Dog Sitting

Our local Danish friend called by to ask a favour.  The family had planned a weekend trip to Germany and booked their two white sheepdogs into the rescue/vets from where they were originally adopted.  A few days before they were leaving they were told the rescue didn’t have room for them after all and as a last resort wondered if we would be able to help out for two days.  Of course we were happy to do so.

The plan was that the dogs would have access to the house and gardens, we’d get the key code for the gates and once each day top up their bowls of food and water, simple. However we were a little apprehensive.  We hadn’t seen the dogs for over a year and worried they might not appreciate strangers entering their territory. Bianca and Ellie are Maremma Abruzzese dogs traditionally used by shepherds to protect the flocks from wolves, quite protective creatures, quite big too.  The larger of the two weighs 45 kilos, about 7 stones, I weigh 9.

So we took full instructions and on the Saturday walked the mile to the house to be greeted by two large barking dogs jumping up at the gates.  Once we were inside they barked a bit more but calmed down when food appeared.  There were also treats for us to give them and a brush so I gave them a quick groom, that helped and pretty soon we were all friends.  

Next day we were looking forward to seeing them again, they didn’t bark at all and we spent time playing with them in the garden.   We really enjoyed being with such beautiful dogs, such a nice distraction that we have offered to do feed them again if it’s not for too long. 

Sad days

We are having a rather somber time in Italy following the death of two dear friends here.

Our lovely neighbour Giovanni died just after our return.  He was a true and generous friend to us.   Back in Ilkley MrFF always kept in touch sending Giovanni photos of his walks in the Dales but after Christmas Giovanni stopped responding. We received only a brief note telling us he was unwell.  It’s quiet in the mountainside  without him, as MrFF said we were used to waking early to the sound of him strimming his olive groves before it got too hot.  He gave us good advice on our olives and introduced us to the local mill though he was never much impressed by my flowers, if it wasn’t edible he wasn’t interested. 

On Saturday some of his family came from Rome to the house and kindly invited us to a pizza night to remember Giovanni. A regular occurrence in summer when Giovanni supervised the production of far too many delicious pizzas cooked in the outside oven and children and grandchildren arrived for the feast. This photo was taken when his wife Milena was still alive. 

Secondly a Danish friend with a house in a nearby village flew back to Copenhagen 3 weeks ago feeling unwell.  He was admitted to hospital and underwent a lot of  tests but sadly died at the weekend.   We didn’t know Knud that long but he was a kind and generous man who kept a beautiful garden.  We happily exchanged cuttings and he provided me with buckets full of marmalade oranges.  

Quiet days with much reflection, I keep gardening immersed in my memories of two very different men who both loved to grow things.

Ruperto

Two days ago Ruperto was sick after his breakfast and spent most of the day quietly in the cat apartment.  Next morning he didn’t appear at the terrace door when I opened up.  Since our return a week ago today he’d be there before I got the door unlocked, rolling on the mat delighted to see me.  Later that morning he came out and drunk water which I took to be a good sign.  In the afternoon I couldn’t see him in the apartment, we keep the door fastened slightly open so only cats can enter.  I searched the house and garden he was nowhere to be seen.  Today I opened the apartment door and he was there right at the back tucked under the pillows, he was dead.  

It’s shocking that he died so quickly after surviving 5 months without us.  We didn’t even have a week with him when we returned but we did give him lots of love and the best care we could during his short life.  We are so sorry this has happened.   

Back to Italy

 We arrived back at our house in Italy Thursday evening.  Already the tedious journey that started badly when MrFF couldn’t open the car to add the final packing on our morning of departure.  We’d risen at 5.30, it was a tense half hour or so until he heard a little click, was able to open the boot, unpack the car and crawl through to the front. The fault turned out to be a mix up with keys and low battery in the fob, the manual key didn’t work at all. I might have pointed out the battery situation when the trauma began but my advice wasn’t well received.  We took spare batteries and didn’t lock the car at all en route even when dashing to the toilets at services. On the ferry MrFF replaced the battery. We prayed we wouldn’t be the ones at Calais who couldn’t open the car, we weren’t. However there was another problem, MrFF discovered that neither of the keys he had was the one he regularly uses and the one to which he had attached the door key for Italy.  We always enter and exit via what was the garage next to where we park our car, it’s handy to have it on the car key ring.  It wasn’t a major problem, he had all the keys for the many doors, gates and grilles and we knew Mario had a garage key.  He was waiting by the roadside with it after we messaged him.  So now we can spend a couple of months wondering where the usual key with the house key attached is.

It’s lovely here, sunny and warm with cooler evenings when we light the stove for a couple of hours. Ruperto aka Nigel, the youngest kitten last year, was here when we arrived.  A little shy but by next day he was happy to be petted and fussed.  Next morning we thought it was his brother Umberto/Brian who turned up looking a little porky.  It was in fact the mother Olive, she’s probably pregnant.  We’ve also been visited by two strays who arrive like clockwork at the time the auto feeder opens. They’ll be disappointed now it’s not in use and our kitties get personal service. 

As ever I am busy sorting the garden and ignoring the state of the house.  Everything seems quite advanced this year,  it’s delightful.

Spring depart

At last it feels springlike on my walks.  Plenty of people out in their fiercely manicured garden with lawnmowers, hedge cutters and leaf blowers, de rigour in this affluent town.  I have mixed feelings about these overly tended gardens. They do have beautiful specimen trees and shrubs, we are well stocked with showy magnolias, camellias and the like but to me they speak as much of wealth as gardening skill or enthusiasm.

I was delighted to see the woods are full of bluebells, they are particularly spectacular this year and lovely hawthorn hedges are in full flower.  I much prefer this kind of wildlife friendly hedge to the knife edged sterile evergreen pruned versions.

Maybe I am being unkind. I expect the owners get a lot of pleasure from their immaculate gardens and it’s good they work in them. I prefer something a bit more blousy and untamed, something more like me. 

So now that spring is here we are leaving.  On Monday we catch a not too early ferry and will spend a few days in France and one in northern Italy before reaching our house next Thursday. I have some anxiety about the fuel situation and really hope that if awful the war continues we don’t get stuck in Italy.  We hope to be back in Ilkley late June.

New books

It’s very rare for me to buy new books. My local library is a delight when we are in Yorkshire and I always stock up on charity paperbacks to take to Italy, returning them read to pass on to friends or back to the charity shop.  The many books we have in the penthouse are mostly non fiction. 

However recently I’ve had two new book experiences.  Firstly I reserved a library book which when I went to collect was a pristine brand new hardback.  I told the librarian that it was a lot of pressure for me to be the first to read it and also to take care of it, I did manage not to damage it.  Not always the case.  When I worked in Edinburgh I used the glorious central library which wasn’t too far from my office. I had taken out a sizeable brand new tome on organic gardening.  One morning I put it in my work bag to return, tucked in beside my packed lunch.  Sadly the latter had attempted an escape and a ripe peach squashed itself against the fore edge, the opening edge that isn’t the spine, of the book.  Of course I owned up at the returns desk, it really wasn’t that bad but they made me pay the full purchase price of the book then handed it back to me.  Lesson learnt.

Secondly this week I received as a gift a brand new book, below. My lovely neighbour had left it gift wrapped on my door step as a thank you for a bit of knitting I did for her.  It was such a nice surprise, a beautiful looking book with great reviews and best of all brand new but without responsibility. This is such a special treat for me and I will look after it.

This is not an April fool post

Some days I feel my latest decluttering exercise is making little progress. Charity donations have been made and I sold a few items on eBay but three Emma Bridgewater mini mugs and a Scottish pottery tartan cup and saucer haven’t released a lot of shelf space. 

MrFF has been regularly badgered to sort through the collection of 200+ CDs that we have not had the means to play for the last 11 years.  His modus operandi so far is to take 30 off the storage rack, put them in various piles round the office and think about them.  12 have so far been released to the charity shop. I mentioned how pleased they were to have them, sadly that didn’t motivate him to send more.

This week our hardly used now vintage arctic grade sleeping bags were brought down from the loft, photographed and offered for sale.  That’s great except they are now in the lounge awaiting a buyer, please consider them if you are venturing into the frozen wastes any time soon, they are lovely.

However this week my mindset has been completely changed.  I was browsing property for sale in our Italian village which you might think is an interesting and possibly inspiring thing to do, you’d be wrong.  These are two of the sales photos from a detached semi rural property with a reasonable asking price. 

I cannot comprehend how the vendors expect to sell their over cluttered hardly visible house looking like this or why the estate agents don’t explain the bit about putting personal stuff out of sight.  Either way I feel a whole lot better.