Life on a olive farm
Winds through the olive trees, Softly did blow 'Round little Bethlehem, Long, long ago.
Sheep on the hillside lay Whiter than snow, Shepherds were watching them, Long, long ago.
Then from the happy skies, Angels bent low, Singing their songs of joy; Long, long ago,
For in a manger bed, Cradled we know, Christ came to Bethlehem, Long, long ago.
That poem mentions two thing. One: it is Christmas. Two: olive trees.
The weather is very foggy and wet, usually the sun is hidden until noon. The olive farm we are on has plenty of space to play. The day after we got here we kids helped feed Mark's (our host) pets. At least 50 goldfish and a Koi (with the goldfish) and two rabbits. After feeding the rabbits and goldfish; Landon, Bria, and I went out exploring. We headed down to a small trickling stream that was abundant with waterfalls. We walked along the stream looking at it's waterfalls and getting very very wet. We wandered downstream and soon came to a small grove of smallish Christmas trees. We thought this was the end Mark's property and headed back home. When we were back to where we had came down to the creek we kept ongoing upstream and I got a bit confused. I tried to take a shortcut through the olive trees by Mark's house but it was quite a while before I got my bearings.
With Christmas came a lot of good weather, and for once the grass wasn't so drenched. The three of us (Betsy didn't want to go) set out on a small expedition to the other side of the stream. We crossed with little difficulty and started to climb what we named "The giant's stairs" because it is a series of steps on the hillside.
Climbing up a step proved to be hopeless since they were each about 4' high. We walked along side the first step and soon found a path that we could run up quickly to the top of the stairs. When we got to the top we endeavored to make a fort. I did the vast majority of the work. First I made a frame with dead branches and used a mixture of ferns and fir needles for the sides and top.
The next few days we went to Florence and other neighboring places. Wednesday the weather was good and we went out again. We continued to build the fort and explore. In the evening we went to Mark's house and watched a small slideshow about olive oil, it's production and quality. The family from the other Airbnb house on Mark's place was there too. Afterwards we talked and tried toasted bread with extra virgin olive oil and garlic scraped on top; it was really good!
New Year's Eve we played with their kids. We played Wink Murder, hide-n-go-seek in the dark, and Biz-Buzz. New Years Day I woke up with Betsy barging into the my room. "Jack did you hear the bangs and shouting last night?!" Apparently I slept through the fireworks at midnight.
New Years Day the weather was beautiful. There were pancakes for breakfast and I ate a lot. After eating we watched a "History at our house" (a lecture on history) and went outside to play. We went to "Cave Tree Fort" and resumed building. At about 12:00 Nicolas and Denise charged up with Landon in the lead, The rest walked up with their parents a few minutes later. It was nice that they came up because Landon started to work harder than I have ever seen him work. Nicolas, Denise, and Victoria were helpful, but they soon left and unfortunately never saw the fort completed. It was sad that we had to leave the next day and we would not get to play in it much. In the evening we again played with Alissa, Victoria, Nicolas, and Denise in their house. We played Wink Murder, hide-n-go-seek in the dark, and Splat. Alissa, Victoria, Nicolas, and Denise were leaving tomorrow as well and their parents were surprised we were all ready packed.
The next morning we checked out of our house and we were on the road going down towards our next house in Rome.