Window dressing

We've settled easily into our Yorkshire life, it's always lovely to get back to the apartment and renew acquaintances with the inmates. We've already been to neighbours for drinks and tonight are next door for dinner so we feel very welcome.
And now we have new curtains.  We selected them before we went to Italy four months ago and they were made up ready when we got back. 

Unfortunately they couldn't be hung for a few days so despite the lovely day time view it wasn't exactly cosy in the penthouse at night with a large expanse of glass but well worth the wait. 

The special tape produces a wave pattern that gives dramatic pleats and works well as our track had to be hung from the ceiling to fit into the alcove for the doors.  Calculating the fabric dimensions, hook spacings etc was a challenge for the engineer, of course they fit perfectly.

                            

So the penthouse is looking smarter and smarter,  now with lovely views inside and out.

Both make me very happy but maybe the outside one is still the winner.

Home again

We've been back in Ilkley a couple of days and now it's snowing so I'm grateful we managed our long journey home in decent weather.  We had good stop offs, the ferry from Calais to Dover was practically empty if a bit choppy and the drive back to the north of England wasn't too bad.
So lets have some kitten photographs.

Crema, female, Rosso, male and Grigio female.

 They were soon introduced to my knitting bag

and appreciated a decent quality yarn

 Although who can resist an empty box

This is Marzio our kitten from last year,  now a rather infrequent and grumpy visitor but a very beautiful young man

The coloured one is Lisa, the mother, the black one Theo the uncle and of course the kitties.  They all liked to sleep on the terrace through the summer but moved into their apartment before we left.
So we miss them terribly and are of course a little worried but Marzio survived six months without us.  These three are older and stronger so we are just hoping for the best and plan to get back to them as soon as spring arrives. 

Leaving

We leave our house in Lazio  tomorrow and start the long journey home to Ilkley.  I hate this part, packing the house, saying goodbye to friends, anticipating long days in the road and worst of all leaving our three kittens, now six months old.  Crema, Rosso and Grigio have all been sterilised and are doing so well.  There are 15 large assorted bags of food for Mario to top up their feeder, two pillows in the insulated cat apartment, I really hope they will stay around until we return.  Whatever happens they've had a good start in life and we won't be coming back to more kittens from the two females.
My brother and sister in law arrived two weeks ago and helped us pick the olives.  Not so many this year but despite half the crop of last year we had an amazing yield and came home from the mill with 25 litres of really tasty oil.  Friends and neighbours are amazed and I forgave the people at the mill who told us the oil would be ready at 4 after we dropped off our harvest at 9.30.  We returned around 4.30 and we'd actually moved back in the queue.  The process eventually started around 6 and though we didn't really have enough olives to qualify for our own run they didn't mix us with anyone else and you should have seen our smiles when the oil just kept coming.  10 litres are already packed in the car.
So once I'm back I'll share some photos, cats mostly, meantime we are out tonight for one last pizza before an early start tomorrow for Piedmonte, our first overnight and our last day in Italy this year.

Back to the post office

I called in at our village post office thinking I'd stock up on stamps to avoid the incident in my previous blog post.  I waited patiently and when my turn came I asked for five one euro stamps. No no said the man, we have no stamps, no stamps at all I asked, not of any other value.  No he said.  Where can I buy stamps I asked, try the tobacconist he suggested.  Of course the tobacconist had none, the lady suggested I try the post office.
Later in the mini market a lady who has seen me in the post office asked if I'd found stamps, no I replied, we are a village without stamps.  She suggested I try the main post office at Anangi, about 10 miles away, actually I think I might invest in a pigeon.