The calm after the storm...

The storm has gone:
I hear the joyful birds, the hen,
returning to the path,
renews her cackling. See the clear sky
opening from the west, over the mountain:
the landscape clarifies,
the river gleams bright in the valley.
Now every heart is happy, on every side
there's the noise of work
as they return to business.
The craftsman comes to the door,
his work in hand, singing,
to gaze at the humid sky:
a girl runs out to draw water
that's charged with fresh rain:
and, from street to street,
the vegetable seller
raises his cry again
See the sun return, see how it's smiling
from hills and farms. The servants
open balconies, terraces, lodges:
hear the harness clinking, far off
along the highway: as the traveller's carriage
moves, once more, down the road.

Every heart is happy.
When was life as sweet,
as pleasant as it is now?

Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837)

Blackford Hill today as the wind at last abates. (Just cost £400 to remove a tree which came down in the back garden). Still, cheer yourself with the thought that winter may still have three months to rage.