A damp start and a thwarted expedition

In a complete turnaround, yesterday's summery weather had turned to rain by the time Helen went out to exercise this morning, and she came in looking rather damp after she'd finished at around 7.30am.

 

The steady precipitation meant it was a slow start to the day for the rest of us, but when the rain stopped and I emerged from the house I bumped straight into Jill and Mike who had done the same, although their agenda was different from mine! They were carrying tools in their hands ready for some physical exertion while I had a wallet in mine ready for some bank account exertion. I had received a call yesterday evening to let me know that my chainsaw chain-sharpening machine was ready for collection, so I was heading for Chiesina to collect it.

 

When I arrived, I was treated to a demonstration of the aforementioned piece of equipment and left having paid €20 less for it than the price I was given when I ordered it - a not uncommon occurrence here, it seems, as this kind of thing has happened to us with several items we've ordered: Stihl chainsaw, Stihl hedge trimmers and Makita reciprocal saw to name a few. I can't remember (or imagine) that EVER happening back in Blighty.

 

On the way home, I made a quick stop at Frateschi's for a machete and some telescopic pruners before heading home to find Mike and Jill heading for their mid morning coffee break having spent the morning up on the terraces processing coppiced wood.

 

After coffee, Jill, Mike and I went back out into a dry and warm morning onto the lower terraces, and while I took a rake to the terrace to 'landscape' the area we had set aside for the cold frames, my in-laws dug over the first of the veg beds, wrestling with far more bramble roots than anyone deserves to in the process. By lunchtime the first bed was looking amazing! I hadn't expected to see any of the beds ready for planting for weeks yet but now we have one already, I can't tell you how exciting a freshly dug rectangle of soil felt to me this morning!

 

We stopped for lunch and ate our way through bowls of freshly made carrot and coriander soup before deciding that after lunch we would head to the bottom of the hill where our land ends and try to find an old track that climbs alongside the river to the old quarry higher up on our land.

 

Helen (and Reggie) decided to come along this time, so we all piled into the car for the short drive down the hill to the back of the pink house that sits beside the Ponte di Gemolano, behind which is a track that leads to our water meter and the border of our land.

 

We found what we believed was the old path and started to make our way along it - but even with a machete, pruning saws and secateurs, we had to concede defeat after a frustrating hour. It was obvious that this old path (which must have been the route by which the stone left the old quarry on our land) hadn't seen any human traffic for quite some time, and it was now obstructed by fallen tree after fallen tree.

 

 

One surprise we did come across on our little expedition was that we found Reggie's long lost orange football! This was the football bought by Dave and Sarah for Ollie to play with when they stayed with us back in January, and which Ollie had kindly donated to Reggie when they left to return home. Reggie had loved his orange football (indeed he loved it so much that he had eaten half of it), but after a couple of days it mysteriously disappeared. Clearly something else had also taken a shine to the football and had made it as far as the edge of our land (or maybe dropped it on the terraces and it had rolled the rest of the way) before abandoning it. Reggie seemed pleased to be reunited with his football and proceeded to tear more chunks out of it.

The long lost orange football!

Our house up through the trees.

 

 

Once back in the car, we decided that since we were all already out, we would give Reggie a proper walk, so we drove up the road to up to the only working stone quarry left in the valley for a walk along one of our favourite tracks. We all ambled uphill for half an hour or so as the rain threatened to return before turning back and getting back to the car just as the rain made a reappearance, albeit a half hearted one.

 

When we got home, my in-laws went for a very well deserved sit down and cup of tea while Helen went back to office work for a while and I chopped and collected fire wood for the evening.

 

Tomorrow is forecast to be properly wet all day, so we anticipate very little activity outdoors. Personally, I'll be thankful for the excuse to take a day off outdoor work - it's been a hectic month or so without any let-up, so a day to recharge will me the world of good and ready us all for a plant-a-thon before the week's out.