Friday 5 November 2010

Autumn in Italy

Crisp days, blue skies, the trees are shedding their leaves dusting the ground in brilliant shades of gold and red. Autumn has arrived in Italy and you can really see it when you live in the mountains. The smell of fireplaces burning fills the small, near deserted streets of Malito. The population here has dropped, all of the summer residents have returned to Rome, Milan, or the nearby city of Cosenza.



Autumn in Calabria, in Italy, is not always a beautiful thing. When the skies aren't blue, they are grey with fierce storm clouds showering us in torrents of non-stop rain. When it rains in Italy, it really rains. At the beginning of the week, the streets of Cosenza had been turned into dirty rivers that reached halfway up the car. I wished I had a 4 wheel drive. I was scared my car was going to conk out with the amount of water I was driving through. I had left bel fidaznato at work and was on my way to the hospital for some blood tests and my diabetes visit. I made it, in one very wet piece. But autumn being autumn meant the next day was hot once again and the road/rivers were a thing of the past.
Lately I have been busy with working a few days, my never ending visits to the hospital, meetings with bilingual priests and buying things for the baby. My diabetes can no longer be controlled by diet, so I have started on insulin which was to be expected. We are at the 7 month mark now, and on Monday I have another ultrasound appointment to check babies growth. He's not ready to come yet though and I am sure this time next autumn he'll be crawling around trying to eat all of the fallen leaves...I can't wait!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love autumn, it is probably my favourite season here in Italy, because I am not driven crazy by hayfever, and it is not too hot. I love your comment about how much it rains here in Italy when it rains. Love your photos too Leanne, and thanks for stopping by my blog! You must be getting so excited about your bub coming soon.

Gil said...

Beautiful photos. Glad to hear all is well!

LindyLouMac said...

Such beautiful autumnal photos Leanne. We have had glorious autumnal sunshine and warmth 21C here in Lazio since Wednesday, such a relief after the excessive rains of last weekend. I have been making the most of it as the forecast is dismal again and the barometer has started to drop fast. Take Care.

Jana said...

autumn offers us such amazing colours, great shots!

Leanne was in Italy now in Australia said...

Hi Cathy,
I am with you on the hayfever thing...spring time here is just one sniff and sneeze after the other.

Hi Gil,
Glad you like the photos :)

Hi LindyLouMac,
This warm weather in November is just the best...the afternoons here turn cold, but the morning it is warm enough to go out with just a t-shirt on (or maybe that's just me since I am not feeling the cold as much now that I am pregnant.

Hi Jana,
Autumn colour wise is such a fun time to take photos.