Apart from the occasional trip down the mountain to the supermarket in Gallicano I have been in lockdown alone at Casa Debbio for 3 weeks. Filippo comes up from the village below to work in the garden sometimes, but we keep our distance.
Watching the world on BBC world news makes me realise how lucky I am to be where I am right now. Casa Debbio is the perfect place to be away from the world. Possibly the only other place I might like to be in isolation would be a private beach where I could swim in the surf every day.
I also feel very lucky that I am here in spring. The view below me changes every day. The trees are turning green while I watch.
We have a dondola, a swing chair, that sits on one of our terraces. It is brought inside for the winter and just before lockdown, when there was a man here to work on the roof, he helped Filippo to take it outside for me. It has been put on the terrace directly in front of the house for now and I like to sit there in the morning to have my coffee while admiring the view. I am not accustomed to sitting doing nothing, but right now it seems OK.
Here is my latest pastry, delicious blueberry and ricotta.
I made a small pizza for one the other night. I make bread every few days and I kept some of the dough to make a pizza base.
The old proverb tells us that a watched pot never boils. The same might apply to peonies appearing. After almost 3 weeks of standing in front of one of my peonies 3 or 4 times a day and speaking nicely to it, the last peony has appeared. Yesterday afternoon a tiny crimson point emerged from the soil.
Yesterday I dug up the baby peonies I found all over the garden and planted them in pots where I can keep an eye on them. They would not have grown in the odd places they appeared. They are tiny and still have the seeds attached. I wonder how many will survive out of the 20 I found. Time will tell. 2 out of the 3 I planted last year have reappeared.
Forsythia is flowering all over the garden.
Ginestra is flowering.
The weeping cherry is getting its leaves.
The rhododendrons are looking great.
A gazania has avoided being eaten. Perhaps my shouting at the goats is working.
A wild fruit tree, possibly plum, has blossoms.
Wisteria is about to bloom.
It looks as though wisteria will cover our pergola this year.
One of the tree peonies has buds about to open.
Yesterday my first peony bloomed.
Today is was open more…complete with bee.
Most of the daffodils are finished, but a few are still hanging on.
The ricotta plants will soon have blooms.
We have lots of fruit trees and they are beginning to blossom and soon there will be lilacs…and who knows what else might appear. It looks as though lockdown will continue a few more weeks so I will have time to observe the developments.