It's been a strange year this, dominated by the hospitalisation of a relative of mine. He should be returning home today after six months on the wards so I have swapped the dramatic evergreen landscape of the coast for the autumn golds of the big city in order to give him a hand as he readjusts to normality.
Sadly, it's not going to be full-on fem time thanks to the vigilant bigotry and phobias of my family. Nevertheless, my 'masculine lesbian' or androgynous look of women's shirts and trousers that is my everyday attire these days passes scrutiny, and I have some warm tights to mitigate the cooler climate. You may wonder why I would help a bigot and the answer is that he was instrumental in helping me settle in Italy and even made the wise suggestion as to where I should move to, which has worked out very well. So I owe him one.
I'm not sure that I make a great nurse so we have the local visiting one from the hospital engaged to come and change his dressings and supervise his medication but I am here to shop and cook and generally deal with everyday stuff for a bit.
What's struck me so far, as I hinted above, is autumn. The view from my bedroom window here is nothing but a mass of leaves turning gold.
I remember this tree from when I was little and it was just a spindly sapling in the road that people would casually run their cars into when parking. You wouldn't do that now as it towers over the whole house! It's a real contrast with the evergreen pines and turquoise sea of the coast I've left and you'll appreciate the acclimatisation shock.
If you want to see beautiful autumn colours from the Alpine region you could do worse than look at Violetta's fabulous blog: Violetta''s autumn
Milan where I now am is a fashion capital so I plan to use my time out to bring you any attractive or weird outfits and accessories from the designer outlets.
A disturbance in the Force
The arcane powers that run Blogger seem to have hit a patch of instability, eddies in the space-time continuum or something, so once more I am having trouble replying to comments through my usual channel or through the substitute that I found for previous instabilities. Do not adjust your set. I will acknowledge your comment as soon as have found a way or the Supreme Blogging Council have found a fix themselves.
Sue x
I hope your relative improves soon, so you can return back to the Riviera ASAP. As to Blogger, I haven't noticed anything myself, but Lotte said she wrote a comment on a post of mine, that disappeared, and Nikki has been experiencing problems with commenting on her blog. Of course I'm assuming that this reply doesn't vanish in a puff of smoke.
ReplyDeleteDee xx
Wow Sue what a year it’s been for you! I’m glad to hear your relative is finally coming home, that must be such a relief after six months in the hospital. It’s nice that you can be there to help with the day-to-day stuff, even if the “medical side” is in professional hands.
ReplyDeleteYour description of autumn in the city is gorgeous. I love how you remember that tree from your childhood, it’s amazing how much it’s grown, and how much the landscape has changed since you were little. The contrast with the coast sounds like a serious shock, but also kind of magical in its own way.
I’m looking forward to seeing what fashion treasures Milan has in store through your eyes! Fingers crossed the blogging gremlins behave so you can reply to comments without a hiccup.
Here’s to a cozy, golden autumn and smooth sailing for your relative as they settle back home.
To repay a person with kindness, perhaps in spite of their views, says a lot about your good heart, Sue 🩷
ReplyDeletePerhaps - like my giving blood - you can enjoy a wry anime, knowing you're doing good in the world, even if you're one of those bloomin' empathetic, caring, and supportive Woke types. You and your kindness eh? 😉🩷
PS: If your having comment issues again, might be worth trying Firefox or even Edge, as they have a different cookie policy compared to Chrome.