Mini heat wave

This is day two of a beautiful May heat wave.  Do you like my festive new umbrella?  I bought a more dignified brown one at Costco, but it was enormous and almost hit the side of the house. Everything at Costco is too big.  So I lugged it back and ordered this one from a nifty online company called Hayneedle. It's hard to find things in tidy sizes anymore.  So what if it has a logo? It reminds me of Europe, where little red Campari umbrellas are a common sight at outdoor cafes. 

Campari is a bright red aperitif, made from herbs and strange fruits like "chinotto" and "cascarilla" mixed with alcohol and water.  It was invented in 1860 by Gaspare Campari in Novara, Italy.  Up until 2006, Campari was colored with carmine, made from crushed cochineal insects. Yum. That probably didn't appeal to the vegans and vegetarians, but at least it was an "organic" dye.

Campari is seriously bitter like medicine, or like eating the rind of a grapefruit.  It's considered a light summer drink, mixed with soda or added to cocktails. We usually have a bottle taking up space in the refrigerator year-round,  because for some strange reason John likes it on hot days (very odd, because he wouldn't touch a grapefruit with a 10-foot pole.)  When people come over, he sometimes mixes up a Campari and soda for them, and it's fun watching their faces as they nurse their bitter drink and try to say polite things.  I love grapefruit but not Campari-- give me a nice cold glass of white wine on a summer day.