let it snow... but lightly please!

My first experience of real snow in Italy was last year, when I was soooo proud of myself for driving with chains. It was a wonderful adventure.

I had been teaching across the valley, and the roads were deemed too dangerous for this inexperienced antipodean to tackle. But as I had left one dog inside and one outside I had no choice but to make it home. I was given chains, and chug chug chugged my way home. I loved every minute of it, making decisions based on hills and dangerous corners, safety being my absolute goal. It took me about 40 minutes to complete my (typically 12 minute) journey.

This year, however, I am not so sure how wonderful the adventure is. Beautiful, yes. But my citrus trees were not designed for such heavy loads. The tally so far is one fallen orange tree (yes, a good one, not the sour one, but not the blood orange either, thankfully) and a branch of the mandarin tree out in front of the kitchen. So far, it seems, the clementines are bearing up OK.

The ladder and tools will be a tad more rusty, but rust can be removed. The citrus is much easier to pick from the fallen branches, and a very kind friend is going to cut the fallen tree off my gate. I feel a complete garden path re-make coming on. The orange trees are against the house, and really only two are worth saving. I haven't yet decided what the design of the garden will be, but a few structural changes will now be possible! There's always an up-side!Last year I lost pot plants and my expensive baby mandarin tree on the terrace of my studio. Luckily I didn't replace them.

I am a little anxious about what might happen with too much snow on our roof terrace, but there's not a lot I can do but wait and see!

The dogs are quite happy to hibernate; they have become very much outside dogs and luckily Zacchi is carrying a bit more weight than he used to otherwise I would be concerned about his frail frame.

Beautiful, though, there is no doubt!

Today I am grateful for the beauty of a snowflake.