February 14th 2007
Marito and I spent yesterday cutting nests of poisonous caterpillars out of one of our pine trees. Marito, all gruff and manly, was revving his new chainsaw before breakfast. The small one had kept telling us there was a tree with lots of 'beards' that was growling at her! On further investigation we found a pine tree infested with what looked like lots of huge ugly cotton wool balls. A local informed us that each ball was filled with about 50 extremely poisonous caterpillars, they are covered in acid powder and can burn through skin if touched! They had to go. So we built a big fire and spent a pleasant afternoon incinerating.
Nice way to spend Valentine’s day!
The tall one and the small one approaching dangerous tree
Best thing I ate today;
Prosecco (cold) - There is something so moorish about this fizzy drink, it is easy to see why quaffing it as almost a national pastime. No pretensions of grandeur, it is what it is; frivolous and fun and all to easy to polish off the bottle. Tip - don't spend less than 3 euros, but there's no need to spend more than 5.
Where to get it;
Available from supermarkets, bars, restaurants and petrol stations all over Italy
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