All Things Wintery!

Winter is definitely here! I know because not only am I lighting the fire on a regular basis and already had two log deliveries, we have all had coughs, colds, infections and god knows what!

I have never been this sick for as long as I can remember. It all started back in October and just seems to go on and on! It's the main reason I haven't been blogging. The latest installment was an ear infection - something I haven't had since I was a child. The pain is excruciating! I would have cheerfully stuck a knife in my head if someone had promised the pain would go! Instead, because I had thought it was related to a muscle strain in my neck, it took me ten days to realise what was going on, by which time even I knew it was pointless seeing a doctor. So I tried an old remedy of my mother's. I poured a couple of teaspoons of warm olive oil in my ear!! The result was amazing - the pain went almost immediately! Aside from a little intermittent ache it has finally gone! I never want to go through that again. It will also make me take any child complaining of it a lot more seriously! It was close to being worse than child birth - honestly!! But then most people have sorted it out before it gets that bad anyway, haven't they?

Antonia has also had a stomache bug, but luckily very mild and it seems to have cleared up.

I have put the tree up and when it is finished I shall post a photo - at the moment I am trying to find enough lights to put on a 10 foot tree - I like them big! The twenty I have put on so far look really lost, not surprisingly! I like buying decorations though, so it's a good excuse isn't it?

Alexander finally comes home from school at the weekend, just in time to see his sister be an Angel in her Christmas nativity. More about that on her blog.

Lumberjacks, Italian Style!

Okay, anyone old enough to remember Monty Python or young enough to be discovering them have got to be wondering about this one!

We HAD a tree in the garden, a dead tree. Our Landlord had to obtain permission to cut it down as every tree in this garden is listed and probably has a name, let's call this one Bob. Anyway, Bob was dead long before we arrived but the comune, as with many things, had to approve his removal. He was finally taken down a few days ago. Where he stood there is now a big hole in the sky and the jackdaws that used him as a perch have moved to the smaller trees.

However, his removal was dramatic, noisy and quite exciting, especially when watched with two kids!

Having seen this sort of tree cutting and removal done in the UK with gloves, goggles, harnesses, very large cherry pickers, lots of "danger, men at work" type signs, you can imagine my awe when things finally got underway. In Italy men really are men at times!

Here's the photo's:

One very small cherry picker, one very big tree! At this point most of the branches had already been removed without having to leave the safety of the basket. But no goggles or harnesses!

Where's that cherry picker gone?! Also you may (!) see a harness, I was just never sure what it was attached to!! This guy really was macho!

And, finally, how else do you pull down a tree! Yes, there is a large chunk missing from its base, but you never know with these guys! The lumberjack forgot to put his gloves on for this bit and burnt his hands :P, not pleasant. The noise was tremendous as it came down. Unfortunately a couple of trees and alot of bushes got in its way, but otherwise I'm fairly sure it went where it was expected to go. As you can see, it has already been put to good use. Unfortunately not for much longer as it is quickly being sawn up and taken away. We are "rescuing" pieces ourselves. The smell is wonderful. I'm hoping it acts in the same way as Cedar wood and I can use some as moth repellant. If nothing else I just like the smell!

Now all I have to do is stop my 3 year old singing "The Lumberjack Song" every time the men come back in the garden to cut up the tree! Can't think where she has learnt that song from! ;))