Every morning after I wake up I open all the windows. I have to be very careful to open my bedroom window though. There’s a deer that comes near the house and strolls around while eating grass. At first my father thought the footprints he saw were a boar’s, but then one morning I saw the deer jumping, running away from the house. I had opened the window badly, and everything in this old farmhouse creaks or squeaks. Since then I wait for mornings in hope to see my friend deer: few days ago it turned towards my window and I saw its face, with a little white between the eyes and around the nose. I left it in peace and did my workout. It returned to the woods, where we think its den is.

I named it Olly because it’s a habit of mine to give names to everyone and everything. In Italian deer is capriolo, and so Olly it is. We know that deer must have had their den in the woods behind our house for few years at least. We saw the family again and again and my dog used to bark from the balcony to help cubs return to the woods when they got lost. Truth is that I’m anxiously waiting to see them, because there are few hunters in town and some farmers have air guns to scare wild animals away from the crops.

deer

We also have some hares living near our gate, that sometimes come say hi. There’s a whole family too: Otta, Otto and Ottini (hare in Italian is leprotto). Sometimes they try to argue with gazze (magpies), but most of the time it’s a peaceful cohabitation. Nobody ever gets hurt in any case.

In summer we also have gruccioni (bee-eaters) visiting regularly. They have stunning colors, mostly light blue, red and yellow. We hear them coming, because they love to sing. They also love our disused phone cable hanging on our yard. We can see them trying to stand still on it, in a neat line. They’re mostly singing equilibrists.

Recently my parents keep seeing a fox, so we think there’s a den somewhere near the woods and an abandoned house nearby. I have a special love for foxes and I want to see it so bad! I’m trying to figure out a name for it as well. In Japanese culture, kitsune are messengers of god Inari and it’s considered good luck to see one. On the contrary, here in Italy le volpi represent deceitfulness and slyness. One evening few years ago I was driving to my friends’ and a fox crossed the road. I was driving slowly and was able to see its fluffy tail sparkling in the headlights. It was an amazing sight. Ever since then I tend to drive slowly on that road in hope we will cross paths again.

fox cub

We don’t have any farm animals and sometimes I believe it’s better like this. This way we can meet all these wild animals and help them and let them live peacefully. Although, there are a couple of cats visiting quite regularly. The grey and white one was our dog’s friend, meaning our dog never cared of scare it away when he saw it. The brown one woke me up few nights ago at 2 a.m. as it walked around the attic knocking things down. Must’ve been fun for it, but at first I thought someone was inside our house so I was scared as hell! When I woke up properly I realized the noises came from above and the next day my parents saw this micio walking around the house. What a relief!