Today felt thoroughly like a Friday - not only because it was Noah's last day with us (which made it feel like the end of the week), but also because it's been a mammoth week for Helen and me, having worked through the weekend.
The forecast was for more wet weather today, but the exercise/wood chopping area (version 3.0) had survived the weather thrown at it overnight, and there was a bit of space under the wood storage area to work too, so we planned to get some more wood cutting and splitting done today.
As Helen went to the office, Noah set up the chop saw under cover of the wood storage tarpaulin to start working through all the small pieces we'd run into yesterday, and I headed off in the car for a quick trip to the bins and to buy bread for lunch.
The Pescia river was a torrent down in the village - I'm not sure I've seen it as violent before, so there must have been a lot of rain further up the valley over the last few days. We get the impression that we got off rather lightly over the last couple of days - although it has been WET here, it doesn't compare to the pictures we've seen on the internet of the floods in (relatively) nearby Carrara (where hundreds of people were displaced from their homes, and thousands are still without electricity), the bad weather in Rome (where they even closed schools and monuments), and the state of 'red alert' issued in eight Italian regions.
When I got home, Noah was working his way through chopping up the pile of small bits of wood, so I spent an hour splitting logs in the exercise area with the axe (a thoroughly enjoyable pastime) until it was time for coffee.
After coffee and some of Helen's cookies, I changed into my super-padded, super-heating chainsaw safety trousers and we put away the chop saw and replaced it with the saw horse and chainsaw. Noah took over the splitting of logs, having moved the log-splitting station to under the cover of the pine trees near me so as to minimise the amount of moving around we had to do of uncut/split logs. The rain was only light all day long, so the firs provided ample cover. With the exception of a break for lunch (home made carrot soup today - and the first time since Noah's arrival that we've had to eat lunch indoors), the rest of the day was spent with me cutting logs with the chainsaw while Noah split them.
At around 3.30pm, Helen appeared in a change of clothes and a waterproof jacket ready to do some manual work. Noah clocked off for the last time and relinquished the wheelbarrow to Helen so that she could continue with gravel moving.
So, as the rain drizzled, Helen went off and wheeled gravel up and down the driveway while I split the remaining logs. By the time Helen had finished, the light was fading and all of the wood was done. We now have a rather splendid pile of the stuff, which we're rather proud of.
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| Winter fuel! |
However, I don't think we have enough for winter here (believe it or not), so when our next pair of helpers arrive next week, we'll be planning to start the process all over again and collect more wood to add to the pile. We will need more storage room soon, especially as once we have this year's wood sorted we will need to cut and collect the same amount for next year so that it can start the seasoning process... oh and the the year after that!! A mammoth task, I'm sure you'll agree, but once we have the wood in storage for two years ahead, each autumn we will only have to cut one year's worth of wood to replace what we burn that winter, so it'll be a much more manageable task. Can you imagine the effort required to do this without petrol fuelled saws?!
After we'd put the geese to bed, we went indoors to shower before heading out into town with Noah. As it was his last night with us, we thought we'd take him into Pescia for a drink as not only has so much of his time here been spent up on the hill that he's hardly had a chance to feel like he's even been in Italy, but we also wanted to say a small thank you for all his hard work.
We decided a trip to our local enoteca (wine bar) was in order, so we sat at a nice cosy table in the back room. The waiter smiled and recognised us, and we ordered three glasses of Chianti while schooling Noah on exactly what that was, and where it came from. This, combined with some old photos on the wall of wine bottles (fiascos, to be exact) led us to discuss the root and meaning of the word 'fiasco', which we now know (thanks to the waiter, who resorted to telling us in near perfect English) has the same meaning (of disaster/failure) in both languages, as well as being a chianti bottle.
After the enoteca, we decided we should go and find Mimmo at the train station in his porchetta/panini wagon. Helen and Noah each had a roast pork panino, and I had the spicy sausage... again! We shared a beer while I chatted with Mimmo as best I could - only soliciting one look of confusion from him during our 20 minute stay! I couldn't leave with out a second sandwich (this time roast pork), and after paying the bill Mimmo offered us coffees, so we left feeling thoroughly sated (some more so than others!).
It was only a short trip into town, but a very enjoyable one. It's easy to forget just how young Noah is - he's mature way beyond his years, can talk happily on a wide range of topics, and he has been really good company all fortnight long.
When we got home, he declined a night cap and went straight to bed with a plan of an 8am breakfast so that he could catch the 9.15 train to Lucca - after his brief visit to the city this week, he's decided to stay there for a couple nights and has booked a hostel within the city walls.
Helen and I had a small night cap while watching half an hour of TV before retiring to bed ourselves - thankfully tomorrow really is Friday!
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