Italian Spring

It's lovely. The weather has perked up, the flowers are out, the birds are singing...

...all meant, of course, to lull you into a false sense of security until it can hit you with its nightmare summer...

But for now, it's nice.

Garden:

Lemons and kumquats in my garden. I've been picking the kumquats and boiling them in syrup. V. tasty.

This lemon has been ripening all winter.

They make lemons here as big as your head. This is a small one.


Starting seeds. A complex procedure.


I've got a few hyacinths and have put in


pansies and hibiscus. Planted some gladiolus bulbs, a row of sunflowers and sweet peas and have some beans standing by waiting to go in.


Got the bike put together at last, but it needs some attention from the bike guy. (Yes, it's the same one I had in Toronto. Yes, I already know it's completely nutty to take a bike all the way to Europe.)

Shopping:

Went shopping at the market in Civitavecchia. Fresh out of the sea that morning.


The fish guy always likes to have his picture taken.


If you're looking for old fashioned Italian ambiance, the outdoor markets are the place to go. There a a couple of good ones in Rome still, but the better ones are in the outlying towns. Civi is a very old port, but there's not much to see there now since it was bombed very heavily in the war.


It's the place to go to get bedding plants and bulbs too. A little portable garden centre is there from very early in the spring.


Best fresh fruit and veg too. Straight from the farmers.

Nature:

This little train of caterpillars caught my attention. They seemed quite intent on getting wherever they were going. I'd never seen caterpillars act like this.


When I bent down to look at them, I accidentally poked one with the tip of my umbrella. The whole line stopped and waited while he gathered his little caterpillar wits. When he had righted himself, they all linked up again and trundled off. I wish I had had time to stop and find out where they were headed.

I later wrote a note to an entymologist at the London Museum of Natural History, and he said they were caterpillars of the aptly named "processional moths". Fascinating.

Fun:

Pubquiz. It's where a lot of the Anglo-American-Canucks go to have a bit of fun, and forget about being in a weird foreign country for a few hours.


I got at least two answers right.


Little fuzz-brain cutie-pie. Winnie knows how to spend a cold, windy, rainy day.