PERSIMMON PRUNED

This has been one of those days when too much was going on. The English gardener -- now there's a story -- was here with two of his crew to prop up the lawn which sunk in all of the rain. A scavatore was needed in another place to remove more loose rocks, the masons were building the wall at the bottom of our road. Himself was flitting from one place to another like a butterfly and people kept dropping by. I was in the way -- again! The sky was blue and so was my language.

I have pictures of all of it, plus dog portraits of dogs not our own. I was in a complete swither about which to use when I heard sawing noises outside my office window. It was Alessandro up the persimmon tree sawing off the branches which have been obscuring my view for years. So that's it. Here he is. That's Lucca in the distance, visible for the first time in months.

For the record: Sun! + 7 C but down to zero at night and frost in the valley. Plants have gone on hold. Sunrise: 7:46; sunset: 5:12.