We are living now in wind. It has been blowing for three days -- so hard that we lost a big tree out back and a dozen fence posts. In one night, the big persimmon tree was stripped clean of all its lovely red and orange leaves and now scores of persimmons hang there on the bare branches, getting ripe, just out of reach, taunting me.

We got a literal windfall of corbezzoli berries, though, so I have been making giant pots of gritty jam. It was either that or step in all the sticky red berries whenever we walk out back, ending up afterwards tracking red splotches around behind us like a couple of very untidy serial killers.

There were a few very small and very unexpected sweet potatoes for sale in the fruit and veg store the other day. They were labelled "Patate Americane." This led me to attempt to bake Jonathan's favorite pie, Sweet Potato Pecan. The important ingredients for this are: sweet potatoes, pecans, dark corn syrup, brown sugar, eggs, and pumpkin pie spice. The ingredients from that list that are regularly available in Italy: eggs. For the rest, I just had to wing it. We are eating it anyway.

Last Sunday, we went to Capezzano Monte for the celebration of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. There was a mass with music by the Capezzano Monte Filarmonica in the church, then a little band concert in the park, and then a big fried-chicken lunch in the school house/community center, where we sat at long tables and talked (as is almost always the case in Italy) about food. Our friend Claudio from the pub was the head chef. It was like a lost episode of The Andy Griffith Show, only with wine. Lots and lots of wine.

We have more time to go to things like this lately  because two days ago, I finished the first draft of my new novel. Now it needs to sit and marinate while I clear my head of it. That way I can come back to it later with clear eyes.

Tomorrow we are going to the Merenda Allongata (Elongated Snack) at the pub to usher in the holiday season. It lasts from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. and features much wild boar, including Daniele's homemade, secret-recipe wild boar sausage. We had planned to sort of diet and get in better shape before the holiday season kicked in, but it seems to have snuck up on us very quickly and we missed our chance. So now when we say we are "rolling in" to the holiday season, we mean it literally. I have no regrets.