The Winds of Time

After 2 “down” days I was ready to get out and about. We took a bike ride in search of a Madonna del Latte fresco in an abandoned ancient ‘edicula’ (newstand) in a country village, but that’s a story for another time. We had a pleasant ride along mostly dedicated bike paths (yay), cycling around fields of grain turning brown and vineyards with grapes starting to swell on the vines, and a stop in the medieval village of Bevagna for refreshing ‘spremuta d’arancia’ (fresh squeezed OJ). The less lovely part was the hot, humid, hay fever part. Sweating and sneezing. But I think the hay fever took over the cold. Fine with me. We passed a traveling circus encampment - complete with a couple of gypsy caravans, a mini-yurt, ducks, chickens and goats! Hand-printed signs advertised that the show starts at 8 pm tonight. Too bad we can’t make it. I wonder what the little gypsy circus show is like? Our destination was the Civic Museum of Cannara. The treasure trove of two, not one, but two Madonna del Lattes! One is an early 17th century oil painting, the other a 14th century fresco. Madonna del Latte has become a bit of an obsession and the “where’s Waldo” during my Italian travels. I haven’t yet shared photos of her on blip. The plan is for Madonna to have her own ‘show’. The sweet little civic museum is tucked in a secluded courtyard in an old convent. Besides the Madonnas there was plenty of other things to see that were dug up in and around town…the usual Etruscan and Roman artifacts, but also and entire, intact Roman mosaic floor. Medieval wood sculptures and frescoes. One room exhibited the beautiful carved wood ‘pictures’ by a local contemporary artist. The first room, however, was dedicated to the long, music tradition of this town, where the early 20th century instruments from the local big brass bands, orchestra, opera, have settled here to rest. Today’s Blip shows the wind instruments and Musical scores. The only music I heard in Cannara, was while strolling in the museum. (We were the only patrons, btw.). The young man with long, wild black hair that sold us our tickets gets to choose the music that filled the museum. JAZZ! He was streaming jazz from French radio. I just wanted to hang out in the cozy chair by the mosaic floor and listen to jazz. An aperol spritz would be nice too. Dreaming. I forgot to ask the young man if he’s been to the Umbrian Jazz festival!