Papilio machaon

The last week end I had some time to do the things I like to do.
I found a worm on one of my lavender plants.
I have the suspect it was the caterpillar of Papilio Machao butterfly.

I read that when butterfly , it has a wingspan of 6/8 cm.
I took at least 20 pictures at several time of the day.
This is the best one.

It is snowing (also this year ) !

Again, also this year, punctually in February the snow visits us .

All media  advised us. They told about very, very  low temperatures and too much snow … it was true.

It started on Tuesday afternoon and it lasted till the late afternoon of Wednesday.

Then it came again during the morning of Thursday and a little bit during the night of Friday .

My well I almost completely covered: 

  And also my poor plants, here one of my rose trees.

 

It is very cold and it is very difficult to drive since the low temperatures  iced the snow , so I have stayed  at home all this time.

I have read “The help”  by  Kathryn Stockett.

And I have observed the birds . I have put some feeds at the entrance of my home and they have come many of them.

I also have taken many pictures but not all of them are very detailed

In any case I am sure that I have seen ROBIN birds many of them

But also a new bird, never seen before. I am almost sure that it is the Chaffinch

 

Then I have checked in Internet and …

 

This bird is common and very familiar throughout Europe. It is the second most familiar bird in the U.K. Islands .

It was introduced from Britain into a number of its overseas territories in the 18th and 19th centuries.

It uses a variety of habitats, but open woodland is favored, although it is common in gardens and on farmland.

 

“My” bee eaters.

The bee-eaters are birds , Meropidae is their family.

From my observations, I understood that they love warm temperatures, but not too hot. In fact I see, they arrive here around end of April and leave our places before July.

Then, I have seen several of them in July at Principina a mare (sea village near Grosseto, where I have spent my holidays when my son was small) . I suppose they move to the sea side because the sea breeze.

So I learn that most species are from Africa and Asia but others from the South of Europe, Australia, and New Guinea.

They are particularly beautiful since their colored plumage. The colours I could see are: yellow, green, red and turquoise.

Winds and tail are pointed and they are to swallows (even if bee-eater is bigger), Their bills are probing.

I knew that there are 26 different species of bee-eaters.

As their name tells us, they eat flying insect, basically bees !

They are gregarious and mainly monogamous (what a love ! ).

They arrive here, to my garden, 3 years ago.

Before that summer, they lived a couple of km far away and I was very invidious . It was so beautiful to see them while flying !

Now a part of them moved to me. I sit down under a tree and for a instant, I forget everything and everybody.

 

Eating animals

Dear Jonathan Safran Foer

My name is Isabel, I am Spanish even if I live now in Italy.

I read yr. book. I like it very much. It didn't convince me of the kind of diet I have to follow since I was already convinced ,  I became vegetarian in 1983.

I would like to tell you my feelings on yr. book and my experience on this purpose .

When I was child and teen (in Spain) my home was at only 500 meters of  Local abattoir.

All kind of big animals were killed there:  sheeps, cows, pigs.

I am talking about the end of sixties and all seventies. My home town  Zaragoza, at that time wasn't a very big city and frequently you could see the shepherd  with his flock to arrive there walking !!! it was nice .

However,  when you were just passing by there you could hear how animals cried, ...  when you were just passing by there you could felt a terrible smell of death… and when you were  just passing by there you could see animal hanged, skinned and blood dripping.

This abattoir was  composed  by 3 porch buildings. In the middle  there was a patio.  Inside those porch there were many hooks where dead animals were hanged for dripping.

Practically during about 20 years, I everyday saw, hear and smelled that horrible situation, that nightmare !

At the beginning,  when I was child I couldn't  understand which was the point.

At home we ate meat, I liked it… even if I preferred fish.

Then in my youth,  I understood and in 1983 I became vegetarian.

1^st I stopped to eat fresh meat, then stopped to eat ham or salami or any other cold meat….., then I understood and also fishes could feel pain and I stopped to eat fish.

 I don't eat anything food which  proceeds  from killed animals.

Your book  makes me dubious about the opportunity to stop also with eggs and cheeses. I buy only ORGANIC ones but I understood that it cannot guarantee animal life style.  Even if I think that here in Italy is less worse than the situation in the States., is it ?

I am always looking for natural and traditional systems.  Now, here in Italy  ZERO KMS. Markets are very common . I usually buy eggs and cheeses there, but not always.

I  thank you because I hope that persons who already  read or will read yr. book can understand the gravity of this situation and they do something to protect and preserve animals rights.

Bye  . Isabel

 
P.S. I don't remember when abattoir stopped its activity. Now, these 3 buildings are a Cultural center  called SALVADOR ALLENDE !!! 


 

 

Nelly e suo fratello

Nelly ha finito il suo latte appena arrivata a casa. 

Torno a parlare della nostra gatta Nelly.

L’abbiamo presa 2 anni fa, dopo circa un anno  dalla morte del nostro cane Lucky.

Abbiamo deciso ( magari io ho deciso) di prenderla perché non ce la sentivamo di prendere nuovamente un cane (magari io non me la sentivo).

La malattia e successiva morte di Lucky erano state molto dolorosa per tutti noi (ora sì, per tutti).

Così un gatto non avrebbe sostituito il posto del nostro cane né in casa e tanto meno nel nostro cuore, io veramente non volevo “tradirlo”.

Così la nostra vicina che aveva avuto un gatto da un’amica, ci disse che la solita gatta era diventata mamma di nuovo e che stavano cercando di far adottare i gattini. 

La piccola Nelly osserva con attenzione.

Ho portato Alex insieme alla sua amica Marghe a casa di queste persone, così i ragazzi hanno scelto questa gattina, piccola, piccola, la quale nonostante fosse settembre inoltrato, aveva un grandissimo raffreddore ed una congiuntivite che a mala pena le faceva aprire i suoi occhini piccini, picciò.

Così l’abbiamo portata dal veterinario ed è guarita in men che non si dica.

All’inizio si nascondeva dietro i vasi di piante che ci sono nella nostra loggia, poi ha accettato di entrare in casa e ….. nel frattempo sono passati due anni; adesso è diventa la regina incontestata, tanto vive bene  che,  nella mia prossima vita vorrei essere una gatta e vivere qui a casa nostra. 

Nelly a destra, suo fratello a sinistra.

Dicevo che la nostra vicina ha un gatto, fratello di madre della nostra Nelly (la parola fratellastro mi sembra brutta persino applicata agli animali). Entrambi sono stati sterilizzati, poiché sia loro che noi volevamo evitare che venissero al mondo dei gattini e non poterli accudire come si deve.

Così Nelly e il fratello asessuati come sono, hanno proprio un rapporto da fratello e sorella.

Entrambi sono molto silenziosi ma, quando si rincontrano dopo qualche ora senza vedersi,  miagolano di allegria e vanno incontro l’un verso l’altra. E’ bellissimo vederli insieme, corrono alla ricerca di non sappiamo cosa, poi si riposano sotto gli ulivi, poi fanno la lotta (per gioco ovvio) e si riposano ancora.

Lei è tremenda, veramente birichina. E’ sempre lei che prende l’iniziativa per  combattere e saltare sul collo del fratello.

Lui di un anno più vecchio è pacioccone e la lasciare fare, senza arrabbiarsi, senza farle male.

Nelly ha la sua cuccia nella loggia di casa e, specialmente di inverno, la mattina li trovo che dormono assieme… allora il mio cuore si rallegra.

Nelly riposa all'ombra.

Holidays !!!!!

Finally we have won our yearly relax !!

After months and months of stressing runs in order to be able to do everything, after months and months of cold, rains, winds and sometimes (3 times last winter) snows, we can enjoy the summer, so nice temperature, the sun and lighter days.

The possibilities are many in our days, almost everybody can arrive everywhere: sea, mountains, countryside, beauty Spa, go to the own birth place, also stay at home since in this period, when cities are desert, it is also very pleasant to take our time to know better the place where we live.

In any case we decided to visit my family in Spain.

We left Italy on 26^th July from Livorno Port to Barcelona.

The travel was very pleasant, the sea was very calm and the sky very blue and sunny. During the last voyage by ferry in 2008, I slept for 18 hours: the sea was

in agitation and I felt very sick, so the best medicine was the bed !!!

This time I wake up in the morning and I went out to take some sun, some ice cream and I took my time to read my book.

After 22 travelling hours we left the vessel and by car we went to our destination, to one of the most love corner in my heart.

It is located in “Comarca del Maestrazgo”. It is an uncontaminated place, where I spent my holidays with my family when I was child / youngster. I keep very nice memorizes from my child and young hood there .

You can get there through a tunnel and it is you come into Wonderland !!!!

In these days the number of inhabitants can get even 50 persons however, in winter it goes down till 8 persons ( 5 of them are my family).

It is the ideal place to be relaxing. There aren’t shops or coffee shops or cinemas or disco.

By the other hand it is plain of mountains, forests, one uncontained river (rio Guadalope). A festivity for the senses.

It is full of wild animals and medical herbs, so it is very funny to harvest them to prepare later, during autumn and winter, your favourite infusions.

The road to get there finishes in this place, so only persons who want to go there (or sometimes misplaced persons) come here.

Quasi Estate / Almost summer

Sono felice che sia arrivata l’estate o quasi.

Insomma, sono felice che sia arrivato il mese di giugno. Non è ancora troppo caldo ma la temperatura ha raggiunto un livello piacevole.

A giro, ci sono tanti uccellini, farfalle e nel calar del buoi tante lucciole .Quando eravamo bimbi, ci dicevano che se ne prendevamo una e la mettevamo sotto un bicchiere capovolto l’indomani mattina avremmo trovato un soldino .

Mi sembra molto singolare che sia il vocabolo italiano, che quello spagnolo derivino dal latino, ma che a loro volta attingono da due termini latini diversi:

italiano : lucciola da lux / lucis = luce

spagnolo : luciernaga da lucerna = candil (lampada a olio).

Tornado all’inizio, è anche piacevolissimo svegliarsi presto ed andare a fare una passeggiata nei campi qui attorno . L’altra mattina mentre scendevo verso il bosco, ho visto tre cervi che fuggivano perché impauriti dalla mia presenza.

Ho avuto un momento di grandissima emozione. Ho sentito rallentare il mio ritmo cardiaco, ho trattenuto il respiro. Come avrei voluto che non andassero via spaventati!! Sarei stata felice di mettermi seduta da una parte e in silenzio ammirare la loro bellezza. Invece sono scappati..., comunque li ho visti correre, vitali, bellissimi!!.

Invece nel pomeriggio sono andata oltre il boschetto perché avevo visto che avevano tagliato l’erba medica e avevano lasciato per terra tantissime balle bellissime e possenti nella loro grandezza.

Mentre scendevo tantissimi uccellini che erano venuti a mangiare semini, insetti ed altro, volavano via . Veramente rilassante !!

Here in English

I am happy that summer is already arrived. I adore June month. It is not too much hot, but at same time the temperature is very pleasant.

Here around there are many birds, butterflies and when in the evening it becomes the dark, it is possible to see many, many fireflies. When we were children, adults told us that if we took one of them and put it into a glass in down position, the morning after we would have found a coin!

It is strange for me that this word in Italian and Spanish languages come both from Latin but from two different words, so also in our days the words are different:

Italian : lucciola from lux / lucis = light

Spanish : luciernaga from lucerna = Oil lamp .

In any case, it is very nice to get up early in the morning and to walk around the fields nearby.

Some morning ago when I was walking to the forest I saw three deer, which run away since they saw me. It was a beautiful emotion. I felt my heart beat slowly, I held one's breath. I would liked they stayed there, so I could admire their beauty. Instead of they ran far….. in any case I saw them in the beautiful vitality.

Later, in the afternoon I walked over the forest since I knew that alfalfa has been cut, so grass rolls were still on the field.

When I was walking many, many birds, which were there to find seeds and insects, flew away…., very relaxing moment!!!