And then it's winter. While temperatures during the day are still regularly pleasant; sunshine and 20 degrees, it can already get quite cold at night and we find that the trees are suddenly almost bare. Trouble-from-falling-leaves is not to be had here. In fact, while walking, I suddenly nudge Sander and say “boy, the trees are already almost bare!”. Whereas on Regentesselaan we could really wade through the leaves for weeks and had to blow leaves at least five times in autumn, here it is almost imperceptible. Of course, we have more space here and therefore the leaves are perhaps less noticeable, but the trees here are also much smaller and the leaf content, due to the higher temperatures, is less. In my experience, here we are in an anterior area, a dune area so to speak, of the Mediterranean and the vegetation and trees are accordingly. The leaves are falling, but not on. In the morning with the hoar frost still covering the fields and then turning into a clear blue sky with a bright sun, Pian del Nasso is a real fairy tale to be in.

Fairy tale or not, the coronavirus makes no distinction. Suddenly, we find ourselves, rather romantically, in a sort of lockdown. Months go by, and all is well, but two weeks ago, our province of Liguria changed from a (still quite liberal) yellow code to a less tolerant one. Orange code. This code orange bears a lot of resemblance to the restrictions in March. In short, it means that we are only allowed to leave our village for a valid reason (in March, we were only allowed to leave our house and garden). We therefore have a slightly wider scope regarding mobility, which means, among other things, that we are allowed to visit each other within the municipality (with a maximum number of people, of course) and the hairdresser's remains open for the time being. We are making use of this so-called 'hunkering' (confinement) obligation by pruning the trees and bushes at Pian del Nasso, together with Nadia and her family.

 

Just before the new measures take effect here, the weekend of 25 October, my brother John and his wife Lauretta, who live in Austria, are fortunately still able to come for a cosy visit. Because our Cascina is ‘under construction’ and the Mulino in hibernation, they are staying at a charming but (shame on us) totally unknown to us until then B&B, Langhe di Liguria, in Piana Crixia. When we actively search for it in honour of their visit, we can't even find it (uhm). But that's the charm and at the same time the challenge of this area, you can really search the hell out of here. In the end, it is John and Lauretta who manage to guide us there and on Saturday, under the inspiring leadership of the hospitable owners Guido and Maria, we enjoy a delicious breakfast with local products. Since we are still in the pre-lock-down, the restaurants are still open at all and we can drag Lauretta and John to ‘ristorante Della Posta’ in Olmo Gentile and shop in Acqui Terme at lunchtime. And, as usual, everything goes right on time again, because on Sunday evening John and Lauretta are barely home when, on Monday, the travel advisory for both Austria and Italy is tightened and travel between the two countries is no longer possible for the time being. But thanks to John (as much a Klene mint liquorice fan as his youngest sister) and Lauretta, I have 12! bags of brand-fresh Klene mint liquorice that they were able to bring back from Austria (indeed!) for me after their brilliant find of the website Dutch Food - Groceries from Holland. You understand..., I voluntarily go into Lock-down!

Now that we can literally see the wood for the trees, we're discovering more and more walking routes from Pian del Nasso. There are far more than we thought. You can really walk for hours without encountering anyone. How wonderful! We've even found a forest path to our upstairs neighbours in Lodisio now. In the past, there used to be a direct path from our Rustico to Lodisio too, but over time it has been frane (landslides) have largely disappeared. Recently, we've managed to find pieces of them again. In addition to these ‘spontaneous’ forest routes, at the beginning of our street, near the entrance to the town of Erche, you'll find a large hiking map with several marked walking routes and information about the nature park. You'll also find these different routes on the placemats at our local restaurant, Villa Carla.

 

Friday, after two weeks, our DHL pallet from the Netherlands finally arrives, full of essential items, groceries, gifts for the people here, and also (filled) speculaas, Dutch cheese, sauerkraut, smoked sausage, chocolate letters, etc. In the pallet, Sander's parents and his brother (and family) also packed all sorts of extra tasty things and gifts for us for Sinterklaas and Christmas. What a celebration! It makes us so happy. It's so nice to unpack it all. But then, Sander suddenly appears in the doorway with another parcel that has just been delivered. It's a package full of Dutch delicacies from our Texel friends Pieter, Inke, and their daughter Meintje! What a wonderfully kind surprise. Thank you, Sinterklazen from the Netherlands! Our weekend is now complete and on December 5th, we'll be celebrating Sinterklaas festively with you all, thanks to you!