As I was preparing breakfast for Merlina the crow this morning I stopped to think about how privileged I am to be responsible for such a beautiful wild bird. Merlina the hooded crow can’t look after herself as she has only one wing and a dodgy leg. I have no idea how she got those […]
We’ve had Merlina the hooded crow for over two years now and she seems quite happy in her voliera (aviary) which I made by enclosing part of an existing pergola with vines and adding an old gate I found under some overgrown bushes. Like the story of Tantalus, the grapes on the vine are just
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of homeless pets in Italy. I sometimes spend more than an hour just looking at page after page of poor dogs who need help and whose only hope is that someone will spot them on the internet. Well, when I get too depressed, I think of
I'm staying with my Mum in the UK for a week and have left the menagerie in Alan's capable hands while I spoil my mother's Yorkie and tabby cat for a while! I usually get a lot of reading in when at my Mum's house and I'm reading a fantastic book at the moment that
We must have looked quite a sight this morning – me and the two dogs and three cats on our daily walk to the woods. The cats have only just started coming along. Sometimes all three of them decide to take some exercise, sometimes it’s only one. Today they were a symmetrical cat sandwich, the two white and black females
Both my dogs love their dollies. Being a Lab, Zsa Zsa has always got something in her mouth and Maia now copies her. With them both having a penchant for stuffed toys things can get quite expensive, so I tend to buy them from charity shops when back home in the UK or from local markets. I’ve also found
It’s terrible when pets die. I have lost two cats in two months, the first cat – Jingles was 16 and it was sort of expected but not very nice, the second, Jerry, a nine-month-old kitten in seemingly perfect health was a complete shock. He died suddenly while asleep. I believe that pets’ spirits continue,
The pond I made in my garden in Umbria was the subject of much dissent and criticism from the neighbours. “Nothing will live in that,” said neighbour’s son Marco, “it’s just a stagno – there’s no oxygen.” I pointed out the oxygenating plants nicked from an ex-pat garden up the road, but he wasn’t having
This is a YouTube video I made last year of one of the dogs, Maia, playing with the semi-wild cat Misha. Misha's mother and half brother have also inherited this trait so sometimes the poor dog is outnumbered! It's not the most brilliant film in the world but is my first attempt at both filming
It all began innocently enough with a simple conversation between me, my neighbour and my husband along these lines: Bruna: ‘You should get some geese, they’ll keep the grass down.’ Me. ‘That’s a really good idea.’ Alan: ‘No, it isn’t.’ GEESE FOR SALE The birds on the poultry stall were packed tightly into crates. Bought and sold by the