The worlds finest oil 2012

At last some photos of our oil production

Ten crates of hand picked olives

 

 Transported to the family owned traditional mill

Into one big crate for weighing

Then on their way to the stone wheels that ground them into a paste

The paste is distributed onto round pads that are then put onto the big spikes and placed under pressure in the blue machines, soon the oil starts to pour.  It is cleaned and finally many hours later our faces light up as we see the finished product. 

Our very own, it is every bit as gorgeous as it looks, 40 litres of the finest oil I have ever made/seen/tasted.

Breaking all my rules

You know what a stoic I am, how I insist on one knitting project at a time and once I start a book I have to finish it. Well not any more.

I started reading this last week. I got to page 70 something and still had no idea what it was about, might as well have been reading it in Danish, totally impenetrable.  I complained to Mr FF last night that I was getting nowhere with it and wise old engineer he said 'life's too short to read a book you are not enjoying'.  True.  So today its gone into the charity bag and I'll find another in the bookcase that I'm trying so hard to empty.  

I decided to step out of the knitting comfort zone of socks scarves etc and tackle this.  Its the patchwork aran jacket from Debbie Bliss's Family Knits.  The patterns is in double knit cotton but I'm attempting it using British Breeds Yarn's Swaledale Aran, worsted spun in Yorkshire from 100% pure new British wool, that is pleasingly hairy and slightly oily. I've adjusted the needle size and its working fine, except that I'm not sure if my 10 x 100g balls will be enough and whether I'll be able to get more of the same shade, the wool isn't dyed but sheep come in varying shades, I know that.  I intend to get a bit further with the back. decide how I feel about the cardy and then speak to the manufacturers if I want to continue.

 

Its quite a complicated design, the clue is in the name, switching round the various patterns which have different number of rows, so it requires great concentration and is not the thing to tackle whilst watching anything demanding on tv.  When I take a break from the aran I don't know what to do with my hands so to retain my sanity I've also cast on a pair of plain socks.

Then there's the rule of not bring more stuff into the house, sadly that will go out of the window when my parcel arrives. Yesterday I was at a Boden party in the village, it was so much fun.  You got to see and try on the clothes before you decided, whilst enjoying good coffee and cake, there was discount on the catalogue price and the first 30 customers got a free gift, a pretty scarf.   I went looking for a new swimming costumer but ordered a dress, two tops and a bag, all in bright colours and slightly different to my normal style which is good I think.  Pam was with me and we seemed to select several identical items so now I need to find a new friend for the summer or we'll be going out looking like twins.  
All the rules are out of the window, who said old folk don't like change, well me actually. 

Warm in wincey

When we stayed in the lovely b&b in France on our way home last December, the bed was beautifully decked out in cream flannelette/brushed cotton/winceyette.  I'm never quite sure which is the correct name for this soft, cosy cotton with a raised brushed surface but I love it.  I bought a pair of cream pillow cases ages ago for winter use and quickly followed this with a couple of duvet covers that go onto our bed for the coldest months. I like a cool bedroom and I'm not a fan of the electric blanket or even a hot water bottle, but this gorgeous bed linen in my winter necessity.
Just this week I found a new duvet cover, they aren't that easy to come by and tend to be in pastel candy stripes or pretty pretty patterns, not my thing at all. 

This one is so so soft and as you can see goes really well with the Orla Kiely wool blanket that I pull up on particularly cold nights.

Incidentally we are loving our British made British wool duvet, we opted for the 3-4 seasons which is just the right weight. We've been using it now for a couple of months and I find I'm not overheating and throwing off the cover in the middle of the night like I used to.    In fact I'm sleeping so well I hardly want to get out of bed in the mornings, no change there then.

Knitting now

While its looked like this outside

Its looked like this inside

The snow hasn't been too bad for us, about 6 inches at its worst,  we've kept the drive and paths clear and not been out very often.  I have done lots of knitting whilst watching some pretty dire television programmes and making the sofa even more lop-sided than it was before I spent the month January on it.

I've made several pairs of fairly standard socks, this little baby jumper in Sublime organic cotton using a Rowan pattern I suddenly realised I've been knitting for 20 years, the first recipient of one of these is now at university.

I used up some Aruncania pure wool for this hourglass cowl.   It drapes nicely loose, looks good and chunky round my neck twice and doesn't have a wrong side, all very pleasing 

And I made a plain grey raglan jumper using a cone of unidentified yarn.  It was intended for Mr FF but shortage of materials means it fits me.
So that's quite a lot of yarn used up and I'm pleased to say no new stock has entered the house.  Maybe I'm not doing so bad after all, a whole month without a stash purchase. January certainly is the month of the sofa but now the snow is melting I might set my sights further afield.

What's in a name

Mr FF has been pestering me for ages to change my email provider.  I was quite happy with the one I had and registered all over the place with that address but apparently we won't be able to keep that provider, it has limited capacity and lots of other reasons all beyond me.  Of course my old email address, taken out in the dark ages before everyone got on line was simply my name @etc, now its impossible to get anything like it using either Jen, Jenny or Jennifer.  
Mr FF thought I should use my existing Jennyflipflops email address but I don't feel that would give me much credibility if I was writing to my MP or making a complaint.
So after a while he got a bit cross because I was dithering and eventually he told me Jenny.Twat@ is available.  
Mmm, I'll give that some thought.


Post blog note,
I finally registered with my name and 48, the year I was born.

Make a wish

While we were in Italy Mr FF started to landscape the approach to the back door of our house.  Originally there was a very steep drive from the road to a garage but it was practically impossible to access so a while back we took off the heavy old garage door and replaced it with a pass door, window and some new block work, very smart. Over the years the old drive had broken down and the parking area was rough and uneven, in fact one group of paying guests mentioned that they had never managed to get more than three of their hire car wheels on the ground at the same time.

So the plan is to have a flat parking area off the road, that will eventually be paved, a flight of steps down to another flat area at the back door and retaining walls to create interesting places where I can display pots of plants.

Mr FF made good progress though we will have to finish off when we go back to Italy in spring.

However, just off the road and on our drive was a manhole cover placed at a steep angle, this has to remain as it gives access to power cables so Mr FF gave some thought to the problem. Eventually he made a design decision to raise the level of the cover and build up a wall round the manhole to match the garden wall which would also help prevent water from the road running down our steps.   I wasn't too keen on this idea, even less so as it started to develop until eventually I realised he was in fact building a wishing well or pozzo dei desideri as we say in Lazio.

I suggested he makes a little wooden roof complete with a bucket on a rope and winding handle, that didn't go down too well (pun intended).  Wonder how he feels about a few plastic gnomes, perhaps with fishing rods.  

Not cut out to be a nomad

I've been away a while for various reasons and as usual pure idleness figures highly but here I am all set to tap away on the new computer now that Mr FF has finally let me have the password.
I'm in a funny state of mind, not sad exactly just wondering who I am and where I belong at the moment.  We had to go down to Yorkshire this week for a family funeral, my cousin's husband died suddenly.  Being in the village where I went to school, with people I've known all my life and who are still in the same place really got me thinking.  Mr FF and I have moved around since we were married 42 years ago, we've had 7 houses and for the last 24 years have lived in Scotland.  My recently bereaved cousin lives in the village where she was born and has only ever in her whole life lived in two houses both in the same road.  She is now back in the albeit revamped house where she was born.  My brother also lives in the house where he and I were born and his two daughters and two granddaughters are not far away. 
Back in Scotland I also attended this week a memorial lunch for a dear friend's Mum who died recently at the grand old age of 95.  The lunch was to celebrate her life at one of her favourite restaurants, attended by her children, grandchildren and great grandchildred, plus old friends and neighbours and the extended family of which I am proud to be a member.  It was a positive uplifting event, with many photos of Betty's life and a humour filled speech from her grandson.  Betty had moved round too, from Scotland to England and back again but was fortunate that her family seemed to follow her and she ended her days living close to them.  
However, it all got me thinking.  I love being in Italy with all our friends in the village, I love my house and garden in Scotland and all the friends I've made here but I still call Yorkshire home and its calling me.   Maybe I just want the best of everything, the sunny Italy life style, my comfy Scottish house and to be surrounded by everyone I care for.  Maybe its because we are thinking of downsizing and don't know where to that is disconcerting me, maybe its just old age.
I hope you are feeling a bit more grounded and enjoy your weekend, which for us is forecast to be chilly.

And finally I have managed to upload a photograph, view from the family room.  Not easy working with a new computer system, new is certainly not better, I definitely need some fresh air.  Back soon.