Following my previous blog, I received a lot of responses asking whether the brush cutter was successful in the end? Well it worked! It took a few days before I got the courage up again, but then everything suddenly went well. And the effect is enormous. The borders are completely sleek and bright green. For a long time I thought that there must be a lot of bee colonies around here, since I saw beekeepers everywhere... I now know that there are special suits that you put under the harness to protect your face and limbs.

So far we have been virtually spared 'Italian situations', but our carpenter Luigi more than makes up for that. A year ago he managed to take a very long time to put our doors back in the house, so that we were finally able to have our moving van arrive, but we still lived without doors in the house for a long time (which was doable in itself). Of course it should have rang some bells with us, but because he apologized profusely and promised a 'discount' for the next order, we went for it anyway. He was commissioned to install our (existing!) doors in the newly built conservatory. The renovation of the conservatory itself went smoothly thanks to our contractor and was ready in no time. Please note! under the instruction of Luigi, who also made the window frames around which the conservatory was built. Luigi then managed to stagnate everything for months and came back more than 6 times to measure everything again. Every time he texted, we thought he was coming to install the doors, but no, that was to measure everything again. It made us both despondent and giggly. This also applies to the contractor who has now suffered from Luigi's delaying measurement actions at several locations. We already heard them with terms like 'Pinokkio' to throw. But last week we received the redeeming news that Luigi is coming to close the conservatory. In the end it is not Luigi who arrives (afterwards we understand why), but his brother and cousin (by the way, really serious and knowledgeable people) and once sul posto they conclude, you wouldn't believe it, that the frames are too big for the doors. Then they utter the already historic phrase “who measured it”? And we: “Well, uhh, Luigi”. You see gasping movements and then his brother squeaks, “but who made the window frames?” “Well,” we say, “also Luigi”……. It takes some time for this news to sink in, but then there will be intensive discussions in rapid Italian. The solution they propose is to place wider slats over the frames, so that the doors can still be made to fit. In several respects it does not deserve a beauty prize. But what a blessing in disguise: next year our house will be insulated and then these single-glazed doors will have to be replaced by new ones. You just understand that we do not have these new doors at 'Pinokkiogoing to order. In-the-meantime we enjoy the beautiful view, doors or no doors!

The lawn is neatly mowed, the crickets have returned and apparently one of our cats has too, because we hear a plaintive meow. Sander and I look at each other, it can't be right?, and then we look at the edge of the pool and yes, there - not much has changed, but a little thinner - is one of our cats! How special is it that she found us from more than 45 kilometers away! She is clearly hungry, because she keeps meowing. We immediately give her food, which she manages to eat in the blink of an eye, but the meowing continues. Then we realize that she is of course looking for the other cat. How is that even possible, because the other cat was really not friendly to her at all. How many times we had to defend her when she wanted to eat something, but the other cat wouldn't allow it and then kept lashing out viciously. I get Přiklopil-like images. This is clearly a form of Stockholm syndrome. It is touching that she continues to search like this. Of course, the white cat was her only company for years. All we can do is make sure she accepts us as her new companion. And what we were unable to do for a year, we are now somehow miraculously able to do. Within a day she will be eating out of our hands! A few days later we can pet her and even get cups! This now makes it possible to care for her and give her anti-flea products, among other things. She now goes by the name Mauw and has her own basket under our portico. And our Dasti, who is still waiting for a second dog (there were no puppies, so we have to be patient) - is having a great time. All's well that ends well!