Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.
It's the time of year when we pretty much get a lizard a day.
Lizards are a specialty of my little silky black and white ninja, Bertie. But lately it's been a favourite of Pippin. I kicked him outside this morning because he was doing his usual trick of finishing his own breakfast and then shoving Henry aside to steal his. All their little lives I've had to feed Henry separately. He's so good natured he just lets himself get bullied out of his meals. Pippy's a real lovey-dove, and just the sweetest little guy, but he's an incorrigible scamp too.
I can't resist picking them up and taking a close look. In life these guys are lighting fast, and it's difficult to get a close look at their markings.
The daily lizard. It should be the name of a punk newspaper.
The terrace in June.
Snap dragons finally getting close to finished. They never died back this "winter" and were already starting to flower in February.
Still some pansies holding up.
Sweet peas finally starting to blossom. The dill are all volunteers from last year's stray seeds.
First passion flower.
If you keep them in a shady place they will flower almost to July.
Four years ago yesterday I got a call from my friend Emanuele to come down to the shop to pick them up.
A friend had come to Norcia to visit, but had picked a day when the monastery guesthouse was all full up, so Br. Ignatius called me to ask if he could camp in my living room. He had to put up with this all night.
I took this one just about a week after they arrived. I kept them in the study for a few days to let them get used to me. Bertie was the first one to claim me as his own.
Bertie and Pippin helping in the garden in Norcia.
Bertie's favourite perch in the evenings. He likes to keep an eye on things.
Well, the kitties are really loving the outdoor life. For the first week or so they refused to leave the terrace, and would look through the rails very dubiously at the wide vista of farms and fields. But now there's no stopping them.
Pippy and Farm Cat: So, you wanna fight? Nah.
I was a little worried they would just be terrified of the farm cats but so far there really haven't been any conflicts that I've noticed. I was also vaguely concerned about all the dogs that mostly roam around, but they seem to not be bothered by cats much.
All the time we were in Norcia I was worried about them on that scary road that went right in front of the house. It wasn't very busy, but people really drove way too fast on it, and in the two years I was there I saw three dead cats on it, one of which was a feral that was almost friendly and whom I was quite sad to lose. I put bamboo screens over the fences and gates because when he was still a kitten, Pippy used to like to just shoot right through them onto the road without pausing.
Here we also have a road but it's half a kilometer away on the far end of the wheat field, and the Crew tends to like the back 40 better, where there are lots of bushes and things to climb around in and little creatures to kill. One of the first things Pippin did after he got here was come dashing in with a shrieking starling in his mouth! One night I woke up about one am and realized Bertie hadn't come in for his dinner, which he usually wants very promptly at nine; you can set your watch by his unfailing sense of dinnertime. So, being a crazy cat lady, I got up and put a cardie and slippers on and went out with a flashlight to see if he was around, and the glow of the flashlight caught him looking very wild indeed, running along with a mouse in his jaws.
So we have finally left off our kittenhood discipline of being kept indoors at night. They're grownup cats now, and have to get on with their important cat-work.
Enricus Rex, Chieftain of the Tribe of the Gattini-Doofii, killer of snakes, catcher of mice and other foul vermine, protector of the people... known to be fond of his mum.
Henry started this early - being by nature the Alpha-King and a hunter - he really couldn't be kept in by the time he was a year old.
But the twins always seemed to like being in their room at night, and would even trot in there on their own at ten pm or so if I stayed up a bit later. They would have a bit of a romp around the room and then just cuddle up and go to sleep. We have a kitty room here, and I kept it up for the first week, but it was soon clear that they had reached the point of no return on their outdoor activities, so now they all just come and go as they please through the kitchen window that I leave ajar for them.
New rule: fold up a corner of the kitchen tablecloth at night.
Henry has taken to sleeping way up on the top of the wardrobe in my room on top of a pile of spare bedding after his night patrol. Bertie still likes his spot on the sofa, and they're both usually around early in the morning when I get up. Pippin, however, has consistently not shown up in the mornings for his breakfast in the last few days, and of course he was the first one to vanish for a day and a half. They've all turned into wanderers and adventurers and this is a good thing, because this is cat-life. It's what they're designed to do, and it's more or less how I hoped we'd end up living in Norcia.
It's a different sort of life here, for all of us, and though I'm inclined always to think Change is Bad, maybe for all of us this life here is going to end up being more of a fulfillment of our respective natures.
Hope so. But I do wish Pippy would come in and have his breakfast and stop worrying mummy.
This is why I didn't do christmas decorations last year. The kitties were still only six months old by then. Imagine this, only times three.
Not that they've calmed down all that much even now. Cute little dickenses, but they can be pretty rambunctious.
But the year before last was Winnie's last christmas, and she was pretty quiet. Her christmas tree climbing days were over.
I figure at least I will buy some lights and a few bits and pieces. The Chinese stores have their decorations in and they're not expensive. And maybe we can even do a bird. But it's never quite the same having Christmas at the beach-o, when it can be as much as 18 degrees in December. It doesn't really start getting cold at all in S. Mar until February, and then its blink and you'll miss it. Winter is much more northern in Norcia.
I suppose this is why there are a lot more people who do christmas trees in Norcia. It's really not a thing in Lazio/Rome, so it's not only very difficult to find a live tree, but they are exceedingly expensive. I got a very nice one a few years ago for my last Christmas in the flat in Santa Marinella, but it was over a hundred Euros! This nice little one above, with the root ball attached so you could put it in a pot and it lasts for ages, was only about 30 I think.
I hope we can go up to Norcia next weekend, to bring up some supplies we've collected for distribution - including 20 plug-in heaters that are sitting in my front hall. We're going for a festa that the Nursini have been doing on December 9th since the 13th century and a group of people have decided to go ahead. It involves house-size bonfires, grilled meat, mulled wine and staying outside late and is huge fun. It's sort of the Christmas season kickoff in Norcia and the people really want to do it, and I hate to miss it. So we're going to rent or borrow a car and go up. It will give me a chance to get the house sorted and clean out the fridge and put my address on the list for the engineers to inspect, so I can start thinking about when to go home.
The earthquakes haven't stopped, so we're still sort of in limbo, but lots of people are still there and they're not waiting for the quakes to stop before doing a bunch of the work to get things up and running again. I don't feel quite right sitting down here on the coast not helping. Or at least, not being there.
Remember when I wrote all about how I'd wanted to see a Hoopoe since I was a kid? Well, the kitties gave me that chance...
just not really the way I'd hoped.
Not to be outdone, Pippin's first mammalian kill. As I was off to Mass on Sunday, he came dashing in with something in his mouth. I got it away from him,
and it was this little shrew.
I thought, OK, a snake yesterday and a shrew today, we're done. But then I went out to get some more firewood in the evening, and found the Hoopoe.
Well, the kitties are definitely grown up. They're a year old now, and have become the little murder-machines they are destined by genetics to be.
For some time now, whenever the sun has shone (which hasn't been very much in the last few weeks) either Henry or Bertie have brought me dead lizards. And quite often, live ones.
These are just the little stripy green grass lizards. The other day I caught them both tormenting one of the larger all-green lizards. I tried to rescue it but it nipped me in the thumb and took off into the grass and was caught again. I had groceries to bring in so I left it to its fate.
But yesterday was the real graduation day. I was digging in the garden, all attention focused on getting up the patch of weeds, and I look up just in time to see Henry, with Pippin close on his heels, bounding up towards me through the grass with a fair sized snake in his mouth.
Henry and Pippin were obviously delighted... "Mummy! Mummy! Look at this neat rope we found!"
"Henry, put the rope down!! Put it down!"
I figure it was about 18 inches long and maybe as thick as my thumb. It was writhing in his mouth and as he dropped it for me to admire, it gave a few feeble feints as though to say it wasn't out of the reckoning yet.
After I had shooed them away, I looked at it a little closer - not too close! - and I figure at least it wasn't a viper. They have a very recognisable pattern of markings and the give-away triangle-shaped head. I wasn't going to take any chances, though, and used the broom to sweep it onto the spade of the long handled shovel, and carried it at arm's length and dropped it over the chainlink fence where I knew Henry wouldn't be able to get at it.
He looked quite indignant at all this, and bounded instantly off to the bushes on the other side of the road, presumably to go find another one.
And no, I didn't get pics. I was more worried about not getting bitten and that Henry and Pippin hadn't been already.
This morning, as I was heading off to Mass, I opened the door, and in dashed Pippy with something big in his mouth. I chased after him... "What have you got? Give it to me... come on... drop it..."
It was a shrew. Lovely velvety brown fur and long nose with perfect tiny little paws... quite dead.
Man, were they ever cute...
The kitties spend all their days now bounding around the countryside chasing anything that is willing to run away from them. It has worried me, but mostly that they'll be so intent on catching whatever it is that they'll run out onto the road at the wrong moment. I've covered the garden gate - that Pippin especially was in the habit of just dashing through without looking - and will be putting up some of that bamboo stuff onto the carport gate when I get home this afternoon.
But as for deadly fauna, I have done a little research and found out that there are only 15 species of snake in Italy and only four of these are poisonous. And even vipers for the most part aren't all that poisonous. This isn't Australia or South East Asia. If a healthy adult human gets a bite from a viper, he's not going to drop dead. He can just calmly get himself to the nearest proto soccorso, and get a shot of the anti-venom and he'll be fine. And I think the vipers don't really like the cool climate of the mountains.
That being said, there are some pretty big snakes around here.
I saw one of these the other day. At least, I think it was one.
Coming home from the garden centre, I decided to stop and investigate one of the old ruined stone houses that dot the landscape. There was a nice clear gravel path, only occasionally sprouting nettles. The old house was surrounded on three sides by a neck-high impenetrable moat of stinging nettles, so I followed the path around to the fourth side where there was more grass covering the fallen stones and tiles. I was just about to put my foot down on one sunny spot, an it took off right from the spot my foot was about to go. I must say, I jumped a foot, and yelped.
I caught a glimpse of it, and it was about the thickness of my two thumbs together, and was black with white speckles. So I figure it was one of these.
Tip for having three indoor kittens in the house without losing your mind: create a "kitten-proof" room. It's like kennel training a puppy, only with a bit more space. At our house, it's my "laboratorio," my work room where I draw, paint and write.
Keep one room where they can't climb on or destroy things you don't want climbed on or destroyed. Keep their litter box and food and water dishes there, on opposite sides of the room. Include a comfortable corner for napping and lots of toys. Make sure they're comfortable and happy and used to being in there by keeping the door open all day and making that room the feeding room. In their little kitten-brains, this means it's not a punishment or time-out room, but just "their" room. Cats are pretty territorial, and they will quickly learn that this is their place.
In the evening, when you've had enough rampaging for the day and they're getting on your nerves, you can put them in their room, give them some dry food in a bowl to eat at night and a little pat and kiss each, turn out the light and close the door, taking their "day dishes" with you. (Make sure that anything that might get turned into a hockey puck - anything small enough for them to move - is put away on a high shelf or in a box or drawer.) They can rampage all they like in their room because you've made it safe and a place they associate with food and comfort where they like to be.
In the morning, you can get up and make the coffee and get their food ready on the day dishes that you took away the night before, all in peace, without having to fight your way through them or trip over them. Then, when you're ready, it's breakfast time for the kitties and time for the daily rampages to begin.
This method has really worked for me and the Kitty Crew, and they seem quite content to be "tucked in" at night. Sometimes they rampage a little more after lights-out, but they very soon settle down, usually all in a big pile on my desk chair. Because I've never let them stay out in the common areas at night, they don't expect it and don't sit in front of the door meowing at all. I sometimes hear them start playing early in the mornings, but I don't hear them meowing to get let out until seven or so.
Guests who've come to stay have asked if this is going to go on, and I think probably not, but as long as they're still kittens we'll keep it up. Grownup cats need less of this, but it's a good idea to get their habits settled early. We'e been doing this since they arrived in May. Four months may not seem like much to me, but for them it's their whole lives. I read up on kitten psychology and everything said it's a good idea, mostly for your own sanity, to teach them to sleep when you sleep, and to teach them by consistent repetition, that your bed is not their bed. They're not allowed into my room as a result (though they keep on trying... nothing entices a kitten more than a new space and Henry is one fast and devious little bruiser!). They also know that there are certain rooms they're not allowed into, which is why I don't feed them in the kitchen - too many ways for them to get hurt or break something in there.
As they've grown, I think they have learned to feel safe and happy with this method, and I certainly appreciate sleeping at night without them deciding to make me into a human trampoline.
And yes, we do go outside, but only when I can supervise them. I'm terrified of that road, which is the main one leading out of town into other small towns through the mountains. People drive insanely fast on it, and it's especially busy in the summer, of course. I've already seen two cats dead on the road right outside the house, one a tiny kitten which I had to remove, and the other was one of the feral cats who live in the country shrubbery who used to come round regularly, and whom I used to feed now and then. I can't tell you the knot in my gut I felt when I stood by the window getting my breath of fresh air very early one morning and saw a cat I knew lying in a small pool of blood on the road. There were lots of kitty-kisses that day.
We have gone outside most days for an hour or so, and they really love it, and have so far stayed away from the road, but I'm dubious about just letting them out by themselves. They love to charge around like maniacs, and don't think at all about possible dangers. I know I can't keep them inside all the time; cats gotta cat, but that road... I not sure what to do, but am mulling over the possibilities. Maybe some fencing. Not sure.
