Better to give

I really really like these socks, they are Ann Budd's Mock Wave Cable from Favourite Socks by Interweave.  Pleasingly I knitted them in the same colour as they are shown in the book using Cygnet wool rich 4 ply that I believe was on offer a while back from the lovely Kemps Wool shop in Sunderland.  The top photograph is true to colour, a sort of lilac, but I kept the others to show you the pattern detail, it's rather dark in the penthouse at this time of year.
Whilst I was knitting them, in Italy, I wasn't totally enamoured by the results, despite my love of cable and the fact no cable needle was involved.  It wasn't until they were finished and I tried them on that I was smitten.

However, tis the season and I have wrapped them up to give as a present, how good am I.  Not that altruistic, I still have enough yarn to knit myself a pair and I shall.  
Incidentally Cygnet Wools are based in Bradford, their address is on the ball band.  However no where does it say where the yarn is actually produced.  I'd like to think it was spun just over the hill from me but somehow I doubt it, I have emailed to ask and will let you know.

You won't believe this

but nonetheless it is true.  
I have posted off all my overseas Christmas parcels, today I am going to post my overseas cards, I have wrapped all the presents apart from the ones for Mr FF, yet to be sourced, and I have the address labels printed and stamps purchased for my UK cards.
You will believe that this hasn't put me in the best frame of mind, it's that time of year that doesn't suit me.  Tomorrow the Christmas tree goes up in the hallway of our building, there is a list for volunteers to sign up to help with the decorations, it's best I stay in the apartment.

My garden

We may not have made much progress inside our Italian house this year but we made great strides in the garden.  My new border was planted up with plumbago, two bougainvillea, oleander, nasturtium and malva.   Amazing how quickly things grew in the lovely weather with the help of our irrigation system and it soon filled out.

I took various packets of seeds from the UK.  Some were not so happy, the sweet peas for example really didn't like the heat, they started to recover just before we left and might even be flowering now.  The morning glory were in their element and happily romped up the new trellis in front of the gas tank.

A 99p packet of snail vine seeds produced two plants that were greatly admired by friends and neighbours.  Having climbed several metres up to the fence on the wall behind the border, they produced these pretty flower buds

that opened up like this, so exotic.

All my pots did really well, it was a pity to leave them but I moved everything together at the back door in the hope Mario might water them if needed.  

I harvested the walnuts, invented a pasta recipe to use some of them and brought a big bag home 

A picture of the olive harvest in progress above us, our water burst was some distance above the green netting so you can imagine how difficult it all was.

Finally an autumnal view from the orchard and in case you are worried, we heard a day ago from Mario that the cats are still in residence and their food dispenser has been replenished.  

Back in Ilkley

Well that was some trip home.  We anticipated delays at border crossings though really it was only France that had taken any serious action with auto routes reduced to one lane for checks and lorries being stopped and searched. There didn't seem to be any extra security, or really apart from a look in the car boot any security at all at Zebrugge.  
We made the ferry with little time to spare, parked the car, found our cabin, complained as the bedding wasn't clean and were move a bigger 4 berth one that was much more comfortable.  We were due to depart at 7.30 pm but were told that high winds had caused a large container ship to come adrift, it was bobbing round the harbour and all available tugs had gone out to rescue it.  This wasn't a bad thing as we were able to enjoy our dinner on board before we set sail.  Mr FF went off to watch the football though spent most of his time watching the boating activity and I settled into bed with my book.  We cast off at around 12.30, into force 10 gales and waves up to 4 metres high.  I've never done an overnight on a boat before, two hours across the Channel was my previous limit, and I wasn't too sure if the ferry was supposed to bang and creak and clatter for hours on end.  We rolled around on the North Sea unable to sleep until about 4 am when things calmed down a bit and we dozed until around 8. Unfortunately we were then told that instead of docking at 8.30 am it would be more like 1.30 pm when we got to Hull. So be it, P&O Ferries looked after us well, coffee and cake for everyone mid morning and a reasonable lunch all provided free of charge. Fortunately the boat wasn't full at all, 200 passengers with a capacity of 1,000, and I met some nice ladies from Sheffield who were busy with their knitting. Sadly my wrist still prevented me taking up my needles though I have now started doing about quarter of an hour each day.
So a couple of hours driving and we were home safe and sound, a bit wobbly and dizzy after the travel.  We have been exhausted ever since, sleeping well and long but it just doesn't seem to be enough.  We may be getting a bit old for all this travel, we both turned 67 this year, and we do seem to be feeling the cold which doesn't usually bother us.  Still nothing for us to do but recover.
So let me leave you with some photos of the kitties, a week since we left them, we hope they are coping.    

Not so long after Marzia arrived in August

Just before we left, almost as big as Mum now

This is the cat apartment, we left the door locked almost closed for safety

So many goodbyes

We leave Lazio tomorrow morning and all being well should be home in Ilkley around noon on Wednesday.
We seem to have been saying goodbye for weeks, our Danish friends left the same day as our last visitors and seeing them all go was hard.  Our neighbours have gradually moved back to the city for winter, we had our last lunch with our friend Monica this week and tomorrow we leave Mario and his family for another year.
The final and hardest goodbye will be when we leave our little kitties.  Mr FF has totally refurbished the outside gas cupboard, yesterday insulating the walls and moving in the cat bed.  We bought a food dispenser that should keep them happy for about a week, plus many big bags of crunchies and later today Mario is coming for a lesson in topping up the food.   Marzia was happy to go into the little house, the door is fastened open at cat width with a catch that a dog couldn't nudge open, but Lisa was very resistant.  However we went out with a torch late last night and mother and baby were tucked in and Theo was on patrol outside, excellent.  We spoke to a local vet and he said at 3 months Marzia is far too young to be spayed and suggested 8 months which would fit in with our return next year if she is still around.
So it's a sad time and I shall be glad when we get back to the penthouse but in light of events in Paris it's nothing.  I'm proud that Mr FF and I care so much for our friends and our animals, I am appalled by the human race's inability to accept differences and live in harmony.

One handed

Things weren't going too badly, our neighbour's grandson found our water leak when he was out playing and Mr FF has fixed it.  We had already been to the water board and after queueing an hour filled in a form for a Tecnico to come out and locate the leak.  We asked if he would have a listening device, yes he would.  Next day we received a message that he wouldn't be coming, the leak was our responsibility but they were sending someone to consider moving our meter out of the pit, which it transpired the inspector was too large to climb into, onto the roadside.  Long story short, they wanted 110 euros to move our meter 10 metres onto the roadside, we declined the offer and hope eventually they will move all the metres at their own cost.
Saturday I had a fall in the garden and seem to have badly sprained my wrist.   Luckily it is the left one but it is very disabling, swollen and still slightly painful so activities are limited and definitely no knitting.  The nights are long watching old repeats of Pointless on Challenge TV but I still have a good stock of books.  The weather is so good, up to 20 degrees, deep blue skies and autumn colours on the mountain above us, things could be worse.
Good job we got the olives picked before my accident, 182 kilos of fruit turned into 20 litres of oil.
So just a few more jobs for Mr FF, we are waiting for the weather to break, which isn't forecast for a while, trying to find out if we can have Marzia doctored before we leave, hoping the cats might start using the new shelter Mt FF has re roofed and re floored for them, at present they still prefer to be put on the terrace snuggled together as the nights get colder.
Forgive the quality of my typing, this 60 wpm touch typist is reduced to stabbing with one finger, but that's just one of the many challenges facing me at present.

It goes on

Life here in Lazio goes on much the same and you probably don't want to hear much more about the sunshine, the outdoor life, home grown tomatoes, meals out etc, so let me update you about some of the more mundane aspects of being here.
We had another financial scare from the Italian authorities when we received a demand for 480 euros plus a fine of another 300 euros for unpaid community charge back in 2008.  They said they wrote to us about this in 2011 but didn't receive a reply, we never received the letter,  so they wrote again 3 years later, I'm saying nothing.  Anyway we were able to find our receipt from 2008 and we owe nothing, which makes a nice change as we seem to have forked out quite a lot in fines over the years.
We have a leak on our water supply.  For some reason the meters for the 4 houses in our road are high up on the hillside behind us and we are responsible for the pipes that run down to our houses.  We were alerted when a neighbour who lives above us called to say there was water on the road and sods law it seemed to be our pipe.  Mr FF fixed this leak by digging down at the roadside and finding the problem but our meter is running even when the supply is turned off at the house.  Finding where this second leak is seems hopeless, he could probably dig up half the mountainside, I think he may be as he goes up there most days for hours on end.  Giovanni, the neighbour who is in his 80s is kindly helping, and providing huge quantities of his delicious grapes too.
Marzia our kitten is doing amazingly well.  It soon became clear that she's wants to join the local feral pack.  Weeks ago she started to resist being fastened into the cellar overnight with Lisa,  making a big fuss, crying etc so we decided to let her sleep on the terrace.  The first night I was awake worrying and up at 4 am checking she was ok, she was on the pillow I put out tucked in between her mum Lisa and her uncle Theo.  The 3 of them are inseparable and the 2 adults put up with a lot of abuse, being attacked, jumped on, all in a good natured way.  I really didn't know what to do for the best when we leave, certainly Theo and Lisa survive the months without us and come back to the house when we do.  Even if we could find a home for Marzia I wonder if she might not be happier living outside with the others presuming we can make some arrangement for them to have shelter and  food.  I'd like to get her sterilised before we go but I think she will be too young allowing for us to be here after the operation to give her care.  Meantime she gets bigger and smarter every day and is a delight to have around, she is in great condition and has definitely had a good start in life.
The olives are turning black and though we don't have a great crop we should get some oil.  We have friends coming to visit in a couple of weeks and then it will be November, our Danish friends will have left, the nights will be dark and we shall start to think about the drive home, but not just yet.  Sunshine and tomatoes a bit longer please.