Autumn days

 

MrFF has been installing a new garden gate.  It arrived at the end of last week, 7 days after it was due for delivery. First day they were unable to deliver, which was odd as we were home and saw nothing of a courier.  Then 6 days of it being out for delivery at the local parcel shop but being returned to the depot each evening.  Complaints to the courier and the supplier eventually got a result.

The gate is made of Corten or weathering steel which rusts to a pleasing finish and doesn’t require any maintenance. It’s the same material as used for the Angel of the North, another project on a slightly larger scale MrFF was involved with many years ago.

The new gate is intended to keep animals away from my terrace pots and plants in the border.  It won’t impede the cats as they use a different route to the lower garden that involves climbing and jumping, a route all our cats have preferred for some reason.

On the first photo you can catch a glimpse of blue skies, we’ve just had two chilly days of low cloud and rain so it’s nice to have the warmth back.  Giovanni came out at the weekend but despairing of the rain and lack of any kind of olive harvest he went straight back to Rome next day.  Our thoughts too are turning to home but we’ve a few jobs left, not least making provision for the three amici.

Party food rant

Today I had an email from Marks and Spencer announcing that their party food has arrived in store,  just in time for the festive season.  

Kick off a festive party with these Collection Mini Turkey Feast Toasties. Enjoy pulled British turkey, sage and onion stuffing along with ham hock, nestled with Emmental and Cheddar cheeses, cranberry chutney and béchamel sauce on toasted malted bread. Beautifully finished with turkey gravy.

Excuse me it’s October besides which those single mouthfuls of complicated nonsense can hardly be described as food. Yes we all know I am not in favour of Christmas being mentioned until at least mid December but this is ridiculous.  

I detest the while concept of party food.   I’ve been to events where the hosts have offered a bought in buffet, in one case it wasn’t even decanted from the plastic trays it arrived in. I’ve also been to (better) parties where I’ve been served proper homemade food, like a big dish of chilli con cane accompanied by fresh crusty bread.  If you are going to hold an event for friends and/or family surely it’s better to prepare them something wholesome rather than order in plastic packs of questionable content that they could easily buy themselves.  

I love eating at friends, I appreciate the effort they make to prepare a meal for us and love sharing their food.  I certainly don't want anything complicated or difficult, it’s about being together round the dining table chatting and relaxing.  As you can imagine party food won’t figure on my seasonal shopping list, in fact I don’t have a seasonal shopping list, ever. 

I bet you are looking forward to my festive table decor rant, it won’t be long, it’s that time of year.

No oil

No I haven’t joined some environmental activist group I am talking about our olive crop. It’s been a dreadful year for the trees, a lot of rain and hail storms that have damaged the fruits and an invasion of the fly that lays its eggs in the developing olives, the larva then feed on the fruit. We generally avoid this infestation as our trees grow at a higher level than those in the valley, last year our olives were completely clean, this year we have the worms.

The fruits are soft and mushy, everyday more fall to the ground.  We have a few trees that are decent but nothing like enough for a mill run and sorting the crates to take out the bad ones would take an age.  

On our walks we’ve seen the situation is the same all around us, in fact many trees are much worse than ours. Usually the harvest is such a happy time, I know Giovanni loves it and he’s still hoping to get some oil, but many people have decided not to pick.   It’s not a disaster for us but Italian families rely on a good harvest, a household will easily use a litre of oil a week.  Giovanni usually produces hundreds of litres, I know his daughter takes 80 and his son 50 in return for their help at harvest time.  

We had such a good result last year, almost 50 litres of oil, so we were able to give a lot away and sell some too.  People had already been asking before we left if they could buy more, it’s not just the Italians who will be disappointed. 

La Pausa

Giovanni arrived at the weekend but stayed only one night before returning to Rome for the next two weeks.  I think we can assume the 3 cats have taken up residence here, which was much easier for them than the performance we had during lockdown to obtain our temporary residence. For them it was a case of arrive, eat, play, sleep, repeat.

They are delightful, becoming braver and stronger every day.  They explore the orchard regularly and like Grigio before them love climbing among the olive trees. They amuse and calm us, we try not to think about their future.

We have so far had a relaxing week without any big project.  It’s a pleasure to sit out and admire the view, the work we’ve done over the years and the way the garden has developed.  Of course we still get cross about the Comune and are disappointed by our olive crop but we have blue skies and a place to be, many people in the world don’t.