Category: journal

Isa had a haircut booked with Susi today, so Neve and I tagged along for the chance to wander round Treviso a bit. Lola, true to form, didn’t fancy shopping, or going to the coffee shop, and opted to stay with Zia Dedi and help her in the gelateria.

Neve was fantastic company: chatty and funny and interested in everything as she generally is these days. It was a blisteringly hot day so the first thing we did was to get an ice-cream each and sit on the steps of the duomo to eat them. We sat there for a while, licking and chatting and watching the world go by — a favourite hobby of Trevigiani. Then we browsed the bookshop at the top of the road and bought notebooks for Neve and Lola to use as diaries during their stay. (I always remember the diary Mum and Dad made me write when we spent that holiday near Etel. It means a lot to have such things to look back on.)

Then we wandered off around Treviso, under the portici down to Piazza dei Signori, round the back and past Grazia’s old shop, and back up via Piaza Borsa. Or something like that; I’m not convinced my knowledge of Treviso is that accurate. We stopped for a coffee in that old bar with the lovely stained glass skylight. Well, I had a coffee and Neve had some water. She sat with me at the bar on a high stool and the ladies running the bar were delighted with her. As were many other people around Treviso who commented on how pretty she was in her Chinese dress.

After our tour, and after we’d popped into a supermarket to buy a bottle of plonk, we went back to Susi’s salon and waited for Isa to be finished. Time was running late by the time she was, and Susi kindly offered to drop us back at Dedi’s. Which meant we had to pop to Susi’s place first to pick up Sole and Duccio. By chance, Marino was there, too, so a spot af chat ensued before we all (except Marino) piled into the car and went to the gelateria where Lola was delighted by the surprise visit.

For the first time, we are visiting Italy in July, despite dire warnings not to due to the suffocating heat and humidity. Not that we had any choice — that’s where Selena plonked her wedding. She’s obviously a sadist. Still, I’m a bit of a fan of suffocating heat and humidity, particularly after being exposed to the persistently wet and chilly weather we’ve had in England for the last few months.

What I’m not so keen on is the possibility of further shocks following the 5.8 magnitude earthquake the hit Bologna in May. Residents here were recently treated to a “what to do in the event of an earthquake” meeting courtesy of their local council. Very reassuring. According to Nonna, “they” expect a larger quake to round off the series.

It’s only 32 degrees here today and there’s a fresh little breeze. We arrived yesterday morning and did the traditional stepping off the plane into a wall of heat thing. We spent a sticky day around the house getting reaquainted with all the family; and the girls re-found their bikes and toys.

A blistering hot, clear-skied weekend. Out in the allotment on Saturday morning, initially with Lola and Neve, though Lola didn’t last long, needing to return for the loo. Anyway, got a fair bit done by lunchtime:

• 5 rows pink fir on left of onions
• 1 row roma next to beans on path side
• 1 row san marzano next
• 2 rows Rooster on inside next to beans
• 2 defender, 2 clarion, plus one which may well be a Zucchini in the courgette bed. From left.

The rest of the day I spent helping Isa prepare for the evening, when Sabrina, Tim and kids were due to arrive for dinner. Isa had been cooking since early that morning: grilling veg, making a mango and quinoa salad, making pastry for an (it turned out) utterly fantastic crostata di fragole.  I popped off to get some ingredients, then made tandoori chicken and a rhubarb fool. By the designated time, we had the food pretty much done and the table set. Then, ten minutes before kick-off, Tim rang to say Sabrina had done her back in and they couldn’t come. Aargh! Well, it worked out anyway. Samuel and Sascha came for dinner and then we all cycled over to Sabrina’s with the puddings and some food for them.

Sunday morning and back in the allotment, planting 5 rows pink fir apple above the two rows of rooster on inside left. Then sorted out the greenhouse, taking the staging out and planting out five cucumbers (cucino and avanti F1, I think) and 6 peppers (four mavras and 2 sweet mixed, I think). Then a quick shower and off on a sweltering drive down to Mill Hill to see grandma and Mike. We went cross-country through the Shelfords, Fowlmere, Barley, Barkway, Puckeridge and then straight down the A10/M25/A1. It was a good run and we got there in 90 minutes, arriving just 5 mins outside our 3-4 pm window.

I nearly ran over Mike, who was out in the drive finishing off a major hedge-trimming exercise. We had tea and cakes and chatted about this and that. Grandma was looking well though she has lost a little weight. Lola was lovely with her, asking questions, listening, often coming to her; she asked her to come out in the garden where she and Neve were playing. So we all did.

Monday:
Planted out another five rows of tomatoes: Roma, St Marzano, Roma, St Marzano, Samdar.

 

We took the girls down to London to see the English National Ballet’s special children’s production of Sleeping Beauty. I took the day off work and we went down on the train, which made it a proper adventure. We had an easy trip down getting a block of seats with table and snacking and chatting the way down. Lola was very excited about getting the tube, which we did down to Holburn, Lola picking up a lovely compliment on her attire from a fellow passenger (she had a dress on and her Railway Children coat over).

We got to Holburn early enough to grab some lunch; we went to an Eat, I think. Hard to distiguish among the rash of franchises that line the main road. Had some hearty chilli thing which was ok but I should have saved the money as I finished off both kids’ toasties. Then we strolled over the road to the Peacock Theatre where Natalie and Louis were waiting for us. We had no trouble finding the place: we just had to follow the flow of tiny girls with furry pink wands back upstream — they were obviously exiting the previous performance. I have to say, the merchandising, and particularly those nasty plastic wands (and *why* were they furry?), seemed a grabbing, cynical ploy that marred an otherwise excellent show.

Anyway, the performance itself was really good: great narration by the nurse character, great costumes and dancing. Good length, too. Maybe an hour and a half including interval.

After the show we we all walked together up to St Giles Circus (being en route to John Lewis, where Isa and wanted to pop in) for a spot of dinner. A very enjoyable walk up Longacre with the kids playing chase games with their new . . . pink . . . wands. We stopped at a Croc shop and got a pair for Neve. And then at another place where we got something similar for Lola.

Then we got St Giles and the huge new building that Dodge is managing, part of which is a big Zizi’s where we installed ouselves and ate pizza and pasta and antipasti and stuff. Amazingly, after all that we still had the stamina to head off to John Lewis. Luckily, we saw a bus as soon as we hit Oxford St an jumped on that, which was great fun for th kids and speeded things up. It turned out John Lewis didn’t have what we looking for but we didn,t mind to much. Got a tube back to kx and onto a train home. Must have been gone ten by the time we got back but Lola and Neve were still in good spirits.

Of brain, that is. Should get to bed earlier.

This weekend was Neve’s third birthday party. Arlo came, with Nat and Loius; then Seth, Chriselia, Otis, Dave. A nice relaxed event with minimal gaming (musical statues being about it) and much playing in the garden and trampoline. It was a lovely day. The first since that week in March, and we spent the whole party outside.

Neve continues to be utterly adorable. I’m sorry that I’ve not being blogging about her more. She is bright and funny with a love of wordplay and of putting on funny voices. Currently, she and Lola spend a lot of time being Hex Girls (rock chicks from a Scooby Doo film). “I’m a Hex Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrlll,” sings Neve, with a wonderful wandering melody in that long “girl”. Then she points and her eyes take on the steely/scary character of her subject. “And I’m going to put a spell on you!”

Neve has a hard time with pooing and sometimes goes days between. Sometimes she has to push and she goes red and makes straining noises. More amusingly, when things are not hard, she makes a parody of straining noises and you can hear her from anywhere in the house going, “EEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeee!”
Neve is reliably good humoured and very loving. She is forever coming up for a cuddle. For a month or two, one of her catchphrases when talking to me or Isa was, “I love you toooooooo much!”  Which is quite disarming.

Disarming is one of her core skills. If reprimanded she will quickly say sorry and follow up with a cheeky smile, or a quick comment to produce a laugh. If that’s not enough, a flurry of kisses and cuddles will follow.

Quick note to say Neve and I planted the earlies (only a month later than last year) and half the roosters. The earlies in the first bed on the right, the roosters in the bed Nonna and Assunta dug over last year, with two rows of earlies nearest the shed.
Then put three rows of borlotti-style and one of blue lake down at the end.
The rye grass was up to my hips when I first got there yesterday. Thankfully the sycle made short work of it.

Sacred blue. Whatever has happened to my journaling habit? I see the last time I posted it was a scorching hot day in October. Well, it’s about the opposite of that now. After an abnormally mild winter, we have finally been hit by the cold and snow. We had a 10-20 cm covering of light powdery snow on Saturday night. Fantastic sticky stuff, perfect for snowmen. Built a great one in the back garden. Then belatedly though should have made one in the common as it would have been easy to make it huge.
Well, a small taste of what’s been happening. Neve continues to be charming, funny and adorable. Very good with words, and very witty with them. Lola is lovely; very caring and patient with Neve. Her reading has come on tremendously and she pretty much read anything.
I’ve painted the inside of the door (but needs another coat). The cupbords either side of the sofa are done, as is the shelf that connects them. I’ve built a suspended desk with shelf beneath into the bay window. Isa has been making enormous lined curtains for the bay. 7 kilos of them, so I’ve been strengthening the curtain rail mounting!
Mum and Dad came for Christmas and that was fantastic.  Tom, Esther and Grace joined us on Boxing day. All gone by the day after…
Lola is learning the piano. She got a casio keyboard for xmas from Grandpa. And she and Neve are both doing ballet up at David Lloyds.

Phew — today is incredibly hot. Possilbly the hottest day of the summer. And it’s October!
We’ve just had lunch outside; the girls have been playing outside all morning while I’ve been gluing and screwing the old shelves for the girls’ room, sanding the front door prior to painting it, and picking/uprooting some of the ready/past it tomatoes. Isa made a yummy peas and ham pasta/peas for lunch.

Now little Nevie’s asleep, Isa’s undercoated the front door, I’ve sanded more featherboard for the cupboard sides…

[later] The primer/undercoat for the front door was spoilt: it was curdled, full of lumps of semi-hard paint. We took a short video to send to Dulux and persevered, though we possibly should have bought a new one. I got a second coat of undercoat on and we left it to dry overnight. Meanwhile, I took the stabilisers off Lola’s bike and then took her (and Neve) down to the rec so Lola could try riding for proper. It was hard for her to pedal on the grass but she tried a few times before the lure of the slide was too much. We went again on Sunday and this time she went on the (tarmacced) basketball court and I was able to let her go completely (while staying close enough to catch her).

Sunday morning I rubbed down the front door; at this point it was more evident that sticking with the lumpy undercoat may not have been the bast plan. I wanted to put the first topcoat on before we went swimming but the girls were too excited and wouldn’t leave me alone so we went after I’d finished the sanding down. It was shaping up to be as hot as Saturday and we ended up trying the outside pools for the first time (at Lola’s request): very nice they were, too. We swam for nearly an hour then got out and showered. Isa had been doing a class in the gym and joined us in the changing rooms. Both Lola and Neve are using armbands at the moment and are both very confident in the water; even Neve can pretty much be left alone. I’m about as keen on armbands as I am on stabilisers but I couldn’t take them both in the pool without them.

So, once back home it was onto the topcoat while Isa did the shopping and Neve slept and now it was a race to get it done before the sun started hitting the door itself. Made it: just. It was sweltering work but enjoyable with Lola nearby reading me crossword clues, then doing some mopping (at her request) before reading some of her books. The music was on and we talked about which songs we liked.

The door painted, I started on putting the sides of the cupboard together from the featherboard I’d sanded and cut the day before. I got one side up and measured up for the next. Then the trip to the rec intervened; Isa (who we had left making ragú) joined us there to see Lola riding solo. Then home and straight off, en famille, to the allotment to get some spinach, water some stuff, and quickly (too quickly, perhaps) plant some spinach (real and beet). I’ve not been watering enough; and I need to do more weeding. And sort the whitefly out.

Back home, got the sag aloo on asap and then got the second side of the cupboard together just before the light failed completely. What a pavlova. Got cupboard side up, ate dins (kids having ragú and fired mashed potato; unusual for them not to eat what we have), got kids to bed, hoovered and mopped, collapsed.

A good weekend.

Not, in fact, the filling of unstructured gaps but simply a lame title for a session of dreary, factual ramblings that attempt to illuminate the unlit period between mid-August and now. First: the allotment.

On Wednesday, I worked at home and harvested the maincrop spuds. I cut the haulms at dawn, did an long hour of digging with Neve at lunchtime (Isa was out in town at a Boden sale), and then went back to finish off before dinner. Got a good crop of Pink Fir Apple — all a good size and little evidence of pests — and a smaller and slightly wormier crop of Rooster; I’d say about 30 per cent of the Roosters had holes in. It was interesting to see that the plants growing in the bed I’d double-dug and then dug-in the chicken manure produced much larger spuds (and larger, greener plants) than the single-dug, top-dressed bed.

Next year, I should try and get the spuds in earlier.

The days are cooler now, and the light shorter. When I get up at 5:30, it’s still dark. I went to the allotment this morning at 5:55 and it was just light enough to tell which tomatoes were ripe enough to pick. I think that within a week the pre-work allotment trips will be over until spring.

The courgettes and cucumbers are done; I may get a final crop of courgettes but the fruit is currently tiny and growing slowly. Although we did get quite a few of the Crystal Lemon, it was never really enough to say they “worked”. I think next year, I should start them earlier and grow them in the greenhouse. And should do some other type as well.

The Mavras pepper in the greenhouse has a couple of fruit on it; I suspect that’s all we’ll get — next year, need to start the peppers much, much earlier. And grow them in the greenhouse borders.

The tomatoes have done very well outside, in terms of weight of fruit; those in the greenhouse have fared much worse. Again, need to start earlier next year — they are only just starting to go red now and I’ll have to pick many green. The F1 Incas are impressive: meaty and tasty — I’ll go for those next year.

The French beans finished over a week ago; and the Borlotti plants have withered; the pods are drying on the plants. Fennel is looking good but not sure when it’ll be ready to harvest. Kale is thriving; much of a good size and ready to eat. The spinach ad beets, and the emerging and various brassicas all look OK, though much weeding is required. I look in vain for signs of the spring onion…

Now I need to dig over the potato beds and sow the Hungarian Grazing Rye.