Freedom.....

 How lucky we are to have freedom......

The lane through the woods took us to Laura and Luciano's..... a walk to lunch!
Our lovely neighbours wanted to see Lauren before she left for England.

Feasting on home made pasta with a duck sauce, pasta with a scrumdiddly sauce,(the only word to describe it!!!), made from mushrooms Laura had found that morning in the woods, followed by torte vedure, scabei, roasted duck,(their own of course!), tiny home grown roasted potatoes and freshly picked salad leaves, followed by ice cream and coffee!

For us, a walk to Laura's is always an occasion.
The welcome we receive from the family is the warmest, and somehow all the effort of gathering and preparing food gives us a deep feeling of being loved!

Coffee was taken outside in glorious sunshine!

FoFo, the goose wandered through to see us!......

He hasn't been the same since his partner was eaten by a fox poor chap.........now he sees Laura as his amore!!!

We chatted the afternoon away learning more of how terrible it was during the German occupation.
Laura's uncle could see the German's arriving down by the cemetery, he quickly killed a pig hiding it in a hole until he could return!
The enemy set fire to the house, destroying the home where Laura was born.
Her family fled to the woods living in an old stone building....... they lived on what ever they could get their hands on, even lizards!

The young Doctor was killed, a relative of the present owners of the Torre.
We must find the place of remembrance dedicated to him somewhere within this woodland.
It's hard to imagine the terror that once reigned in this place of tranquility and beauty.
How lucky we are to have freedom and peace, my wish for everyone.
Freedom from war, starvation, drought, pain and suffering.

Enticing us to stay longer, Laura poured us a tot of her home made blackberry liquor....... we whiled away the rest of the afternoon together!

 

Until eventually it was time to go home...........

The past weeks have quickly flown by.......
Blackbirds with their bright yellow beaks packed with nesting material fly with great purpose.
Long legged Buttercups line the pathways brightening our route, bright red Poppies fill meadows gently waving along the road side.

  It's a time of year to be celebrated!
Which reminds me......I have an announcement to make!
We have a new addition to the family, a little pipkin of a Jack Russell named Ruby!

Adored by us all she is trying desperately to forge relationships with everyone including the cats, Luna and Teddy, oh and Wabbit.... just a little over zealous perhaps!

Last Saturday we took a trip to market to buy fresh local produce............such a pleasure chatting with the locals. I enjoy the hustle and bustle of market day, the happy smiling faces, brightly coloured fruit, vegetables and general community spirit it conjures up. Once you have bought your groceries the stall holders always tuck a bunch of parsley, a carrot and stick of celery into your basket, a lovely and generous touch!  

On the way we saw the most amazing eagle fly out across the lane directly in front of us, it's wings spanning more than the width of the track!

Talking of birds, I wonder if anyone can identify this one for me?

I thought it was a hawk at first, similar size..........

I welcome all comments please!!!

James came back to see us with his girlfriend Verity, I cooked a seafood risotto and we spent the afternoon catching up in the sun!
Lovely to see him looking well and happy!
The wardrobe he so skilfully made last year stands in our bedroom, a wonderful piece of furniture, with shelves and hanging space, so well thought out.
I have never had a wardrobe like it!
My clothes are usually slung over a chair or the chaise!!!


Interested in photographing and logging the butterflies we see in the garden.....

Any experts out there?!

On May 20th I felt the Earthquake!  

 Yes...the bed moved for me...quite literally!!!

Awoke around 5am drinking fresh hot lemon in bed, when I felt the bed move! The hanging glass lamp swung from side to side...I shouted to Jim unsure if we were experiencing paranormal activity or an earth tremor but he hadn't felt a thing!!!!! The movement from below on my side of the bed eventually stopped, but the lamp continued to swing for some time.........eerie!

I later read the earthquake, 6.0 magnitude, was centred 22 kilometres north-northwest of Bologna, 7 people lost their lives.Italian emergency officials announced it was the worst to hit the region since the 1300s !

Nine days later, Em and I were up in the Tresana area, we stopped off in the small village of Barbarasco only to learn from  the lady in the greengrocers, another earthquake had struck just half an hour or so before we arrived...the lady was visibly shaken!

This was a second to hit the same region with a magnitude of 5.8.

Factories, barns and churches fell, a second blow to thousands whom remained homeless from May the 20th.

The power of natural and unexpected disaster is alarming....makes me realise the fine line we tread, enforcing how much we should live the day!


A couple of nights later, I saw my first Firefly of the year!
An experience that still thrills me!

Cameron tried to save this little field mouse from the clutches of Teddy, dear little thing!

Charlie came too!




















An abundance of wild flowers in the garden.......many I would still like to identify........

  First sign of the Cherry Tree bearing fruit.................. even if it was just a handful!


Paolo arranged a dinner party at our house, something he loves to do on a yearly basis!
Arriving with bags of fresh produce he spent the afternoon preparing the feast for ten.
Always a joy to have around I cannot believe we have known Paolo for almost 10 years.
A very dear friend of Em's he has also been over to see us in England, a great one for any adventure, he loves travelling....and cooking!

The following Sunday, Eva and Chris came to lunch......I cooked a traditional English roast beef and yorkshire pud, which went down well, something we don't have much these days!
I was spoiled with this wonderful bunch of glorious Sunflowers!
Thanks Eva and Chris!XX

Work continues in the garden

I love the evening light.........

Occasionally Hargs puts in an appearance!!!

Some just laze around all day and become disgruntled if they are woken!

Whilst others...........clear and create!

Mauro walked along the lane and made an inspection of the new wall, thinking Cameron had built it........he was shocked when I told him it was all Lauren's effort and hard work!!!

He had to do the strength test, checking to see if it wobbled and beamed with delight...........Brava Lauren!

Keep safe everyone................

An Extra Pair of Hands!

It's such a relief to feel the warmth of the sun once more, talk about April showers, it rained practically all last month!
Remembering to say "white rabbits" out loud in bed on the first of May as I opened my eyes, with the hope of drawing any odd bit of good luck that might be going, on the other hand, our poor 'wet rabbit', was busy drying off her ears in the garden!

So delighted to have a new camera recording events once again!

My nieces, Alice and Eleanor, Em and Cameron

My sister, nephew and nieces arrived for a few days, to celebrate Jule's 50th...you are catching up Sis!!!

Cameron loved it so much Jim arranged for him to return 5 days later, after fulfilling commitments he had at home.
 
Em took the train down to Pisa greeting him at the airport, helping Cameron with his journey to us.

Happy to help us with work in the garden Cameron and Em were keen to get started on the first project  which was to dig a small trench under the kitchen window, where I had planned to plant a row of Box.
A tough job due to claggy, stoney ground which in parts still hid the odd bit of builders rubble!

The cousins set to, with great gusto!

Well that was until they hit upon a huge beast of a rock embedded in the clay like soil..........hoping to thread a rope underneath they dug further using their hands!
Worse was to come...it was far bigger than they had thought....it was time to ask an expert local farmer, our good friend Mauro!
He arrived with a suitable long metal tool and managed to lever the 'beast'.............together Em and Cameron pulled the rope, and in between shots I ran backwards and forwards with river stone adding height, placing one on top of the other so that the  rock could be gently manoeuvred up and out of the trench!!!

Team effort..........the local Italians always seem to have the perfect, hand made tool for the job!

A huge sigh of relief all round as the rock was dragged away on a sheet of metal!

The following day!

The following day, much to Em and Cameron's dismay, they stumbled across another rock, not as large as the first... they were determined to fight this one alone!

A layer of stones, manure and compost before the pleasure of planting!
Not sure what Alan Titchmarsh would think....but firmly pressing each plant into the soil, I certainly sent thoughts of love and hope down to the roots!
We were all so thrilled once we could stand back and look at how much we had achieved!!!

Upwards and onwards, Em and Cameron began the huge task of strimming the land, creating small heaps of grass so that it could dry in the sun and be used by Wabbit for lining her home!

And..........sticks were bundled into kindling for winter.

Buona Pasqua!

Over the past week or more I have literally felt like covering my eyes each time I walked towards the windows or left the house!
All due to the fact my beloved camera decided to completely cease from functioning!
I have probably completely worn it to a frazzle recording life virtually on a day to day basis, dragging it to and fro from Turkey and England quite apart from throwing it in and out of various bags keeping it by my side at all times, so stimulated and inspired by all that surrounds me!


A week of rain has prevented us from weeding, but left us with beautiful unfurled young leaves and splashes of that lovely shade of bright vivid green!
Blossom trees in full bloom, fields of bright yellow dandelions and everything twinkling with raindrops......makes me feel so alive!
I am so grateful the rain came leaving our garden completely rejoicing!
Lavender is coming on well and the Azalea bursting with colour in   pots.....the saucers constantly filled from the sky...just how they like to take their water!
A sign of new life down in the raised beds, tiny rucola leaves and the potatoes growing.    


I left the house early on Easter Sunday to buy a tray of pasticceria to take to our neighbours for lunch.
I couldn't believe the view that met my eyes as I drove down towards the village..... the mountains were capped in a jolly good dusting of snow, partially lit with shafts of sunshine, mist gently swirling!  


I delivered them to Laura on my way home.
Slowly driving along the woodland track I was met by a sight that bought tears to my eyes........a beautiful, graceful deer!
I turned the engine off and looked straight into her eyes as she gazed directly back at me...she didn't dart off as I imagined she would, fearing she would be hunted perhaps killed, just stood!
Then she walked up next to the Madonna,(a few metres away), turning, so I could see her profile and there she quietly stood...I waited and eventually as she walked away I started the engine to finish my journey home.
The most amazing experience I can tell you!


Summoned for lunch by 12.30pm, Em and I set off back down the track eager to embrace our dear friends, tummies rumbling ready for the imminent feast!

View taken with the IPad.....

Joined by Laura and Luciano's other friends, we made a buona  tavola, (good table), as they say! 
We dined on fresh home-made lasagne, verdure ripiene, (stuffed vegetables), torte di erbe, (a very fine, thin pastry with green vegetables from the garden, a local recipe), roast lamb, roast pork thinly sliced, roast potatoes, green salad from Laura's garden, followed by strawberries in lemon juice and fresh whipped cream, our pasticceria,(darling little cream pastries), served with Prosecco, chocolate and coffee!
All rather delicious!

Laura has just discovered her mare is expecting a foal!

Another lovely lunch and afternoon sharing laughter around Laura's table!


I hope you all enjoyed a Buona Pasqua!

In Search of Interesting, Old Treasure...........

With planting being bought to a swift halt due to a change in the Moon, I decided to have an hour or two wandering one of the local antique fairs at the week-end.
Apart from deriving an immense amount of pleasure from the garden, as friends and family will know only too well, I also have a passion about hunting around junk shops and antique markets!!!
The fun, for me being when I find treasure at a very good affordable price!
With the stream of TV programmes over recent years, it has become much harder to find bargains!
These days I no longer buy just because I like something, it has to have a practical use and purpose!
I love old kitchen items as long as they are in good condition, feeling something old compliments the new and brings not only character to a room but a tale of one kind or another from a previous life!
Of course, the tale very often is not known, however, wondering about the previous owner and their life can prove just as interesting!
I also collect old fabrics, particularly linen when I can find it and trimmings, tassels, buttons and ribbons.

I found this lovely old wire basket which looks great on our kitchen table!
I have already used it for oranges and lemons and used it to display cookery books!

I was also lucky enough to find this beautiful Liberty carving, dating back a 100 years or more.
Such a beautiful face, I found it quite beguiling!
Now wondering whether to place it above an internal door frame or mirror!!!
What a lovely lovely morning!
Happy hunting!!!

New Beginnings !

Dewy wet feet walking down to the washing line, slight frost glistening, my head full of thoughts excited with the new day.
A day of new beginnings, digging our orto planning an abundance of vegetables, food outside the kitchen door!
Such a wonderful inspiring thought.

Weeding, clearing digging.
Worms! 
At last we have worms!!!
Butterfly floats past my vision seems delighted, dancing around dandelions...............

Spring Time !

A whole month spent catching up with old friends and family in England, and here I am back home in Italy welcomed by Em, the animali, (including Wabbit!), and an abundance of beautiful wild flowers!

Spring has definitely waved her magic wand, splashing vibrant colour in our garden and throughout the woodland.
New life forcing it's way through dry ground and dead leaves, you have to wonder how they have the strength!
Primroses, beautiful tiny Violets, Helibors, daffodils to name but a few lifting our spirits denoting not only the change in season but signalling wonderful new hope!

Snowdrops were out in abundance, we saw them throughout England and Scotland.

I didn't have to look far to find this little clump in Clavering after our superb night at Jamie Oliver's dad's pub, The Cricketers.
Now that's a mouthful!
What a fabulous old English pub, everything gleamed from the glasses hanging above the bar to the old brass, all polished and pucker!
Curtains and soft furnishings were all of a quality and beautifully clean, none of the old tat and smelly carpets here!
The en suite bedroom was just as comfortable with a huge bed and attractive furnishings.
We celebrated our belated birthdays with a fabulously tasty dinner in the restaurant.
Here at the Cricketers they take great pride in sourcing the best produce.
Meat is properly hung, fish always fresh and the seasonal, organic vegetables and herbs are supplied by Jamie.
Bread is made daily.
Staff were all friendly and smiley knowing just how to pitch the service, it was great, fully recommend it!

Clavering itself is a picturesque old English village with individual thatched cottages.

After the best poached eggs on toast and crispy bacon we were reluctantly on our way.....well not strictly true, happy to head north for a couple of nights to our lovely friends, Laura and Paul!

Visiting them is always a joy, Laura always insists on us having her lovely cottage whilst she moves herself in with Paul. A fantastic welcome, from scented candles to Prosecco chilling in the fridge, thoroughly spoilt we are!
Apart from the laughter the highlight of our stay is always a walk up to their allotment to see Paul's latest shed, hand built from recycled wood and basically anything he can lay his hands on!
When they first took the land on it was completely over grown, I am knocked out by what they have achieved and how much they have planted.
They must grow every vegetable as well as fruit to make your mouth water, gooseberries, rhubarb, strawberries and the like! A pond attracts all kinds of wildlife and they have even restored an old 60's caravan where they brew up when they fancy a break!
I am inspired and over whelmed by their hard work and immense enthusiasm!
I love mooching around seeing what the other allotments are like, Laura introduces me and I always end up taking endless photographs of the characters, posting them copies once I am home!
All the allotments are walled and gated, an amazing community of life, everyone sharing their produce between themselves and with their neighbours.
Apart from one, the chap who only grows leeks, prize leeks, ones that cannot be eaten, they are so enormous! And anyway, his wife will only eat vegetables if they come from the local supermarket!!!!!!?

And so we move on to beautiful Edinburgh, spending a day at Gullane on the coast.
A beautiful day in terms of light and colour combined with happy memories.
Before this day we came here perhaps more than 20 years ago.
This thought and standing in the very same place with the children when they were small and Jim's lovely parents made me think about time.
How strange it is, if we could wind it back, here we would be playing with the children, hair blowing on that blustery cold day!

I love collecting shells...... apart from Scallops, I found lovely big shells I haven't been able to identify yet.

Inspired to mount them on a canvas, I bought some home, planning also to inscribe a line of text.

My holiday started in the south catching up with my sister, nephew and nieces and finished there with a lovely week spent with my parents in between.

A trip to beautiful old Stamford with lunch at The George and a night with my dear friend of 50 years, Michelle!

I was taken to Foxton Locks for lunch at a proper old canal pub by Michelle and her lovely dad Barclay.
It bought to life wonderful memories of our childhood, cycling along the canal and catching tadpoles and newts!
Those were the days when we disappeared all day, a time when Enid Blyton was read by all, inspiring us to be adventurous.
We invented our own entertainment!
With our pic-nic packed, sun on our backs our imagination carried us from one escapade to another, before finally arriving home for tea, a bath and bed!
Our friendship has continued throughout the years, from walking to infant school we lived just doors apart.
We won joint prize for a milk project in Junior school, when Michelle encouraged me to eat fruit yoghurt, quite something as I had only tasted natural and loathed it!!!
We even created a make believe village with all the characters which years later we discovered our lovely teacher, Mr.Noble, had kept!
Our play "Ethel and Maud" was remembered by all, we sourced the costumes and wrote the script!
Two old dears slowly appearing on stage wobbling on our walking sticks!

We became members of the local Youth Theatre group, putting on plays all over the county.

Michelle dug out this old photograph taken by the local rag on carnival day with our drama teacher, Bev Willis.

From left to right..Martyn kneeling, Debbie, Julie Bev in the bowler, cameraman?, me, Michelle and Rachel with Keith behind and Val in the deck chair! 

Bev not only roused the actor within us but was a great charismatic man encouraging and believing in us.................. to this day we are still in touch!
We remember it well, a gusty day when our hand painted back drop blew down, much to our concern!

College days were spent apart as we each pursued our choice of career.
Our children were born whilst we lived in different areas of the country.
Meeting was difficult although we did manage a wonderful holiday on Barcs Arc, a fabulous narrowboat Barclay had completely rebuilt with great skill and a good deal of passion!
Awakening each morning to an enchanting haze, we shared the tranquility of gently gliding along the canal, stopping off where fancy took us or when we had to run and open the locks!
Arthur taught Lauren to fish and to all our astonishment, she literally reeled in one after another!!!

William was a baby crawling along the deck, Michelle was pregnant with Tom and the girls were old enough to be totally excited and still talk today about the experience!
Cleo, our English Pointer made the most of all the new smells and gambled alongside until all she wanted to do was sleep on deck in the sun!

Ours is the kind of wonderful, unique friendship where it never mattered if we didn't see one another for years, we always just picked up where we had left off.
Nowadays we make time every year!

 
        Michelle took me to Kirby Hall, this wonderful Elizabethan part ruin in Northamptonshire.

Old graffiti !

Love the old stained glass..........  and iron bars on the windows like they have in this area of Tuscany!

As you approach the Hall you cannot fail to notice the presence of hundreds of Crows nesting. Never experiencing them en masse like this before, I find their loud cawing a little sinister!

The fabulous architecture, such a perfect ruin if ever there can be combined with the statues, grounds and position makes it well worth a visit...... a truly fascinating place!

Time to drive back to Michelle's for tea!

                                                                        Where Mau came to greet us!