‘A cold wind was blowing from the north, & it made the trees rustle like living things, A Game of Thrones

― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

Winter is Coming

The seasons are changing  so rapidly and we are still awaiting the arrival of our windows. We have a local man making them by hand and they are of course made to measure. Double glazed and tilting from the top, who would have thought I would be dreaming of windows…or rather the lack of windows.

As winter fast approaches and the leaves are falling, the fog rolling in, and the days getting crisp I realize just what we might be in for if we don’t get these windows put in.  That car outside our doorway was such a welcome sight, ‘the window man’ arrived to take final measurements and I think he thought us already gone a bit mad with the wildly enthusiastic greeting we gave him, I almost kissed him!

So now we wait….it’s day three of October.

In the evenings we have been watching ‘Game of Thrones’ and the line that resonates the most for me  is ‘Winter is Coming’. Now Sam and I say it to each other like a chant, as if Winter brings a hidden menace.

It’s all very dramatic and medieval just like our lives here in the valley.

Each night when I go to bed I imagine I could easily be in one of those ancient looking rooms from Winterfell, the floors creak and the covers are thick heavy quilts given to us by friends. The ancient beams overhead, the bed that could have been lifted right from the set of ‘Game of Thrones’ and the knowledge that we have no real idea of what is coming, adds to the adventure of it all.

I will warn you that this show is very violent, coarse and filled with lots of bare bums and boobs….but I totally  love it.

With the start of Autumn our orto (veggie garden) is looking a bit sad and neglected. Yesterday we collected big bags of peppers, cauliflower and the last of the green beans. Now we just need to wait for a few sunny days before picking all our fagiole beans.

They have climbed high into the trees and remind me of that famous practical joke played on April Fools day with the ‘spaghetti tree’. My Mum took me a few times to the restaurant of the same name in Melbourne and they had a fake tree with spaghetti growing from the branches in the foyer.  It looks like some odd kind of Christmas tree with the ornaments waving gently in the breeze.

I’m looking forward to those few warm days when the kids and I can get out and pick the beans, then shell them all. It’s just like I would do for my Mum when I was a child, it was always my job to shell the peas and most would end up being eaten raw. Perhaps this will be a memory our children will take with them into adulthood.

Mushroom Season

It’s mushroom season now and Sam has already tried his first ‘wild’ mushrooms which he found down on our land. We let him be guinea pig and his thoughts on deciding if they were safe to eat went like this …” I’ve asked everyone here and they all say these are edible, so I’m going to try them”. My response is we’ll try them after you’ve survived a few days with no dire consequences.

Of course right after he ate them he started having doubts which kept us up most of the night on my internet Italian chat group trying to determine exactly which mushrooms they were. Some of the comments were hysterical but with so many varied opinions he was even more worried. I’m happy to say he made it through the night and is determined to pick the rest of these mushrooms tomorrow. I think we’ll leave him to it.