Spot of green through a window

Nature is part of our life even if we aren't aware of it. Sitting here on my old- fashioned armchair, apparently alone in a silent Sunday home, I watch through the window a beautiful though quite grown- wild spot of green which seems to take me company and protect me from bad thoughts.
Many a times I wrote about the importance of giving - and learning - the proper names of plants or flowers surrounding us. If we pay attention and recognise them, we can find a huge number of new friends ready to stand by us on cloudy days like today. No matter the weather, our green friends or colour flowers will be there for us to watch them!
But if we really don't know them by name, and simply take the pleasure of looking through the window taking notice of a lushing spot of green, isn't it worth anyway?


Un angolo di verde attraverso la finestra

La natura è parte della nostra vita anche se non ce accorgiamo. Seduta qui sulla mia poltrona di vecchia fattura, apparentemente sola in questa domenica e in una casa silenziosa, guardo attraverso la finestra un bellissimo – anche se troppo cresciuto - angolo selvaggio di verde che sembra tenermi compagnia e proteggermi dai brutti pensieri.

Ho scritto molte volte sull’importanza di dare – e imparare – i nomi corretti delle piante o dei fiori che abbiamo attorno. Se gli dedichiamo attenzione e li riconosciamo, possiamo trovare un gran numero di  nuovi amici pronti a starci accanto in giornate nuvolose come questa. Non importa quale sia il tempo fuori, i nostri amici verdi o i colori dei fiori saranno lì per noi che vogliamo ammirarli!

Ma se non li conosciamo per nome e semplicemente ci godiamo il piacere di far caso a un lussureggiante angolo di verde da una finestra, non ne vale comunque la pena?

Nice day, sunny, but rather windy.

Ok, I'm not a wind love. Let me know why I should be happy with my hair uncombed, freezing skin and dry-too-quick vase pots or borders in urgent need od extra waatering.
Is there anything else whch I might expect from a windy afternoon?
My lemons gently tossing after a long winter spent in my my dark garage and the stems of my antique roses are trembling or announcing their yellow-vanilla colours to come.
And the apricot tree with its waving leaves recalls me that - if it's a good year- there will be plenty of joyful products to  indulge in even till next winter . marmelade mainly, but also juicy canned fruits with sugar and syrup. All right, it's  a good day, anyhow.

Smiling at the clouds

It is said that there are two kinds of people: sunrise people and sunset people. Sunrise people have vision and look forward to what the future has to offer. Sunset people have dreams and look back nostalgically to a previous better  ages which they hope will occur again. Which do you think you are?

For what appalling it might sound, being in love with (my) past and feeling curious about the ways of living in the centuries before, I must  be a sunset person. However, far from being a visionary or a nostalgic dreamer, I make my way down to life surrounded by details which I collect wherever and whenever I can. Not really pessimistic about my future, rather optimistic that small pieces of experience, knowledge and affection can make me smile at the clouds.

What to become of us

Very little seems to remain to be done in my kitchen garden for the next week. Now it's time to wait and gently hope for new plants and sun to come. Most of the preparatives are completed and it's lovely to take a rest enjoying the predictions of what might be of me and my veggie in a few weeks. Some blues are always around the corner in life, so it's easy to fall in a pensive mood and wonder what to become of us.

Tulips, daffodils and hellebore's leaves

The overwhelming joy of the new season coming meets a rather pleasing nostalgia for the winter atmosphere we are leaving. Stll some singering hawls or covers on the sofa and warm socks are still lingering around on breezing evenings. Some part of me is already missing the lovely nights in front of the sofa, warming up my feets and relaxing with a cup of chamomile. It's my usual difficulty in changing the season and being able to leave behind habits and cozy routine. Is it only my trouble?
Here's a tribute to that feeling of nostalgia mixed with willing curiosity for the new to come: an easy and neat flower composition ready to spend the weekend with me!
The very last tulips and daffodilds  in my border find a joyful companion along with the hellebore's leaves and an oldfashioned crochet basket. What nice memories of the just gone Christmas with wondeful whitish hellebores - so impressive under the first snow! Now its flowers have left space to beautiful leaves in a dark shade of green which perfectly fit close to long daffodils and slender tulips. The old and the new together, adding a  sense of hope and comfort to my weekend.

What to do on a lovely homely weekend

Though the weather might be rather disappointing today and slightly encouraging for a walk outside, it's a pleasure to have time to plan your coming days in the sunshine.
It needs a little bit of preparation to start up with cleaning and adjusting your garden furniture, not to mention to establish new locations for your not-any-longer indoor plants. But what a satisfaction when you feel you have got a totally new and larger space to live up your time.
So, cheer up  during this cloudy weekend and prepare yourself for the warmer season - which is really so close now.

Notes from a modern spinster

Who says a single woman's life is all "Sex and the city"?
Much more close to a lovely modern Miss Marple searching for human nature.

Sitting lonely and rather sick in this  gloomy and rainy afternoon, a glance to my tulips in blossom makes me feel a palpable connection to something bigger than myself – to everything.

Not everyone has the ability to seek out nature in difficult times. But it’s there. Even in the most densely populated neighborhoods, in alleys and the cracks of sidewalks, we can find the insistent natural world and take comfort from it.

Gratitude for Lashings of Rain

Relax and take it easy: it's raining and life moves at a slower pace.
It seems I have found a natural antidote to our high-intensity, fast-paced and long-hours life: lashings of rain!
Prudently slowing down, I reached the city center yesterday morning - with the usual hundreds of other cars - while the rain was pouring down. And it was a kind of fun, really. I felt that we all had a good reason for being late at work, at least. It's no longer a working excuse to arrive late at school because of the traffic jam, but it sounds reasonably understandable that you're not in time - again - because of the traffic incredibly slowing down in the rain. Not to mention that I felt free to change into a more confortable and less stylish look in order to cope with the bad weather : boots and a warm coat, leaving at home my usual high-heeled shoes and my XS tight jacket. I also had time for some romantic cloudspotting and indulged myself in making mental pictures out of the drops on the windscreen. Walking from the parking to the school, I shared my umbrella and had a few small talks with a passer-by, my feet gently in the ponds. It gave me a sense of tranquillity. My classroom became a lovely shelter and teaching an exciting adventure: how many professors had been explaining their lesson having a glance at a rainy day from their classroom window? I closely experienced an intriguing sense of communion with individual lives of centuries ago.
I have been thinking of the value of slow-time and simple life. Sampling the pleasure of slowing down yhe pace, in a rainy day.
Make the most of your rainy day.

Warmed up in times of loneliness

Think of the usually road you pass along, maybe twice or even more, everyday of your life. Are you driving, cycling or, fortunately, walking? How many shrubs and trees can you see there? Are they healthy and, maybe, could you name them?
I guess that most of us can't give a proper answer; so, weird enough, noticing trees it's seems to be quite difficult! Name them... well, that's even harder. Too busy in studying languages, history, and maybe I.T. or drama, who has been really taught to tell one tree apart from the others?
Tomorrow morning, while you pass along your road, pay attention to the green beings which surround you, and believe me, you'll be surprised of how many trees are so close to us without you never noticed them.
Let me know if you are not astonished by their shapes, colours and silent life.
Pay your attention to them, and you'll be warmed up in times of loneliness.

Welcome to Green Gables!

When I was a child, I fall fascinated with the gables of the baker's house. Watching from my kitchen window I had the best perspective; my nose up, and hands strongly based on the sill, I spent hours toying with the idea of jumping to the other side, walking on the roofs, and getting  my living in the open air ... finding a shelter under the gables on rainy and windy days, and stargazing from these cozy corners... I was sure that things were different, if looked from a gable... 
Some years after, I came into a wonderful reading, and felt excited that I could declare to have found my favourite book! Written by a Canadian writer and freely translated from English to Italian, I enjoyed my "Anna dai capelli rossi" for many lovely afternoons.
Not a child anymore, I found myself deeply involved into studying English language and literature and made up my mind of making a living from my passion. My teacher career was about to start...
Researching materials for my students, I realized that many of my chilhood readings were actually translations from successful books originally written in English.

And I did a pleasant discovery: Anne, the red haired girl -as in the Italian title version-, the orphan living at the green roof (!) house, the friend with I shared desires and interests ... she was Anne of Green Gables.
My love for greenery, romantic nature and truthful friendship reflects on Green Gables.