Maria Beatrice Lupi

5 posts

I kissed a frog, but it wasn’t a prince

In fairy tales, the princess often kisses the toad who turns into a handsome prince and… “they lived happily ever after”. In reality, toads and in general all amphibians (frogs, toads and newts), do not turn into princes, but in their two lives, (the term amphibian means exactly this: “with […]

The Strawberry Tree and its Nymph

«First flourished the golden age, which without avengers/or laws, spontaneously honoured loyalty and rectitude. […] Free, untouched by the rake, unfurled/by the plow, the earth produced everything by itself/and men, satisfied with the foods born spontaneously,/gathered strawberry trees, mountain strawberries, cornelian cherries, blackberries hidden among the thorns of the brambles/and […]

The strategy of the Strawberry

The strawberry grows underneath the nettleAnd wholesome berries thrive and ripen bestNeighbour’d by fruit of baser quality (William Shakespeare, Henry V) Once winter has passed, when the forest awakens and spring is in full force, you come across open areas of woods, undergrowth, meadows, and clearings, an expanse of small […]

They are waking up… let’s be careful!

European hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus L. – Photo by Andrea Blankenstijn With the arrival of spring, the days getting longer every day and the temperatures becoming increasingly milder, the Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus L.) awakens; winter sleep, which in our climates can last from November to March, has not been continuous, but […]

The condo you don’t expect

It’s a warm day at the end of February, and one of the builders that are renovating some parts of the house warns: “In an hour or so we have to work on the external side of the house facing south; shall we dissemble the lamp or do you prefer […]