Mechanical Noises and Smells.

February and March over here are months when the Italians do their tree surgery and felling. Gathering and providing timber for the following years stoves and boilers. The sound of petrol chain saws echoes all around us, even during the most inclement days, of which we have had a bucketful, believe me.

Come the end of March and into April, petrol driven noises continue unabated, but the engines are driving strimmers and brush cutters rather than saws. The notes are perceptibly different. Saws tend to either be idling or on full blast as they cut into the timber. Strimmers tend to be constantly up and down as the automatic clutch systems works to do their job.

I like the noise I must say. Sounds like busy insects, but then I am completely mad.

I do love the smell of freshly cut grass. I always have, even as a nipper as my father used to despatch me into the garden once a week during the season to mow the lawn. It was a fair old size, about three quarters of an acre. In fact it was a good job I liked cutting the grass because of the smell of it. I was given my first petrol driven mower at the age of three!!!! I think I should have sued my parents for mental and physical abuse, but I was too young to understand, and besides it was brilliant. No, only joking, it was dad’s mower all I had to do was use it.; and I was a bit older than 3. Enough.

Orioles and Hoopoes

The beautiful Orioles are back. La D heard them first last Monday and now we can hear them all the time. They have a lovely simple and distinctive song. Also the hoopoes are here again. We have not seen either of them but we hope to spy them soon.

Roxie is a strange bird

The two new chickens seem to be settling in ok, but Roxie often doesn’t want to come off the roost and go outside when we open up the coop in the morning. Velma, on the other hand, virtually jumps down before we have put up the steps for them. Quite odd. Still only one egg a day at the moment, despite having a couple for the first two days the new hens joined us. It does take a while for them to settle into a new home and environment.

Gazebo time

Yes, it’s that time of year. We were going to put the gazebo back up when the Winkers were going to be here, but when we knew they would be delayed we didn’t and to be frank the weather has been that rubbish, we haven’t bothered. But the weather is much brighter now. It has been since Sunday really. It is lovely and warm and we have been eating outside everyday this week, so the gazebo had to go up. Excellent. It’s great.

Our dining room table – when not in use

As I have previously stated the weather has been terrible for a long time now. It’s been so bad sometimes that even Bertie has been known to give up sitting outside in the rain. Sometimes he avails himself of our dining room table when it’s not in use as this picture shows!

Ciao, mantenere la fede