The day our cat came home *

I never thought I’d be writing this post though I have longed to be able to for months.  Up to last Friday our little cat in Italy, Grigio, had not being seen since Christmas by Mario who feeds her in our absence, we asked him to keep putting food out. We searched for her when we returned in April, calling her every day from the house and whenever we went out for walks until we left in June but there was no trace of her.  

Last Friday Mario messaged us to say he’d been to the house, everything was fine, the irrigation was working and Grigio was there.  We couldn’t believe it assuming it was mistaken identity, we’d seen a cat that looked rather like Grigio on the security camera earlier that week but it’s wasn’t so clear and we dismissed it as yet another stray.

Mario suggested we check that evening’s recording, there was a small grey cat fussing round his legs and mewing, he picked it up and held it to the camera, this was no stray and it definitely looked like Grigio.  Mario gave her food from the stock we’d provided just in case and left the feeder out by the back door where we could monitor it.  Grigio was back next morning for breakfast.

We told Giovanni who is already feeding at his house Vincenzo the young ginger who appeared this year and the cat he thinks is his mother. Giovanni is so kind he said Grigio would be welcome at his house too and there is enough food for them all, I’d dropped off a couple of bags and some treats before we left.

It was hard to sleep that night but lovely to wake up knowing our girl was home and safe.   Saturday afternoon we received a photo of Vincenzo and Grigio dining side by side whilst being stroked by Giovanni’s grandchildren. Sunday they were having a birthday party, Giovanni said for the whole family including the cats.   It’s a dream come true, for us all because apparently Vincenzo enjoys 3 meals a day and Grigio won’t stray far from that routine. 

We plan to return to Italy in September, if we can wait that long.  I suppose we will never know where Grigio has been or how a little cat, the runt of the litter, who was born in our garden 7 years go, had never strayed from our property and never had to fend for herself has survived 7 months in an area of mainly unoccupied houses.  We are so happy that she has, bless her heart and yes it’s definitely her because we recognise the kink in her tail.

* sorry the football didn’t 

Stuck in our ways

When I retired I loved the novelty of my time being my own with no schedule, it felt like freedom.   15 years on I seem to have set my own routines. Nothing major of course but I do like to do things a certain way, like not tackling Wordle until I’ve washed the breakfast pots and brushed my teeth. Speaking of breakfast, throughout my working life I always set breakfast before I went to bed. I stopped for a few years then started doing it again. It was something my Mum always did and I followed her example, I really enjoy getting up to see everything waiting on the table for my favourite meal of the day, such a good start.

I make the bed as soon as we get up, hoover and tidy our apartment in the morning.  Little rituals that happen automatically.   I suppose we are creatures of habit and our good habits make us feel organised and grounded.  

It seems MrFF’s routine is always to have a disruptive project on the go. All week he has been working on the spare bedroom wardrobes, I am desperate to put things away imagining the room restored. He tells me the dressing table in the recess to the left will be the last part of the work because as soon as it’s made I shall be installing my non urgent toiletries.  Quite right I will, possibly before I brush my teeth because I can still do spontaneity.

He’s only gone and done it

A record 35 stage wins on the Tour de France.  I was one of those who wanted him to stop when he equalled Eddy Merckx’ record because I didn’t want him to keep putting himself in such danger or me under such stress every time there was a sprint finish.  I was a wreck yesterday, luckily Cav and his Astana team were in full control.  A fairy tale ending for a man who has overcome such adversity, he is inspirational and will always be my favourite rider.

It’s another sprint stage today, please just stay safe Cav.

Back to ourselves

 We are recovered from Italy and fully entrenched in Yorkshire life.

I have planted up my 2 new balcony troughs with a selection of mostly white herbaceous plants from the lovely local nursery that I can walk to and from, £1 each and they make me happy. 

Last year I bought white lavender and shasta daisies for the tall pots at the same price, this year they are sizeable.  My only issue with small plants is whether they will spread and flower before we leave again but really there is plenty for us to enjoy now.

We are both back into walking, we’ve had friends round for dinner, MrFF has started his latest project adding more storage and a dressing table to the spare bedroom.  Any work in a small top floor apartment, building or gardening, brings extra challenges and disruption but my goodness we’ve had plenty of experience over the years especially with building work.  Someone asked me the other day why we don't have a handyman to do this sort of thing, we do,  it’s MrFF who I know will make an excellent job, be as clean and tidy as possible and do as he’s told.

We are watching the Tour de France live, so far it’s been amazing apart from me fretting about Cav, soon to be Sir Cav, as he attempts to beat the record for most stage wins on the Tour ever.

Giovanni is in touch regularly, he seems to relish having Vincenzo for company.  Sunday he said Vincenzo was completely exhausted having spent the morning eating, there was a photo of the dear little cat spark out.  It seems that as well as the cat biscuits and treats I provided he is getting lasagna, chicken and lamb, and I imagine lots of attention when Giovanni’s family visit at weekends. 

The weather has turned a little cooler than I’d like and the rain is a bit unpredictable, I got quite wet but never cold on my walk yesterday, but we feel settled and content back in Yorkshire, for a few of months at least.

Home again

We arrived back in Yorkshire last Wednesday evening, that journey from Lazio doesn’t get any easier.  Our first two overnights were in Bergamo, we’ve discovered that getting back in the car for the day 4 mornings in a row is just too much.  So we had a lovely second day swimming in the pool and relaxing on the sunny balcony of our apartment before heading off for dinner in the old walled city.  We left early with the intention of strolling to the restaurant, we weren’t exactly sure where it was and of course it was at the very top of the town.  We ended up taking the funicular up and down the last stretch but we still walked over 6 miles, it was beautiful.

Back in the car next morning we drove to the champagne region of France to an elegant small hotel that was new to us in a pretty little village that we found time to walk round,  it didn’t disappoint.  

Our room was spacious and calm, we had an excellent dinner and fortunately breakfast started at 6.30 so we left in good time catching an earlier ferry than we’d booked.  Just over 12 hours after leaving our hotel we were home.

We are taking a long time to recover, fortunately we brought the sun back with us and have been sitting out on our balcony resting, taking gentle walks and watching a lot of football.  We have the bifold doors open all day and the windows are open day and night, it feels like we are finally on holiday after all the work in Lazio, which is now having a heatwave with temperatures in the high 30s.  This week we have friends here on two days, MrFF has a walk with his group and on Friday fittings arrive to build more wardrobe space and a dressing table in our spare room, holiday over.

Best news of all, our little cat Vincenzo has moved up the mountain to live with Giovanni as we all hoped he would, we left food and treats there for him and Giovanni sends regular reports. 

The closing ceremony

We plan to leave our house in Lazio on Sunday, preparations have begun and some bookings made. We are going back to Bergamo for a couple of nights, last year I had terrible eye problems that spoilt our visit so we are trying again.  We will have one night in France then take the ferry Wednesday to be home in Yorkshire that evening.

So there’s work to be done before we leave.  MrFF was up before six this morning to strim the rest of orchard and burn all our hedge clippings and cuttings.  We have to burn these on site and any fire must be extinguished before 9 am, he’s well on target so we don’t expect the police helicopter to be circling.

The garden is looking good and the new irrigation for my pots is almost ready for a trial run, not that I want to move everything under the spray just yet.

The rest of the garden will survive, it won’t be beautiful when we return but it will come back. I am a little worried for some large yucca cuttings I was given.  I’ve put them in the orchard and watered them for almost two weeks but it’s been very hot.  They are quite robust plants so if they make just a few roots they’ll be ok. I hope so, I have visions of a tropical border where we used to grow our tomatoes.  MrFF is not so keen and has plans for new retaining wall that could accommodate them

Vincenzo the little cat is here most of the time but still visits Giovanni daily.  When we leave I am sure Vincenzo will just move up the mountain so I’ll take some food and the treats he likes to Giovanni and make sure that Mario steps in if needed to for feeding duties.  Giovanni hopes his grand daughter who will be at staying in August might adopt Vincenzo, he’s a calm friendly cat who deserves a home.  

We’ve made huge progress while we’ve been here, it’s a relief to have the garden room finished and it looks better than I’d hoped.  Of course we’ll come back probably late September to a dirty dusty house and a wild garden, the prospect of more projects and the olives to pick.  Don’t mention the planning violation, we’ve heard nothing despite a meeting with our geometra who was going to the regional office to inspect our documents.  Six weeks later he’s still waiting for an appointment.  MrFF was chatting to a lady in the village who had a similar though smaller problem, she said the same geometra took 3 years to resolve it. So just over 2 more years to wait.  

A water solution

The weeks here go by so quickly.  We wake early to beautiful clear sunny mornings, sit out for breakfast and contemplate the day which seems endless.  Before you know it we are eating dinner then falling asleep in front of the 10 o’clock news that’s on at 11.  

In between there has been more progress in the garden room.   I finished oiling the terracotta floor tiles and MrFF is renovating the solid wooden doors.  Much of the brown furniture has left the building including this beer keller type arrangement, a really nice man from the next village was happy to have it.  For now we have the old wooden garden table and chairs, much more in keeping with the light airy room.

Naturally rather than relax and enjoy our efforts we are thinking of returning to Ilkley.  The sooner we leave the sooner we can come back, the heat is starting to build, 30 degrees today when we went down into the valley for provisions and worst of all the mosquitoes are back.  I am disappointed to be leaving the garden now I’ve regained control as so many plants are yet to flower.  I have hardly bought anything new this year, a tray of trailing geraniums that just started to bloom this week 

and a yellow portaluca that I’m not so keen on.  But I want to see the plumbago open, the hydrangea that I thought was dead but is showing a few green shoots come back to life and these geraniums that I’ve had for several years are almost out but not quite.

So today I had a word with MrFF about the possibility of some irrigation for the pots.  Much tutting and head shaking from him as he doesn’t want to leave the water on inside the house, pleading from me.   We have a solution, we will leave all the pots at the front of the house where they’ll be in shade most of the day and netted off from badger invasion.  He’s already bought the plumbing parts and started work on some sort of isolation valve so there will be no water entering the house just supplying the garden tap.  He will then connect a timed sprinkler for the pots.   However at present it looks like he might be installing the Trevi fountain