Life on the Vine

In October I read Gary Paul Nabhan’s book Mesquite: An Arboreal Love Affair . I've long wanted to read it to learn more about our woody neighbors. Mesquite trees are the predominate plant species on our property. We have easily 200 trees, quite possibly more, on our 40 acres. I haven't gotten to the stage of my nature journaling journey where I'm out there cataloguing them but that's not out of the realm of possible.  In the book I learned about the beneficial relationship between mesquite and ants and the less beneficial relationship between mistletoe and mesquite. I learned that what we see above ground, which can sometimes be quite shrub-like and less tree-like, can be a quarter of what exists underground. Scientific studies have found that a mesquite's biomass underground can be 4-5 times larger than what is seen above ground. Decades ago, an elder mesquite tree in Arizona was confirmed to have a root depth of 175 feet. The mesquite's bulky underground biom...

I'm sitting in my usual leather chair.  A gift my father gave Tom and I more than ten years ago when we still lived in Missouri.  Tom is out having coffee with a friend and took Colt with him.  Henry is upstairs laying in bed but just came downstairs and now sits in one of our loaner chairs.  My shoulders are tense and my upper back is sore.  This morning technology made me mad.  REALLY mad.  I frankly wanted to smash my computer against the wall.  Why is it that something that should be so easy is complicated?  The frustration over trying to transfer photos between devices ended in tears spilling down my face.  Why am I so angry?  Why isn't this working?  Why aren't the multiple "How To" sites I'm reading off the Internet providing any help? So here's what I set out to do.  Over the past year I've taken pictures at the more than 30 wineries we've visited.  Pictures of the vines, the fields, the grapes.  Pictur...

Earlier this month marked the one year anniversary of our move to Italy.  We did a staggered arrival into our new host country with me and Smokey arriving first.  A couple days later I drove to Milan to pick up Henry at the international airport's cargo area.  Tom wrapped things up back home and arrived about a month later with Colt in early July.  After about two months in two different hotels we moved into our rented home and started the process of unpacking and setting up house here in beautiful northern Italy. I've been thinking about doing this blog for a couple weeks now and initially intended to post it on my one year anniversary but I couldn't figure out exactly how I wanted to organize this post.  Because I don't want this milestone to get too far away from me I'm just going to list some of my favorite things about our life here in Italy.  So, in no particular order, here you go. Of course one of our most favorite things...going on adventures...

To the north of the temp house is some vacant acreage that has some dirt paths crisscrossing it.  Bikes, dirt bikes and quads are out there sometimes, as well as horse riders and folks just out for a walk.  Colt and I walk on these trails almost every day.  It's a nice open area where I can let him run around without being on a lease.  He chases after quail, rabbits and lizards and we see the occasional hawk and deer.  I keep a close eye out for rattlesnakes and thankfully haven't seen one yet. Road to dirt trails - our property is in the foothills of the mountain On one of our walks A couple days ago I noticed a tent set up near one of the areas we normally walk through.  We skirted around the area.  Yesterday morning we passed by the area and found a mass of trash left behind.  Clearly the campers have never heard of the concept of leave no trace.  It made me really angry.  I don't understand how people can just leave their tr...

Spring has arrived in the southern Arizona desert.  Spring arrived quickly in an unexpected burst of blossoms on the two trees in our front yard.  I think one is an ornamental cherry tree but I'm not sure about the other.  Tom thinks it might be a peach tree.  One of our three (!) rose bushes is blooming and there are more roses every day.  This is accompanied by poppies in my father-in-law's yard and a green quilt of leaves on the usually spiky, barren spines of the ocotillo, one of my favorite cacti. While Tom and I have visited Arizona almost every year since we've known each other, visiting during all four seasons.  These visits were a long weekend here and a couple weeks there.  Never have I experienced a full cycle of the seasons.  And, since this is also our first Spring in our temp house, I'm pleasantly surprised by trees that blossom and rose bushes too.  I wonder if I had mistaken resigned myself to no blossoming trees with this...