November 20, 2016: our fortieth anniversary. Unfortunately, because of my back pain, I was unable to do any celebrating.  One of Nick’s hobbies is gardening, so I suggested that he go to the Botanical Garden, Orto botanico. He enjoyed that, and he took many photos. Before he went, we had to call Anna and Francesco to cancel our plans to have dinner at their house. We were all equally disappointed. Having relatives come from America is as special to them as  visiting them in Palermo  is to us.

I spent the day in bed with a heat pack on my back, taking my meds. Nick came back telling me he had found  a lovely trattoria nearby where he got pasta and a salad to take out. We watched the movie M.A.S.H. in Italian on TV.