look at things in order to put them back and decide if you really still want them, and if you do want them, you have to ask yourself were they in the right place to begin with.