7.36

The sun bouncing off cloud in the valley. The day struggled after that and there is a lot of weather coming down the ‘Atlantic corridor’ as I’ve seen it called. From Finisterre to Marseilles and then into the Gulf of Genoa. All ably pushed by the jet stream and equilibrium theory.

The humid cool weather encouraged clearing up and scraping out the summer growth between our very uneven paving slabs. Two trips to the rubbish bins. A chase the courier saga with texted imperatives from Boss HQ in Florence. And then it turned out to be a book for me - about the artist Mario Sironi was part of the post-Futurist school called the Novecento Italiano which included post-Surrealist Giorgio Di Chirico.

Sironi became a supporter or fellow traveller of Italian Fascism but apparently was never owned by the regime. Emily Braun has written what looks like an interesting book on the period and Sironi’s art within it. The original CUP book sells secondhand for over $100 so I’ve bought the Italian translation. It was pricey enough. There’s challenging.

On a more sombre note I found a beautiful cock Robin dead by the house this morning. I’ve really noticed them singing as the light fades. Such lovely harbingers of winter. I’ve put an extra of its miraculous feet.

As I was scraping away in the yard I heard the hobbies calling. The adult had a small bird and passed it over to the noisy juvenile who hightailed it back to their tree some four hundred metres away before I could get the camera.

Now there is less sun it is easier to see them. I get the impression the adults fly down to the Arno/Solano confluence where the martins feed to go hunting and then bring food back for what I think are the two juveniles. I should be more methodical about all this but there seems to be enough on for now.