Welcome Autumn - Autumn in Italy
🍂🍄 Autumn is my favorite season 🍂🍄
It always has been, and for this reason I have always been called "strange" by those who love summer and see autumn as a melancholic and sad time.
On the other hand, I don't particularly like summer because I hate the heat, especially the kind of heat that exists in the area where I live.
I live in north-eastern Italy and here the climate is particularly hot, humid and sultry in summer. In autumn and winter the climate is particularly harsh and very humid.
What do I like about autumn?
I arrive in September having come back from holiday, suffered a lot of heat, spent more time outdoors, expended a lot of energy, and am looking forward to slowing down.
I really like the cool weather, the rainy days and the changing light.
I find that this is the ideal atmosphere for staying indoors, living convivial moments indoors, in a more intimate and cosy way.
My home in autumn
I'm not a fanatic about home decoration, but I do like to create a little autumn atmosphere in my home. I do this with 'living' objects such as pumpkins, flowers and autumn fruit.
I also start lighting scented candles again to perfume my home and create a warm and cosy atmosphere.
There is also an object that marks the beginning of the cold season in my house: a very warm blanket with orange colours. My partner teases me about it. When he sees me put it on the sofa he says "OK, now autumn can begin!".
What I like to do around the house in autumn
As i say before, as soon as the cold season starts, I start wanting to stay indoors. I prefer to cook for friends and relatives, rather than go out to eat at a restaurant.
I prefer to receive them at home, rather than being in a bar for an aperitif.
Also because, as soon as the warm season ends, I feel like cooking again.
I start making bread, cakes and fruit and vegetable purées again.
In contrast to the warm season, I feel the need to take time out to leaf through recipe books, write, read, watch a film on TV with my partner.
What I like to do outside the home in autumn
Although I prefer to stay indoors during the cold season, autumn is a time when I love walking in nature. Seeing how the colours of the leaves change day by day and the air gets colder and colder makes me feel really good.
Unfortunately, there is not much nature around my house, but it is only a few kilometres by car to reach really nice places where you can enjoy the autumn.
I love collecting chestnuts with my dad, just like when I was little.
Unfortunately, we live far away, but every year I try to reach him to keep this tradition alive.
What I like to eat in autumn
Autumn in Italy is a triumph of colours, flavours and smells. I think it is the richest season in terms of smells. The smell of pumpkin cooking in the oven, roasted chestnuts in the streets of the city centre, grape must at village festivals.
I love it all.
I love pumpkin. I eat it all year round, to tell you the truth, partly because I live in an area where pumpkins are very well produced.
Pumpkins can be stored all year round.
My grandmother tells me that she used to put them in straw to make them last all winter.
With pumpkins you can make a thousand recipes, both sweet and savoury. I make cakes, soups, baked, steamed, put them in omelettes, in rice, make a puree that I eat as a snack.
I love grapes and chestnuts.
I love the first apples when they ripen, which I can use to make a cake or a simple puree with sultanas and cinnamon.
Autumn is also the best time for mushrooms. I like to cook them simply stewed, with tomato and onion to go with a hot polenta (yellow maize flour - a typical Italian dish) with cheese. What a delight!
And do you like autumn? How do you live this season in your country? What are the traditions? I am curious to know! Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Bullet Journal
My Disorder And Its History
Since I was a little girl, I have always had a serious problem: difficulty concentrating.
I have a very good memory, especially visual, but concentration I don't have and never have.
My attention span has always been very low.
So low that it's rare that I'm able to watch an entire movie.
I really struggle to follow the plot.
I was very restless as a child.
I couldn't sit still in front of the TV for very long.
TV was never a good babysitter for me :)
I could spend up to 4 hours coloring but little more than 15 minutes in front of the TV.
I always needed to do something where I was active and not passive.
In my day, I was born in 1987, you didn't take your kids to the doctor for these reasons.
That's how you grew up, learning to live with it and sometimes with the help of a few scowls.
At school, teachers used to label children like me as "difficult to handle", "too distracted", "hyperactive", without delving into the character aspect and without the slightest knowledge of psychology.
Today it is very different, fortunately. Fortunately, certain "disorders" are recognized, diagnosed and resolved or, at least, addressed.
In my case, I discovered the name of my disorder when I was 30 years old.
Its name is ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder).
The manifestation of this disorder is characterized precisely by the difficulty of staying focused on one passive activity for a long time.
For example, "reading" has always been exhausting for me. I like books, I would love to read them but I can't seem to do it the way I want to. I usually read a paragraph and have to stop.
Even if there is the curiosity to continue, I feel that the effort to concentrate brings me tension and stiffness. So I take a break for a few minutes and then read another little piece.
Can you imagine the difficulty I always had to deal with throughout school?
ADHD in Adults
Once I was diagnosed with this disorder (in a completely random circumstance) I was more relieved. At least I had a place to start.
I stopped feeling wrong all the time and looked for as much information as I could about this disorder and above all I looked for as many possible solutions to apply in my daily life.
Because actually, the biggest problem is dealing with so many little everyday situations
It is not essential to watch a movie, being able to organize a day to be productive instead is essential.
The Bullet Journal and the ADHD
One solution to be able to maintain high concentration, motivation and consistency is the habit of writing.
How much writing have I done in my life!
I write about everything, as long as I can remember.
As a child I had notebooks that I consumed at lightning speed.
As I grew up, became an adult, and have always been self-employed, I started using planners.
But finding the right planner for me has always been difficult. Space is always tight, there aren't enough blank pages to write everything I need to write.
Again, I looked for a solution and I found it when I discovered the **BULLET JOURNAL**!
What is a bullet journal?
The Bullet Journal is basically a notebook that you can give the function you want. It can be an agenda, a diary, a calendar, a planner, a notebook.
The great thing is that it can be all of these things at once!
The pages are all blank and you can customize them however you want.
You can also decorate, draw, color as you like.
There are many tutorials and guides to learn how to set up your own bullet journal but there is no fixed rule: those are just guidelines and tips.
The important thing is to make it useful and functional for our needs.
If you're interested in knowing how I set up my Bullet Journal, let me know in the comments :)
We have to learn to let go.
I am a person who wants to be in control of situations. I want perfection. But I haven't always been that way. I say that I have lived 2 lives. In my first life, I let others control me.
And I was fine in that condition. I felt safe.
I had an employee job where someone else made decisions for me. I just had to execute. I had a partner who decided everything and I let him. I trusted him.
The years have passed and I have changed. My life has changed. That job is gone and neither is that partner.
I found myself on my own and had to start over. It was hard but now I can say I made it.
In the years that I have been on my own, I have learned to take care of myself, I have learned to make decisions, I have learned to handle all situations.
It's been a hard test for me!
I am proud that I have been so strong.
A character side came out that surprised me a little bit. I want to be in control of everything. And that's both in my personal life and in my work.
It's hard for me. I struggle with this aspect.
I have to focus and think about this trait of mine.
I used to get very angry when I was not in control. I would get mad at myself but I would take it out on others.
I wouldn't let my partner make dinner because I wanted to be the one to do it. Why? Because I didn't trust what he was doing! But he cooks so well!
But I would stop him, I would do it and then I would blame him for never helping me! Absurd, isn't it?
I worked so hard on this aspect of my character and I still do, every day.
When I realize I am going to block someone, I stop and take a step back.
My partner offers to make dinner? Great!!! I thank him, pour a glass of wine and relax while waiting for dinner.We have to learn to let go.
We can't control everything.
We can't control what people say or do.
We can't be everywhere.
Perfection is not having everything under control.
Take a deep breath.
We just have to care about our "here and now".
We must LEARN to trust others, we must learn to delegate, we must learn to enjoy the good part of things.
Let others speak, let others act in their dimension.
That is perfection.
Never forget that what we have is precious
It's been a week of uncertain weather: from sunshine to rain in a flash! Only the temperature has been stable: quite cold for mid-April now.
I should have sown the tomatoes last Sunday but I decided to wait. No rush, it's still cold.
The strawberries are slowly growing strong and lush. I counted 20 of them! That's only 5 plants, so that seems like a good result. I like to see them grow and enjoy the good flavor.
I have a large deck but unfortunately not much sun, so most of the plants are not growing well.
The area where I live is flat, so in the summer the weather is very hot and humid. Also this factor is not good for "balcony" vegetable garden plants.
But I love my terrace! When I saw this house for the first time, I was struck by the large terrace.
One of the positives is that it is covered, so it doesn't get wet when it rains. In the warm season (May to October) we always eat on the terrace, the cats and the dog relax in the sun, I hang out the laundry and often work on the PC. I could never live without an outdoor space!
During the months of the first big lockdown in 2020, we appreciated it even more! We know people who live in very small houses, with no garden or balcony, and during that period of confinement they were forced to live indoors.
The Covid-19 situation in Italy is stable now. The vaccination campaign is proceeding slowly, we are still in a kind of lockdown but a little less strict. The big problem is economic aid from the government to companies in difficulty. So many stores, restaurants and bars could not survive and unfortunately had to close forever.
Thinking about these situations, I can only consider myself lucky. No one in my family has suffered economic or health losses due to the pandemic.
The only sacrifice we had to make was to stay away for so long.
My grandmother, the oldest in my family, was vaccinated on Easter Sunday. We are a little more comfortable because of that. She is a little bit safer now. Now we wait our turn.
Tomorrow is Saturday, I will finally be able to go to the farmer's market again. It had been suspended because of Covid-19, for a few weeks.
Thank you for reading
See you soon
Martina
Nice to meet you!
I am Martina, I am 34 years old and I live in Mantova, a small town in the north of Italy.
I signed up because I have always written but never in my own name and now I think it's time to do it!
It will be difficult to do it in English, but I will try and do my best.
I will write about my experiences, the things I love, life in Italy, cooking and cats, of course!
I'm happy to be on this site.
Feel free to introduce yourself and give me some advice: I will be happy to read you.
See you soon
Martina
@MartinaStella
