Blooming Irises

Last fall I dug up my two clumps of irises and divided them.  There were so many bulblets that I threw a lot away.  However, the ones I replanted have bloomed spectacularly.  In fact, all my plants are doing well this spring.  It probably has something to do with the warm, wet weather.  The roses above the wall are full of buds and the strawberries in the lower right corner are covered with pink flowers, the first of which are just now turning into berries.

Here is a better shot of just the iris blossoms.  Remember, click on the photo to enlarge it.

This trip we have front door kitties and back door kitties.  Here are a couple of the kittens from last fall dining just outside our front door.  You can see all the plants our neighbor Maria Rosa cares for in the courtyard. 

Here is our regular back door kitty.  It looks a lot like Squeak, our longtime favorite, but it isn't.  Squeak was very pregnant when we arrived but has disappear.  I suspect she has gone to kitty heaven.

I hope our next house here in Italy also has some cats around the place. 

Back in the Italian Groove

Today Dom and I got back in our Italian groove.  That means I cleaned the house and Dom started cutting the grass. 

We thought someone was coming to view the house this afternoon but that was cancelled.  Luckily I continued with the house cleaning as someone else came by.  It really was not that dirty but I had done nothing since arriving because of our guests.  I also ran two loads of wash but still have not caught up with all that.  If the weather holds (for drying the clothes outside) I might be caught up sometime next week.

Dom spent the day getting all the machinery (weed whacker/strimmer, mower and chainsaw) functioning.  He was able to start with the weed whacker and made great progress.  It was a cold winter so the grass is only about 6-8 inches tall.  That is rather short in comparison to some years.  Although it must also be noted that we are here earlier than usual.  The shorter grass makes cutting it a lot easier.

Yesterday as we were eating lunch outside our favorite local kitty, Squeak, showed up.  Her lack of appearance had led me to believe she did not survive the winter.  We have seen all three of her kittens from last fall.  They now appear almost full grown and are definitely fending for themselves.  Squeak is pregnant again so perhaps there will be more kittens before we leave.  The above photo is from last fall.  It always takes time for her to warm up to us but she spent all morning hanging around the back door.  Unfortunately I have neglected to buy cat food so I am behind on my bribes. 

The weather today was spectacular--sunny and warm.  It felt more like late May than early April.  After all the chores were done I put on a pair of shorts and sat on the patio with my book for over an hour.  This is why we LOVE Italy!

The Errant Blogger - Mi Dispiace!

My apologies for not being a better blogger this fall. However, I have just posted three entries. Life in Italy has been very good of late. We just had about ten days of beautiful weather. The olives got picked and we managed to prune some of the trees and vines. Lunch was eaten on the patio most of the last week. The nights have been quite cold so the fireplace is in use every evening we are home. The cats are still showing up regularly although the kittens are rarely in evidence. No doubt mom has finally said, "Enough! This is MY territory."


Here is a shot of two of the kittens asleep in the grass one morning.



Every nice morning the mamma gatto basks in the sunshine, usually near the old olive tree closest to the house.


Yesterday and today the weather has been miserable. Today Dom and I went to Montecatine Terme to see an exhibit of paintings from the Tuscan Naturalists school. It was well worth the trip as there was not a single picture I would not have happily taken home. The pictures were mostly life like scenes of rural life in the 1800's. More information on the exhibit can be found at www.macchia-montecatini.com.

On our way home we decided to stop for a nice lunch. About the time we parked the skies opened up again. It seemed to be like that every time we went to get out of the car! Above you can see the rain pounding on the windshield.



Eventually we made a dash for the restaurant doors and discovered a lovely, warm, dry dining room. The food was fabulous and Ristorante Anfiteatro deserves a second visit.

Secondo Giorno a Capri - Prima Parte

Our second day on Capri dawned clear and cold. We bundled up after breakfast and walked into Anacapri to catch the bus to the town of Capri.

In the piazzetta in Anacapri there were always a number of taxis waiting. The standard Capri taxi seats six or seven and is a convertable. I don't think I saw one with the top down while we were there but I could just imagine the tourists zipping around the island in the summer with the wind blowing in their hair.

On an island where one of the main forms of transportation are scooters and motorcycles, this is what one of the parking lots near the town center looks like.

This clock tower is in the center of Capri with the main piazza just beyond it. There were lots of tourists and shop windows to look at so I forgot to take many more pictures.

I do not find the shoes in Italy very appealing this fall. Here is a pair of Dolce e Gabbana pumps that seem particularly ugly. Patent leather seems to be all the rage but 95% of the shoes are black. Shop windows are supposed to label everything with the price but this law is often ignored. The pricier the store the more likely there are not prices displayed. However, I am willing to bet these shoes cost more than I am willing to pay.

From the center of town we walked down to the Certosa di San Giacomo (St. James' Cloister). You can see the top of the bell tower and part of the old monastary complex beyond the gardens.

The church was closed to visitors but the doors were open. We could see inside to the newly restored frescoes. It looked like they were setting up for a photo shoot.

Inside part of the old monastary is an exhibit of paintings by a German artist who lived on the island for many years around 1900. The pictures were huge and not terribly appealing. No photos were allowed so you will have to go check them out for yourself.

As we entered the monastary this cat walked up and asked to be petted. After we obliged it followed us around as we explored.

The interior of the monastary was generally plain but it has some interesting features. This heavy wooden door has a beautiful stone surround.

Part of the monastary is now used as a high school. While we were there the students took a break and gathered in the old cloister to relax.

I took this photo of the clouds moving in through one of the arched openings leading to the cloister.

After we explored the old monastary we saw this path that led to the gardens behind it.

We followed the path through the trees and shrubbery and found this beautiful "belvedere" overlooking the water. There are many of these spots on Capri. The last time we were on the island we visited one that was about twice as high up. I could not stand to get near the railing there but this one was not as bad.

From the belvedere we could look across the west side of the island. The rugged topography of Capri is apparent from here. There are only a handful of places along the shore where it is possible to land a boat. That helps explain why it has been settled since ancient times. It would have been easily defensible. Nonetheless, it was attacked time and again including by the pirate Barbarossa.

Looking straight down from the belvedere one could look straight into the clear, clear water.

There was a stone bench at the belvedere and it was protected from the chilly breeze so we lingered there for a while. The friendly cat had followed us out to the edge and wanted more petting. It hopped up next to Dom and he obliged while I took a picture.

When I sat down the cat crawled right up on my lap. It was nice to get a good kitty fix. None of our Partigliano cats will sit on my lab.

A Miscellany

The "pretty" kitty came to visit our patio yesterday. We often see her near our front door but rarely at the back of the house. She was very curious but did not want to get too close to us. For a long time she sat in the middle of the field and watched us. This photo makes it look like she was "up close and personal." However, she was probably still 10-15 ft. away. Zoom close-up is a wonderful feature on the camera.



Fall is here even in Italy. Our temperatures might still be around 70 during the day but it is nice and cool at night. The leaves on the grapevines are the most colorful around. This vine sits on the slope above our patio all by itself. At one time there was probably a long row extending out away from the house. Now this is one of two still living on the edge of the terrace. The grapevines are incredibly tenacious. There are probably 15-20 spots where there has not been a standing vine for many years. However, every fall we come back and find clumps of new growth extending out from these spots. These clumps are quite large this year with vines extending 6-8 ft.




Our vines produced a lot of grapes this year. We won't be making wine because it is more work than it is worth. Actually, we have a lot of wine made from 2006 and 2007--none of it worth talking about. The grapes do make good eating in spite of lots of seeds. The tomatoes, red and yellow, come from our friend Erina's garden. They have harvested what they wanted to can so she said take what we like. I especially like the little yellow pear tomatoes that you can just see a the bottom of the bowl. I had them for lunch yesterday with fresh mozzarella cheese, our own olive oil, salt, pepper and shredded basil.





I am still trying to get the patio planters tidied up. There are lots of weeds in with the shrub roses at the top of the wall. Almost everything I planted in the spring died because of the extended hot, dry weather. There are a still a few scraggly geraniums and, in the big pot in the foreground, my strawberry plants are still producing berries. I wish I knew what the variety is as I would love to have the same thing on Whidbey Island.





I tried to cut the grass near the house with the cutter bar mower. It did not work very well so Dom is going to finish it up with the weed whacker. We spent a couple of hours yesterday cutting grass. I ran the cutter bar around on the flats while Dom worked on the banks and around the trees and vines. We still have about three quarters of the job done but Dom needs another couple days (2-3 hours each time) to get the "edging" done. Unfortunately, it has been rather wet. On nice days there is drenching dew and on bad days it rains. Rain is predicted for over the weekend so we probably will not finish up until after we get back from Capri on October 16th.

Gatti e Gattini

It did not take more than 24 hours for "our" cats (gatti) to show up and ask to be fed. Our usual black and white female (Squeak) and black male obviously knew that the back shutter door being open meant the food people were back.


Much to our surprise, Squeak has a trio of kittens (gattini). We know she has been pregnant in the past but our neighbors say she is not a good mother and the kittens don't survive very long. The first one we saw was Mini Squeak. The spitting image of the mother Mini is the boldest, always right on the heels of Mom.



Here are Squeak and Mini Squeak waiting to be fed.



There is another black and white kitten--this one mostly white with a bad eye. All three were eating but the two shy kittens did not stay long enough for me to get a picture of the whole family.



Here is a picture of the little gray kitten. It has a very worried expression and some orange mottling in its fur. If you enlarge this photo (by clicking on it) you might be able to just make out the white and black kitten right under the cobweb. Apparently, they are getting in out of the rain under our bread oven.

We really enjoy our interaction with the local cats. It will be interesting to see how "tame" the kittens become over the next few weeks. After several years Squeak still barely lets us pet her. I have already managed a few strokes on Mini Squeak's back. The other two have not stayed within reach yet.

The Prettiest Kitty Around

Because we are refinishing the front door, it has been open all day for the past three days. In addition to all sorts of insects, some of the local cats have tried to come in and make themselves at home. This particular cat is quite curious and has been hanging out on our door mat. In fact, just as I started to write this post I turned to see if she was there. No, she was trotting down the stairs right behind me, obviously having finally explored the house!

She really is the prettiest kitty around; well fed, bright blue eyes and a dainty pink nose. Her only scar is a nicked ear. Dom christened her Nicole.


I know one of our neighbors lets some of the cats in her house. I think this is one of them because she is very friendly and let me pet her. She even rolled over and showed me her tummy.



After getting all the attention she wanted, she went over and rolled around on the pavement.

Does anyone know what this plant is? It closely resembles what I know as Christmas Cactus but is much larger. Our neighbor, Maria Rosa, has several pots of it and they are now flowering. She even gave me one for our patio.