A special visit

It's always special for us when our family visit, but our most recent visit, from my Dad, has been extra special as it's the first time he has visited us in three and a half years - something to celebrate - as well as, much more sadly, the first time he has visited without my dear Mum. Although he might not have been aware of it, Dad's visit made for some emotional moments for me when the absence of my dear Mum was so very clear, but at the same time it was also a truly wonderful and very precious gift to be able to spend 12 days of super-quality time together with him.

While having friends and family to stay can sometimes take us away from our day-to-day tasks and slow our progress (albeit in an enjoyable way), having Dad to stay was more like having an extra pair of hands to help us in our jobs and a very productive pair at that!

We made amazing progress over the 12 days, with veg planted out in the orto, the wood pile completely re-stacked under cover for next winter, 10 fruit trees bought for us and planted, a raspberry cage built (with raspberries planted inside), the old shed emptied of rubbish, the olive tree pruning started, wood chipping done, some wood turning lessons, daily dog walks and numerous other tidying jobs.

Stuart joked that the only way we could stop Dad from working was to get him in the car and drive him somewhere! And by doing so, we did also manage to have some lovely trips out - a handful of very enjoyable walks in the local area (one in the hills around Montecarlo with our local friend Daniele; one from Pescia to Collodi and back, with a stop off for lunch at our friends Amanda and Alessio's restaurant at the end of it; and one from Pescia up the hill to the small village of Monte a Pescia), some drives around the countryside further afield, a visit to the gardens of one of the Lucchese villas, and a couple of very enjoyable dinners out, courtesy of Dad.

All in all it was a busy and virtually non-stop 12 days, with a good balance of work and more relaxing activities, and it was an absolute delight and privilege to be able to spend such good quality time with Dad. We are very much looking forward to his next visit.

Planting onions and potatoes.

Onions going in.

A quick guide to pruning olives

Clearing the clippings.

Pruning in progress.

A Sunday drive and a visit to Massa.

View from Massa.

A newly painted chicken egg collection box...

...with newly added egg-stop blocks to stop the eggs rolling back under the nest boxes.

That'll be next winter's wood all under cover!

After a couple of days Reggie finally realised that Dad was also an extra pair of hands for giving tummy rubs.

The penny dropped.

Preparing stakes for planting out new fruit trees.

Persimmon tree planted.

Pomegranate planted.

Reggie supervising the planting of peach trees.

Apple trees planted.

Kiwis planted.

The chosen site for the raspberries

Raspberry cage in construction.

Raspberry cage completed.

Now Grow!

A visit to Villa Torrigiani.

Just about warm enough without a coat.

Happy daughter and Dad.

Stunning wisteria blossom.

The villa in all its glory.

A walk with our friend Daniele in the woods and countryside around Montecarlo.

Grapevines in the Montecarlo countryside.

Daniele, Stuart, Ugo the dog, and Dad

More vineyards.

Some very old barbed wire on our walk from Pescia to Collodi.

Beautiful blossom.

View from the Monte a Pescia road.

Happy walkers.

Looking toward Collodi.

Palms and olives.

Collodi church and olive pruning!

View from the top of Collodi village.

Exotic wildlife in Collodi.

Back at home... the old shed is now clear!

Just the frame left standing (just about).

Reggie's supervising position for the day.

View of Pescia from Monte a Pescia.

Happy in the sunshine on the steep path up to Monte a Pescia.

View from the Monte a Pescia path.

Pescia roof tops.

All the love. Dad and me at Monte a Pescia.

March-ing into spring

In the course of the last few days we have gone from wearing shorts and vests and sweltering in the 28C heat of the weekend, to battening down the hatches against some particularly fierce winds and being rendered housebound by a fallen tree across the drive. This March has certainly given us some extremes of weather.

The following photos were taken on the evening of 15th March - a stunning sunset that reached even the easterly parts of the sky and seemed to turn everything in sight pink.

A special day.
March 20th would have been my lovely Mum's birthday, and since we were too far away to take flowers to her resting place, we decided to plant a tree for her here instead. We decided it should be an almond tree - the almond has such a pretty blossom at this time of year, and having lost the almond tree we originally planted with Mum and Dad a few years back (to deer damage) it seemed the right choice.

We bought the tree from the same garden centre as we had gone to with Mum and Dad a few years back and, with the tree taking privileged place in the front passenger seat and me relegated to the back seat, I was reminded of the time, four years ago, that Mum and Dad had to sit in the back of the Doblo sharing a seat belt for almost the same reason!

Front seat passenger.

Planting the tree was a family affair, with Reggie supervising.

To avoid deer damage this time we properly staked and caged the tree.

I think she would approve.

Happy birthday, Mum.

In terms of jobs, our efforts have been concentrated on getting the orto ready for the planting of the seedlings that are rapidly shooting up in the greenhouse.

Technically, following the no-dig method of gardening, we shouldn't have (m)any weeds to deal with, but having failed to add the required layer of compost to the beds in the autumn (last year the veg beds were regrettably rather neglected with too many other things going on), the weeds had seized their chance and really taken control. So it wasn't a quick process to clean up the beds, and we toiled away for three afternoons in a row under the heat of the beating sun.

Things are now finally looking much neater though, which is a satisfying place to be, and it won't be long before the seedlings are ready to be planted out.

The seedlings are springing up!

They seem happy in the greenhouse/orangery.

A mess of weeds.

Beautiful borage flowers.

Sweltering!

Beautifully neat beds (with borage & broccoli still growing)

More clean beds (marigolds and self-seeded garlic plants left in place)

Finally, a presentable orto!

An unexpected job presented itself yesterday when, during fierce overnight winds, an elderflower tree fell across the drive, missing the gate by just inches. With the winds still strong in the morning and trees wobbling around precariously in the gusts, we hadn't yet ventured out of the house when we were alerted to the fallen tree by our friends Sarah and David, who let us know that they had driven past our gates and seen a fallen tree.

Stuart later went out to survey the damage (thankfully there was no damage to the gates) but it wasn't until the middle of the afternoon that the wind dropped sufficiently for us to feel safe enough to venture out and start any clearing work.

The gate had a lucky escape.

And the old cultivator managed to escape damage as well.

Somewhat housebound for the time being.

After a couple of hours with my chainsaw I had managed to clear the drive and stack piles of branches and logs at the side of the drive, at which point Stuart came along with the tractor and the chipper and chipped all the green branches. 

As much as this was an unexpected and unplanned afternoon's worth of work, we have been meaning to find some green material for chipping (in order to add it to the compost piles to get the temperature up - currently there is not enough green material for the compost piles to get hot enough to do their thing). As it turned out, the elderflower had just come into leaf, so this was a good source of green chipping material. As they say, every cloud has a silver lining, don't look a gift horse in the mouth... and various other idioms!

All clear.

This week we are preparing for the arrival of a very special visitor - my Dad. The last time he was here, with Mum, was three and a half years ago. We are very much looking forward to welcoming him back and spending lots of quality time with him - hopefully he will see some improvements around the place and steps forward since the last time he was here.

Fenced in!

Looking back over the last couple of weeks our activities have pretty much all been about the fencing. It's a project that Stuart confesses he didn't even expect we would get around to completing before the end of the year, yet it's amazing what a bit of progress and productivity can do to spur you on into surging ahead and throwing your energies at a project... and I'm pleased to report that, bar a couple of tweaks (we plan to add a line of wire to the top of the fence down one side of the terraces, to make it less easily jump-able, and, at some point, to make some more robust gates), the fencing is now complete and the upper terraces are fully enclosed. I think we're both a little shocked at having completed it!

The completion of the project has also been helped by having some great weather - most importantly it has been dry, but it has also (for the most part) been bright and sunny and mild (at times even a little too warm), all of which aid with the enthusiasm for getting outside and working.

Aside from the fencing we've dedicated some time to cutting some of the trees on the terraces (and subsequently chipping the smaller branches and logging and splitting the larger pieces of wood to add to the wood pile), and to preparing the orto for planting with vegetables.

While last year we didn't have the time or energy to grow vegetables from seed (largely thanks to Stuart being heavily involved in a building project for the first few months of the year), this year we are determined to get back to it, and have planned to plant a wide variety of vegetables - cavolo nero, basil, lettuce, radishes, beetroot, tomatoes, aubergine, courgette, cucumber, artichoke, beans, squash, fennel and cima di rapa.

Stuart spent a morning last week planting the seeds that need to be planted this month, and they are currently being nurtured in the temporary greenhouse at the front of the house that was put up to protect our pot plants from winter frost and which, as a bonus, acts very well as a greenhouse. Not only is this a lot more convenient than the polytunnel (which is a couple of terraces below the house) but using the polytunnel would have required us to buy a new plastic covering, thanks to sunlight and hail/rain having damaged the current one beyond repair.

We have already been rewarded for our efforts with little shoots of radish and calendula having started to appear - the magic has begun!

A taste of things to come.

And now the waiting game begins.

It was only a matter of days before the radishes (ravanelli) began to sprout!

Other tasks we have turned our hands to are of the indoor variety - Stuart has dedicated a few days to what started off as a bit of touching up in the apartment and has turned into a rather larger job but which should see the apartment a whole lot smarter by the time he has finished.

As the weather turns ever more spring-like, the splashes of colour on the hills and in the woods are becoming ever brighter and cheerier, and as much as this winter has been very beautiful and serene, we are now looking forward with enthusiasm to the longer, warmer days of proper spring.

A spectacular mimosa tree at our friend Sue's house.

Stunning anenome spotted by the roadside.

Wild crocuses line the drive.

A wild variety of iris - maybe less colourful but no less beautiful.