Come fly with me

Mediterranean Octopus salad

As we all know this week was Halloween . It’s not something that we really celebrate in Italy , but more recently all the kids seem to be very into it . I suppose it’s the chance to dress up and threaten your  neighbors  with untold mischief, if they don’t pay up that really appeals. Actually, we have had a similar practice in Italy for generations , but it’s known as estorsione.

Anyway, after seeing on FaceBook lots of pictures of friends and friend’s children dressed up in different and strange costumes for Halloween, I realized that here in my country house in the middle of nowhere, NOTHING absolutely nothing  hinted that we were in the middle of a big festa .  We do live down the bottom of a very long dark road ,which even the bravest child would never dream to venture at night. So, the festivities passed us by without much notice, that is until yesterday morning when I awoke to a very strange noise indeed.

On Thursday  morning , something scary was waiting for us. In the silence of the early morning ( shockingly even the rooster was quiet) we woke up and a strange noise surrounding our home. A strong and persistent sound…. I gave Nick a nudge to see if he was awake and could hear  this eerie sound too. But ,it was  no use, as he muttered something about it not being his turn and rolled over to carry on snoring. Intrigued I went over to the window to take a look… What a surprise when I saw that the cause of all this chaos was birds. Not just a few, but thousands of them completely surrounding the house. MAMMA MIA they were every were , in the trees, on the telephone wires and circling the house in wave after wave of frenzied flying.

Can you understand my feeling? do you remember the Hitchcock movie???? Everything was very still except for the bloody birds! Even our cats were  suspiciously absent . Normally they would be sitting outside the kitchen door waiting for their breakfast , but perhaps the thought of being so heavily  outnumbered made them decide a low profile was the wiser option .

It really was a beautiful sight as they swooped , dived and changed directions in synchronized harmony. Once Nick had finally got himself together he grabbed a camera and we headed out to watch . It was almost like a departing show of elegance before these migrating birds headed  south to sunnier climes   .” Wait for us” I shouted as they suddenly started to fly away ,” we want to come to”. They gave a final swooping salute and were gone.  How unfair , if only we to could grow wings and head south whenever the weather got a little bit cold.