All Saints

I got up at just after 6.30am this morning as usual to go and let the geese out. I wasn't sure how much use my left hand was going to be today after last night's tendonitis/strain injury, but despite feeling stiff and still a little sore, it felt a lot better, giving me hopes of being able to get out on the terraces and do some work later on. Therefore, instead of setting up for my usual exercise session, I decided I ought to get some preparation done for some cooking. During the week, we had made our way through all of the batches of soup I'd prepared last weekend, so it was time to re-stock. So that's why I found myself doing the washing up at 6.45am, before embarking on a mammoth leek-and-potato-soup cook up. I was glad I had made an early start, as the soup was only just nearing simmering point at 9am when Noah arrived for his slightly later than usual (it being the weekend) breakfast.

Once breakfast was out the way, and the soup taken off the hob, Stuart set Noah back on kindling collecting/piling and bill-hooking duties while he and I went out to run a couple of errands.

It was nice to be out - I realised I hadn't really seen much of the outside world (beyond our boundaries, that is) for well over a week. Our shopping list for the morning consisted of: some bags of gravel for the driveway, some flea-and-tick treatment for the cats, some safety boots/footwear for me, and a saw horse. We were going to head to Davide's ferramenta first of all, as he sells safety wear. As we drove into town though, it struck us that it was very quiet for a Saturday. Stuart even double checked with me that it was indeed Saturday, and as we drove past the entrance to the main square we realised that the usual Saturday market wasn't on. We also noticed that a few of the shops along the way were closed and started to suspect that something was afoot.

On arriving at Davide's, we found his shop also all closed up. Hmm. We wondered if we were attempting the impossible and going shopping on a public holiday!

The agraria on the roundabout on the Lucca road was open though, so we popped in there to try and find flea/tick treatment for the cats. Over the last few months they have both been plagued with ticks - Lucca more so than Florence, but they have both suffered. With the regularity at which the nasty little blood suckers appear, we wondered if Lucca just sticks his head into tick-infested holes in the ground. This morning we were galvanised into taking serious action when Lucca came in from outside and jumped up onto the bed for a bit of fuss and a brush. While brushing him, Stuart noticed a couple of black specks on the bed linen - which were moving. On closer inspection, they proved to be ticks. He found a total of four, all of which were marching swiftly towards their furry host, but had yet to take hold. Ticks are horrible little parasitic creatures and can carry disease, and after a quick Internet search we realised that you can get a combined flea and tick treatment - which is what we went out in search of. Sure enough, the agraria - which is one of the most crazily laid out Aladdin's caves of a shop I've ever seen (although I've a feeling that Aladdin's mother would be shouting at him to tidy his cave if she saw it in that state) - had packets of Frontline combi, so we bought enough to last 3 months and went on our way.

As we drove out of town, there was an enormous queue of traffic waiting in the opposite direction - something was definitely happening today, this wasn't normal Saturday traffic!

Of course, the large, out-of-town DIY superstore Obi was open. We didn't manage to find any bags of gravel, and their range of safety shoes was deemed too limited to pursue, but we did manage to pick up a saw horse (so that Stuart and Noah can get stuck into the chopping and splitting of firewood next week) and some signage for our gates ('beware of the dog' - regardless of whether/when we add a canine to our livestock inventory, it can't hurt for people to think we have one - and 'private property', to try to discourage people from thinking it's fine to wander down our drive).

After Obi we headed back towards Pescia and decided to treat ourselves to a coffee in town - the last week has been a bit full-on with working, cooking, cleaning and more working, so it seemed a nice idea to sit down together for a coffee.

The main square was packed with cars and most of the shops were closed - we also noticed that some of the people out and about were dressed perhaps a little more smartly than we would normally expect. Our new favourite coffee shop was closed, so we went into our second favourite, Bar Poulter. Bar Poulter was also heaving - the outdoor seating area was full, with Italians all sitting, lapping up the warm sunshine (we've never seen it full, even in the height of summer), and even inside it was buzzing. We managed to find a free table though, and sat down to a couple of cappucino ginsengs - ah, lovely!

Coffee break over, it was time to head home to make sure Noah was still getting on alright. Noah was still working away with the wood, not even having stopped for a coffee break, so we told him to down tools for a coffee straight away. We told him our suspicions of it being a public holiday, and he remembered having seen signs in the hostel in Rome about 1st November, and soon we all came to the realisation that today, 1st November, is All Saints day - which is a public holiday in Italy. Mystery solved!

Stuart went out to join Noah for a while, while I put washing out, made up a meal plan for next week's meals, wrote out a shopping list, finished the soup preparations (putting two batches in the freezer), and got lunch ready.

We sat down to eat our leek and potato soup, bread, cheese and salami in the searing heat of the sun. Today seemed to be at least a couple of degrees warmer than yesterday, and we noted that we would have considered the weather to be that of a really decent summer's day back in the UK - yet, unbelievably, it's November. Quite incredible.

A different view of our house against the blue sky. You can really see the recently cleared terraces now - it's exciting to see the change.

Once lunch was dispatched, it was time for me to get my work clothes on. Stuart had kindly offered to do the supermarket run and let me get my work boots on, so he headed for Lidl and Esselunga (hoping that they would not be working to bank-holiday hours), while I re-filled the geese's water bowl (which they'd somehow managed to kick over - probably by trying to sit in it) and pool, then headed with the hedge trimmers, bow saw and clippers to the area that we are tentatively investigating as a 'Goose Island 2.0'. Noah, meanwhile, set himself up with the handheld strimmer and started to give the terraces a good cut - hopefully the last they will need before the spring.

I spent a couple of hours clearing the designated 'Goose Island 2.0' area, which is hidden in the trees where we hope we will be able to hide the goose house, away from the prying eyes of officials from Florence. I managed to clear a good area, but the jury is still out on whether or not it will be fit for purpose. We aren't sure how much leaf cover will be lost as the winter draws on, and how much that will affect the visibility of the goose house from the drive. However, clearing these extra sections of terrace will be useful irrespective of whether it's used as the all-new Goose Island.

'Secret' clearing.

Stuart eventually made it back from his supermarket marathon and, still not wanting to drive the car over the drainage channels, he unloaded the car from halfway up the drive with the help of the wheelbarrow. (Necessity is the mother of invention!)

A new kind of supermarket trolley.

Stuart stood Noah down from work at a little after 4pm, came to inspect my handiwork, then helped me collect up my tools and the pair of us went for a walk up the donkey track that Mum and I had explored the other week. This was the first time Stuart had been up the donkey track, and I wanted to see if, between us, we could get our bearings a little better. We climbed to the top, clambered our way through acacias and brambles and tried desperately to get a handle on exactly whereabouts we were standing - as we were entirely surrounded by trees it was impossible to get any point of reference to work out where the house was, how far up we were and so on. We noted a tall pine tree that we didn't think we recognised, before clambering our way back down the path. Once at the bottom - standing in the car park area - we spotted the pine tree. It's miles (not literally, of course) away from where we thought the top of our terraces was! We need to double check things against the land registry map, but if we are correct in believing that it is still our land and our terraces way up there, that will mean that we have barely uncovered half of the terraces so far, maybe even fewer. Yikes.

By the time we'd returned from our mini-expedition, the light was starting to fade so it was time to put the geese to bed, call the cats indoors, unpack the shopping, do yet more washing up, start preparing dinner (as a special weekend treat we're offering Noah home-made pizza tonight), light a fire and write the blog.

I used to look forward to a Sunday morning lie-in, but geese don't have the same foibles, so it will be an early start as usual (such are the commitments of having livestock) - and Noah and Stuart have finally run the stock of ginger biscuits dry, so it will probably be an early morning bake-off tomorrow!