Week 22 - Cherries & Beach

At the beginning of the week, the first cherries were picked.  Sadly the insects had already got to some of the sweetest and juiciest ones, but there were still a few left.  

However, the reddest and best ones are way high up, too risky to attempt to grab them as the cherry tree is on a steep embankment. 

 The cherries have been turned into lovely jam, which I now spread on my toast for breakfast each morning!

La Strada & A Thought
To our disappointment our road has been churned up again by passing tractors, and once again, ruts are forming.  I am beginning to despair about this situation that has beset us for the past few years. As soon as this feeling tries to take a hold of me, I immediately tell myself to keep calm and carry on... 

I always think of Cris Stewart's book 'Driving over Lemons' and think that we are far better off than he was when he went to live in his house deep in the  Spanish countryside in Andalucia.  He didn't even have a road going to his new house, and he had to carry his furniture and possessions over a stream!!!  This always makes me feel that our situation is not as bad as his, and he survived and made an international best selling book out of his experiences in rural Spain.  Another part of the Lemons trilogy is The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society, which I haven't read yet, but must do!!

Could K and I ever get our heads together to write a best-selling novel about our very simple life in Abruzzo?  We don't have much money, but we are happy.... Maybe the book could be called, Driving over a Troublesome Road, Two Optimists in Rural Abruzzo'.  I am only half kidding!

Pescara

A trip to Pescara on Wednesday by bus was a very interesting day out.  The graffiti under a bridge caught my eye.  I have no idea what it means.

A walk along the deserted beach was a nice change.  We had a pizza and an icecream in a local beach cafe.

A huge palm tree

  

The beach was practically deserted.  Soon as the summer season commences, it will be difficult to grab an 'ombrellone' to sit under and relax. 

 

My Cold Frame.....
..... is getting too small for the courgettes, that have been growing rather rapidly.  I have already picked and used a few courgettes and added them to pasta sauces.



One of the kittens out and about in an empty planter.

The pomegranate bush in bloom

All in all a quiet week, but an interesting one....

Week 21 - The Road & Countryside Pursuits

This week has basically been about our road.

The picture below shows you how perpendicular the angle was and our bumper was beginning to touch the road, scraping it and doing it damage. A quick temporary fix had been implemented to enable us to get out and about.

As a result of the constant friction between ground and bumper, our car is now under repair.. k has been busy fixing it, 3 new tyres ordered, which arrived mid-week after only a few days. My heart in my mouth every time we went up and down.The image below really doesn't do the terrible condition of the road justice. The middle bit was extremely steep!!!

Anyways, at least it was better than it was in December 2013.....

 
News Update
Our road has been fixed by the Comune, and it is now looking a lot better in the most terrible sections!

It looks rather rocky, and indeed big stones have been laid down in some parts.  We are hoping the Comune will add a finer layer on top of this..

Part of the top layer of our road..

 

What we would like to be added to the road...

 

We are very happy that this work has been undertaken, and we are very grateful towards the Comune.  We have heard through the grapevine that parts of our road may even have tarmac added, and this would be amazing.  Watch this space!!

Grubs
This week I have been out in earnest catching snails and then depositing them in our field as far away from my plants as possible.  I read that if they are placed 65 feet away from where you find them, they won't come back to the same place (ie pots).  Let's see if this works!  They have been decimating my plants, and this is not ok!

I have also been digging out all my fresh compost from the compost bin, to add to the veggie plot and towards the bottom I found quite a few of these grubs.  Please look away if you are squeamish!

I then placed them in front of the chicken pen and Freddy and co had a feast gobbling them all up in an instant!   

Thus, the life cycle goes round and round and then the chicken droppings will go straight into the compost bin and the grubs will turn the mixed contents of the bin around to make lovely fresh friable compost.  Nothing at all is wasted, and the book below, Soil, Humus & Manuring, printed in the year I was born, is providing me with invaluable advice about the gentle art of composting!!  It makes for fascinating bedtime reading, and I am not joking :-)  It's a really practical handbook.

 

Contents of the compost bin have been dug out:

 Not much left!

 

Added to the veggie plot area, ready to be spread out before planting begins in earnest at the end of May.

I have also been using this fresh compost in my flower pots and for seedlings.

Furkids' Update

One of the new kittens peeking out of a box

Samantha gazing out

It has been a very busy week, but ultimately very satisfying.  Roll on Week 22!

Week 20 - 22 Years Have Flown By!

This picture sums up my week!  I took it early on and used it for several occasions: to say goodbye and finish of an online course, to send to some friends just to say 'ciao' and as a thank you to someone who had helped with my father's Italian pension.  

I like it because it makes me feel happy, the flowers are all grown from seed, and the posy was made by following the instructions from a book I have had for ages, but never really looked at 
 properly.

I created a 22nd wedding anniversary card by pressing one of the anemones growing in the garden and then using some of my craft bits.  K used a wedding photo which he embellished nicely with one of my craft diamantes for the earrings.

Below one of my favourite wedding day pictures of me 22 years ago with my 2 sisters.  I had made my own bouquet from fresh flowers just a few hours before walking down the aisle!  All the garments in the image below were made by hand by my mother!

Picking flowers played a big part in this week!  Some wild flowers added to one of the girls' 'Orlando' dog tins:

 The same posy as in the top picture:

This week my bedtime reading has been about weeds, as the garden is overrrun with them!

 Freddy having a quiet moment of reflection below:

Today (Sunday) the weather has been lovely so we have had a barbecue, with arrosticini, my favourite Abruzzo food. 

We opened a bottle of Montepulciano D'Abruzzo red wine.  The grand cost was approx 1,49 Euros! It is a lovely wine, and in England this would be very expensive indeed.

We were surounded by furkids who mostly behaved themselves very well...

 A chance to relax after our meal...

Next week the weather is set to be very nice, so hope to carry on with jobs in the garden.  I am keeping a very close eye on these potato plants below.  I am growing them in a grow-bag, as it is the very first time I have planted potatoes, so am very excited to see if they will grow ok...... 

Week 19

This week didn't start too well, as Karl had to go the doctor's and then to A & E in Penne to get his swollen and very painful wrist seen to. It was a pleasant surprise to see such an efficient service in place, with X-rays taken and plaster and sling put on.  

That very same morning, the water pipe broke, so no water for 24 hours...another emergency!!  At the same time, the road was still heading towards the valley......  

Apart from these 3 things, a very quiet week really!

3 new adorable kittens with their mum Olivia all happily squashed into a cardboard box.  We collect Coshida boxes as they are useful for all sorts of things....

Below, Olivia contemplating her life, will it ever be the same again with all these kittens?

 
An increasing collection of pots with seedlings and plants, mostly cat-proofed with lots of sticks!!  This area is in addition to the cold frame, which houses a lot more seedlings and plants, ready to be added to the veggie plot.  I need K to cut some bamboos for me, but with his wrist being rested at the moment, I will have to wait til the end of next week, when hopefully it will be much better...

Picking the wild poppies that abound near us in the field..

 

I re-use everything I can, and below you can see the 'Orlando' dog food tins make very handy vases!  I would like the whole house to be full of flowers and every evening, when I go for a walk with K and the girls, I collect lots of wild flowers from the garden and surrounding fields.

 It's been very relaxing to view the spectacular Abruzzo countryside from the balcony...

A visual collage created with Muzy sums up my very relaxing weekend!

Next week, I will have a bit more welcome free time after Tuesday, when the online course I am currently moderating, finishes.  I'll miss the daily interaction.

 

Roll on Week 20!!