Saturday, September 12, 2009

The Winds of Change.

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The wind has returned to the Coast.

The gales whip shimmering curtains of light across the turquoise water. Umbrellas are folded politely across the back of the deck chairs and bathers roast unfeelingly in the noon sun.

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I love to watch the wispy veils of silver graze the surface of the placid sea. The boats, their weight lightened by the force of the air, twist and turn in unison.

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The colours are intensified. I dream of painting our old wood-wormed furniture to match.

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But it also means sweeping dirt, real DIRT from inside the house. Leaves from the gardens spangled with bougainvillea pink and purple, somehow make their way through the underside of closed doors. The terrace is swept clean but the stairs accumulate piles and piles of leaves. All doors, inside and out need to be fixed tightly to hooks or blocked with weights to prevent a deafening slam knocking the frames out of skewer. We fear for the glass in the fragile iron frames of the terrace windows. Replacing a pane in the rusty holdings, in this part of the world, in this part of the year, means begging.

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Our young Jacaranda tree, already two stories high and permanently fixed to a pole, risks toppling over as we foolishly removed the other two poles that we had placed there against the winter Tramontana wind.

An old blanket and beach towel are taken overboard with the wind and lie in wait for retrieval in the abandoned gardens below the house for several days. When finally the gardener takes a ladder and brings them back up to our place, a tiny snake hidden in the blanket folds stays tight till the late afternoon, before slithering across the terrace head held high and slipping under the umbrella stand.

It takes a good deal of courage on my part to lift the stand and scare it off with a broom back into the abandoned gardens after it insists on staying put where it was.

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I think I deserve a medal for that!

15 comments:

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Hi Scintilla, I thought I was reading part of a novevl :-) Superb post, love the photos too...

Those winds sound scary...!!

Laura said...

Ciao Scintilla! Yes, you do deserve an award for poking the snake away! Occasionally the cats scare out one of those from the overgrown land next door, but it's always too late by the time I see it. The cats don't do anything with it except leave it in the middle of the garden. A present? Um, grazie. :-)

Today is the first day in a week that I can have windows open on BOTH sides of the house. It has been terribly windy here! It's been an adventure drying laundry, and I now have those familiar bougainvillea tinted piles of leaves sitting around the garden to sweep up. It was certainly a little taste of winter on the Amalfi Coast! Thank you for sharing the beautiful photos and your wonderfully descriptive words.

Un abbraccio da Amalfi,
Laura

cathi said...

lovely post and photos! Nice to see her here again!

Anonymous said...

I should have known better than to scroll down...
I H.A.T.E. snakes ...
Bu tloved all other pics :)
dollyna

Dewi said...

I literally had to lift off my feet from the floor, I am so scared of snakes. Seriously!

Other then that, I enjoy all of the pretty photographs.

Eleonora Baldwin said...

Uh oh, a snake? You deserve more than a medal for that broom action, girl!


This post made me want to be on that terrace with you. The wind-ruffled surface of the sea in Positano is more beautiful than in any other part of the world, and believe me, I've been around!

I miss it there. If all goes according to my wishes, perhaps we'll meet at Halloween...

Gorgeous descriptions and amazing images (btw how do you post them without a frame and with that lovely shade effect?). Sigh...

Baci
Lola xx

Lucia said...

The photos the descriptions all so dreamy like a place I dream of visiting one day! I'm so jealous! But not of the snake...lol, I too find those in my back yard!

The Italian Dish said...

I can't believe your photos - it is so beautiful there! I can't wait to get back to Italy.

Anait said...

Ah, glad you're back! I missed my weekly doses of Positano. And you most definately deserve an award for handling that snake...I would have called for reinforcements, asap! Beautiful fotos, as usual.

Verdigris Vie said...

how fun is this fantastic blog? I wish i was on my own bell'aventurra! Fabulous pics, and lovely words. i can't wait to return to Italy - Our family is from Francavilla al Mare (Abruzzo).

Delwyn said...

Hi Scintilla

now, thats nothing for a tough Aussie girl...

are these snakes venomous...

You write as if these winds are seasonal...is that right...

Happy days

Chef Chuck said...

The colors in the photos are beautiful! Your writing is soothing...
Yes you deserve a medal, Gold at that! :)

Les Cotrions said...

Hello Scintilla! Thank you for your visit! You're so lucky to live in such a faboulous place! I love this area of Italy...very nice photos! Yes you deserve the award!!! I don't like snakes!
Warm greetings
Vale

Unknown said...

Love this mood looking at ships, blue...Nice pictures!

Espresso said...

I love the blue color of the sea :D