We had a nice, low-key day today. We have a dinner invitation tonight with Carol and Joe and their daughters, so we didn’t want to do anything to tire ourselves out.
We did go in search of flowers to take to Carol tonight. We first went to a little shop at the end of Balluta Bay. We had looked in the shop a few days ago on one of our jaunts. This little shop sold cat and dog food, songbirds, some flowering plants and a few cut flowers, rather like a little mini Agway. The shopkeeper was very friendly. We didn’t see any flowers that were appropriate, but Christine bought a couple of small pots of flowers for the flat. Christine and the shopkeeper worked on some Maltese words, like sun and water, and when the fellow said a particular word, a flood of memories came back. Christine doesn’t speak Maltese at all, they spoke English in her family growing up because her father was English. But she does have a few words and phrases embedded in her memory. Maltese is a very unusual language. It sounds both Italian and Arabic mixed together. The shopkeeper did direct us to where we’d find another flower shop on Dingli Street, so off we went.
We are starting to know our streets now, and so we were able to get ourselves to Dingli Street and find the flower shop. This was another little hole-in-the-wall shop. Many of the shops are just that, about 8-10 feet wide, but long in length. But a lot of stuff gets stuffed into these shops. This flower vendor had a great selection of fresh cut flowers and bouquets displayed out on the sidewalk. We selected a big bouquet for Carol and headed back home.
We decided to pack our lunch and go out on the shoreline for a picnic. Both of us have been itching to get our feet in the water. We’ve seen swimmers in the bay every day and Christine really wants to get in that water. It’s a little too cold for me, still, but I think soon we’ll be swimming.
Limestone is not as nice to sit on as sand, and we had a little difficulty finding a smooth enough area to plop down, but eventually we spread our neat sheet out and had our lunch. It was really nice. Christine did get her feet in the water, and I did, too, The water is pretty cold, but not so cold that you can’t bear to be standing in the water. We’re going to be having some very warm temperatures next week, upper 70s and sunny all week, so hopefully that will warm up the water a little.
I stayed down on a park bench reading for a while. Christine returned to the flat for a lie-down. I eventually returned to the flat as well. It was another windy day and so the ghostly sound of the wind whistling through the apartment was starting to get on my nerves. No matter how hard we tried to seal the balcony door and windows, the sound was loud and annoying and no longer funny. Eventually, I noticed that the wind was coming in at the bottom of the doors and windows, not around the sides. There was a little gap there, so with rolled up newspapers and magazines, I stuffed the gaps and voila, no more ghostly noises. What a relief that was.
We walked over to the Farrugia’s apartment, which is on Dingli. Upon arriving, a very tall woman was walking briskly to the same apartment building and we just knew it was one of Carol’s daughters. So we met Rowena, the younger daughter, in the lobby of the building and walked up to the flat with her. Carol and Joe live in a pre-war, lovely old Maltese building. It has a large circular staircase going up. The floors in their apartment are lovely patterned tile. Joe has quite a collection of antiques around the apartment. They’ve lived there 40+ years. Francesca and her husband Julian arrived. Fran is also very tall. And both siblings wore high-heeled shoes making them taller. They both must be over 6 feet, with Fran being the taller of the two.
Well dinner was quite an experience. They all talk at once with each other, with us, with one end of the table, with the other end of the table. There is always a running commentary going from Carol. And all the while Carol is telling Joe to get this, pass that, take away that. It was very entertaining, and very exhausting. But it was a lovely evening of traditional Maltese food, including fenek (rabbit), which is a meat staple here. Everything was delicious
We got to see the grandfather clock, made in 1686, that is rather a bone of contention between Joe and Carol. But it is a prized possession of Joe’s and he proudly told us all about it. We heard about that clock a lot during our previous two visits with Carol.
So we spent the entire evening there and got home after 11:00 p.m. We were so engrossed in conversation and caught up in being with the Farrugias that I forgot to take any pictures.
So, I’ll put up some pictures of our flat. Some of you have been asking to see what our flat looks like. Here it is – our Maltese home.
Finally today I found your BLOG and am enjoying it hugely ! Haven’t read ALL of it yet, but enough to see the wonderful days you are having and the learning/relearning which is occurring. Although I could not recognize anything by photo, your descriptions of the little shops tell me that not everything has changed. I loved exploring all those shops….especially Christmas tree ornaments !
Linda, you are writing a great book !
Thanks, Deeny. Glad you found us! Thanks for the nice words. We are having a grand time. Come join us!
I want to see Grandfather Clock