April is the Cruelest Month?

They say that April is the cruelest month.  Is it the sudden showers?  The temperatures that can vary by 20 degrees from day to day?  The snow/hail/thunder storms that ruin fruit blossoms and flowers?  Perhaps all of the above.  But this year in Cervinara, May has shown herself to be a pretty nasty lady. 

In the week that we have been here, everyone has raved about the amazing April they had.  Warm, sunny, consistently beautiful days.  They put away their winter sweaters and were out and about in summer garb.  May, on the other hand, has been nothing but ugly.  It's cold.  It has rained every day since we've been here, often just enough sprinkles in the afternoon to ruin the clothes drying on the line, other times like today it's been a consistent downpour. 

Today was market day and when we got there at 10:00, the vendors were already packing up to go.  No one wanted to stroll through the bancarelle today!  One poor lady was heading under an awning when the water that had accumulated on top decided to let loose.  That was quite a spontaneous shower!  We dodged the puddles, bought our requisite clams and olives, as well as some more flowers to pot and we headed home.

We've tried to do some beautifying of the old house this week, spending way too much at our local greenhouse and now at the market, putting pots of plants around the courtyard and on the stairs.  For years we have had pots of perennials that survived all sorts of bad weather, but last summer's drought followed by this winter's extreme cold has destroyed most of the plants and several of our trees.  The lemon tree will be pruned back to almost nothing this fall as there are only a few sprouts showing on it's bare skeleton.  The mandarin tree is denuded of any foliage.  And all the potted plants are gone, so this is our attempt to repopulate the flora of our old house. 

I'm not sure how well they are going to thrive in this weather.  At least we won't be messing around with watering anything for quite some time!  In the meantime, we are renaming May as the cruelest month and are hoping for some respite soon.  Of course it won't be long until we will be cursing the sun and the heat....and blaming Mother Nature for her indifference to our comfort.  It's always something!