Jack and I came home to Pontelandolfo to find a bag of scrumptious fava beans on our door step. Our neighbor, Lina, had left them for us. (You’ve heard me talk about the ever growing and traveling fava bean before. Click if you haven’t.) The beans themselves are nestled in a furry lined pod. I sat down to clean them and realized I was “unmasking” the hidden delights.
As I unmasked the raw beans, I saw each little bean as a person who had been safely ensconced and came home to me unharmed. On May 4th, we arrived in Italy from the unmasked state of New Jersey. Frankly, since Covid was still active, I never felt particularly safe with the unmasking edict. Prior to boarding our flight to Rome, I was thrilled to read that Italy still had some stringent masking travel rules in place. The FFP2 masks remain mandatory on airplanes – as well as other methods of travel. (FFP2 is similar to N95 or KN95 masks.). Every passenger on our United Flight should have read all the Covid rules and regulations.
Of course, there is always someone who doesn’t read, doesn’t care or obviously knows better and can be a pain in the butt about it. “Why do I have to put on a mask?” shrieked the woman boarding the plane a few people behind me. The United employee at the gate was very calm and tried to explain that it was a rule. The loud mouth continued screaming, “we don’t have to wear masks anymore – didn’t you get the message?”
You who know me, know what is coming. I couldn’t bear it another nanosecond and pulling my school administrator stop the riot voice of authority out of my ass turned and bellowed – “It is an Italian law. We are taking a plane to Italy and Italian law supersedes whatever it is you are talking about.” Jack grabbed my arm and pulled me forward.
I mean what is the big deal about a mask? Since we arrived in Pontelandolfo, we have been surrounded by masks. The day we got here, after a short nap – OK from noon until 7:30 PM – we tossed on some clothes and went to dinner at our favorite seafood restaurant, Sesto Senso. Everyone working there was wearing a mask. Patrons wore masks until they got beverages. Tables were more that ten feet apart. No one complained. Masks in the grocery store, masks in the pharmacy, masks at the butchers, masks anywhere groups of people were congregating and no one was bitching.
Back to the fava beans. The little pods protect the beans until they are big, strong and scrumptious. I enjoy being protected by my mask and look forward to the end of Covid and being strong and scrumptious too.
Ci Vediamo
Laugh at my antics in Pontelandolfo and Southern Italy. Get a copy of my book, wherever books are sold.
Published by Read Furiously
Nonna's Mulberry Tree 
I am going to be seriously upset if someone comes near me in the next year of my intense treatment and doesn’t mask up.
LikeLike
HI Midge, good to hear you’re back in Italia! I would have loved to hear your “school administrator stop the riot voice of authority” bellowing on that plane…. though Midge, I’m really sick of masks and think that Italians have been traumatized in a big way. Kids from elementary school upwards are still having to wear masks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Brava, Midge!! And oh siiiiiiiii’, those fava beans look so colorful and scrumptious!
LikeLike
One of my favorite veggies. I’m going to look for them at D.O. this week.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you two are back “home”! Safe, despite selfish, ignorant anti-maskers. And well-provisioned! In Paris over Christmas, we found near universal mask wearing and glad a “pass sanitaire” proof of vaccination required to enter museums, restaurants and public transport. Also, many white tents for instant testing. We felt safer there and indeed, in January one of us got covid from an anti masker allowed to be nearby in line at a grocery store since our County Exec. (of the party formerly known as Republican) wasn’t enforcing state mandates.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Anti-maskers are just plain selfish people and are very loud in their ignorance. It’s a simple thing to do to protect others. Glad you spoke out.
LikeLike
Voluntary mask wearing is associated with a lack of public education in physics.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! Talk about being well-informed!
LikeLike
Here’s a physics article that applies to masking. From Jan. 2022.
“Droplet evaporation on porous fabric materials
Abstract
Droplet evaporation on porous materials is a complex dynamic that occurs with spontaneous liquid imbibition through pores by capillary action. Here, we explore water dynamics on a porous fabric substrate with in-situ observations of X-ray and optical imaging techniques. We show how spreading and wicking lead to water imbibition through a porous substrate, enhancing the wetted surface area and consequently promoting evaporation. These sequential dynamics offer a framework to understand the alterations in the evaporation due to porosity for the particular case of fabric materials and a clue of how face masks interact with respiratory droplets.”
Note the last sentence, “a clue of how face masks interact with respiratory droplets”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-04877-w
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Midge.
LikeLike