LA FARMACISTA, ANNAMARIA

Himself caught two mice yesterday but I had blipped already. We couldn't keep them in their traps overnight so he transported them well down the road and released them under a wood pile. Poor little blighters. After weeks of living in a five-star pantry with a food supply most mice could only dream about, they were out into the cold and wet. There went my one chance of a wildlife photograph, even if it had been in a jar.

So I went off to photograph our pharmacist. I was rather scared. I reminded myself of the royal I once interviewed. Before she was royal she was very shy but discovered, once royal, that people were terrified of her. Some even trembled as they waited to be presented. She had to learn to forget herself and to put them at their ease. Then I remembered films of famous photographers leaping about as they took pics of beautiful models and how they kept saying "beautiful, oh that's gorgeous, you're a goddess," to make the models feel more confident than they were already.

Well, I need not have worried or tried any of that stuff. She is the one who put me at ease. This is Annamaria, our pharmacist. She is one very smart lady and extremely gracious and cheerful with it. Her daughter was there, too, but as I can only use one pic, I have put her as a secondary picture. She's very smart, too.

Erica.

Italian pharmacies are places of wonder. The background here is standard and is a series of narrow, sliding, gliding drawers, each packed with medicines. They have everything. If they don't, they consult their computers, push a button and the required prescription item will be there within hours.

The stuff on the counter says that it will "make your eyes smile." Should have bought some.

Soft focus on purpose. I don't use it for men. :-)

For the record: +12 C. Cloudy. Humidity 77%