Everything and nothing

Everything and nothing

Waldo and I both woke at two forty-five this morning to the sound of a rock being dropped just outside the patio doors of our bedroom. As we lay still, trying to figure out what had woken us we could hear this rock either being pushed around or actually rocking. Certainly something was moving it. In my mind I was trying to remember the mixture of small rocks that were out there - used to hold the doors open or to hold rugs onto the top of a side-on stone wall when I beat them. It sounded like one of the smaller rocks, but even so they seemed too large for a cat or pine martin to shift. Waldo crept to the patio doors and peered into the moonlight. Immediately the sound stopped. I got out of bed and tried to look at an angle through the glass but could see nothing.

Sweat was pouring off me for it was still over 30' and the male cicadas were still calling to attract mates. We stayed still and could hear slight snuffling sounds, so knew it was an animal of sorts. Waldo switched on the outside light. All sound stopped and we could see no sign of a culprit. There was nothing to it but to go back to bed. As I was dosing off I could hear vague snuffling and scuffing sounds but decided to let the creature get on with his or her nocturnal rummaging. It would do us no harm.

Despite the broken sleep I woke early this morning.  After my routine of getting up, washing and dressing, opening both kitchen doors and breakfasting out on the patio I did the usual morning check on Freddy.  This morning he is nowhere to be seen. His plank is in bright sunlight, but a damp patch on one side shows that he has been on there at some time since dawn. I look across the pool to the opposite corner where he has taken to reside in the morning shade. The heat of the sun is having an effect; since we arrived just four weeks ago the pool water has evaporated and the level has come down two steps. This morning the area around the stone where Freddy finds morning shade is actually surrounded by a dry patch. Only one of the stepping stones and the lizard ladder now reach the water. There are no more steps across the end of the water so we may have to start thinking about how to extend the lizard ladder.  Even the metal steps into the pool now have their base just an inch above the water and would be far too hot for any frog or almost drowned lizard to cling to.
It is quite amazing how many creatures have learnt to use the lizard ladder and the stepping stones. Apart from the lizards and then birds for whom the whole array was intended I am amazed at the number of insects that come down to the pool. Bees in particular have learnt to perch on the water's edge of the lizard ladder or stones and then quench their thirst. Bees need lots of water in order to make honey, so I am glad that in our small way we can help that process. Dragonflies show their beautiful blue and green diaphanous wings as they cling to the string that holds Freddy's plank is place. Beetles and grasshoppers are occasional visitors to our micro-watering hole.

A large green grasshopper about 3 inches long came up from the pool this morning. I am trying to grow root ginger in some pots and so far have three mini-fields of green bamboo like plants about two and a half foot high. These have all grown from the sprouting ends of ginger that I have bought to use in my tea or other cooking. I have dreams of, one day, harvesting my own ginger. I think that is a long time off! In two pots I have used old bamboo canes to stake out my growing plants. In the other I have a more complicated tepee type framework held from a central pole which is the broken end of a broom which one of our visitors broke when he became over enthusiastic about sweeping the area surrounding the pool. The grasshopper landed near the top of this broom handle. I don't known how long he was there before I saw him; he was a wonderful range of greens and his skin seemed delicately veined as though a leaf. That must be his camouflage. I got up to have a closer look at him. I could not believe it but as I approached, he moved sideways to the back of the broom handle. I turned sideways and so did he. Wherever I positioned myself he put the broom handle directly between us, so my view of him was blocked. He made no attempt to hop away but just kept his eyes firmly fixed on me and inversely mirrored my every move. We played this game of hide-and-seek for a while before I decided to let him rest. I guess this too was a reaction to a potential predator or was it some misinformed notion that if he couldn't see me, I couldn't see him?

Once on my feet I walked around the house along the narrow terrace outside the lounge, crossed the back patio and up a few steps to the small patio outside out bedroom. I found the rocking stone and it was clear by the dust pattern that is had been moved recently. Some nearby droppings were tell-tale evidence that the pine martins had been there. They do play together a lot and I had visions of them taking it in turns to stand on top of the stone and enjoy the momentum as it rocked back and forth. Like children each would have watched the other in delight until they remembered that it was their turn.

I was pleased that the pine martins are still around. I don't know whether they are the original pair but there have been pine martins living in the 'Muir Glen' as long as we have been here. Some years they have been more visible than others. Most evenings, just after dark we can see them take their usual stroll out of the Muir Glen, past the pool, up the steps to the kitchen patio, keeping close to the wall, then up a few steps to the narrow terrace, around the lounge and onto the back patio. I guess that after hunting around the nether reaches of the eating olive trees they can easily find themselves up on the patio outside out bedroom. Our grey cat also lives in the Muir Glen. We put some food down there; hopefully enough to keep the animals interested but not enough to stop them needing to hunt. This logic hopefully keeps rats and mice away; so far it seems to work, with the occasional cunning animal which evades being hunted or trapped. Waldo had a week long battle with one cunning old Roland who could take the cheese out of the trap without getting caught. The trap was altered, modified and reset many times before Waldo's engineering skills beat the animal's cunning - but it was touch and go for a few nights!

Most of our visitors enjoy their time here. Indeed some return every two years or so. But most will admit that they could not live here. The house is too isolated. Nature is too close. Waldo and I were both brought up on farms and thus understand the closeness of nature. Indeed we find it fascinating and both have learnt never to underestimate the drive to survive in nature. The house is modern in design but it is not a house where one simply presses a switch and things work. Water reservoirs have to be switched over morning and night when we water our plants at night from one reservoir and use the other for our own use. We are not on mains sewage and so cannot abuse the facilities and flush any old thing down the loo, never to think about it again. The electricity supply is at best variable and we have to be cautious of connections, particularly during the thunder storm season. Waldo needs to be a bit of an engineer to keep the house and its systems going.

We are now in a situation where we have invested a lot of time and some money into getting the house as we want it. Our next major investment would be solar or wind power; either full or partial. Then we would be truly independent and sustainable. I think that we are tending towards that, not only because of the broader environmental issues but because it is our nature. Both of us are independent spirited people. We both have preferred working for ourselves than for others. Neither of us is a team player. We are both happy in our own company. When we have visitors then we do the 'having visitors' things: going out for meals, visiting friends here, going sight seeing and much more group activity. But when we do not have visitors our social life changes. We have been here for about four weeks this trip and have been out for a meal together just four times, with friends once and friends came round to share watching the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. We spend well over 90% of our time just in each others company - and enjoy it.

Over the years we have come to understand each others strengths and weaknesses, and to play to them. We are the team looking out onto the world, rather than two individuals coming in from the world and reaching out for each other. It is a privilege to live, not isolated lives, for we are surrounded by our own world, but to live as we please, to do each day what we want to do.

Sure we argue and disagree, what an unhealthy relationship it would be without that. We have different taste and likes but we have learnt to share each others interests. I have always had an interest in cars and motor-racing, but Waldo's knowledge is incredible. For the most part he only needs to see a square foot of some vehicle to identify it, model and year of production. My love of books is rubbing off on him and we enjoy many shared discussions about the books we are reading.

Today, despite the heat, when I look out of the window and see the cloudless sky, millpond sea, apart from the local ferry half way to Neapoli nothing moves. But I realise that I actually have everything.