Looks like the oranges (and clementines) in my backyard are just about ripe. My landlord says give them three or four more weeks. I have a total of 9 trees--6 orange, and 3 clementine. One of the clementines was actually pretty ripe already, so I picked it off the tree and ate it...and it was good.

Speaking of my landlord, I asked him to show me where the local Catholic church is, so I can start going there to improve my Italian. So we hopped in my car, and he showed me. And he also took exception to my poor stick-shift skills. He started critiquing me (in Italian, of course, since he speaks no English) and noted, "you don't have much experience with this, do you?" I pointed out (in my broken pidgin Italian) that this was the first car I'd ever owned that was manual; all my others have been automatic. So then he started critiquing me and reprimanding me for using the clutch too much, and gave me a quick lesson (which is actually the first lesson anyone has ever given me in my life about how to drive stick). Then he went on to lecture me about how dangerous it is to ride the clutch. He also pointed out that my engine seems to be running much louder than it should be and that I should probably at least get it checked out before too much longer. I think. He made a lot of useful "vroom, vroom"-type noises to help me understand.