Benvenuti to all my Lovely Loyal and New Followers
Only in Italy will you find half the population celebrating the dead, visiting the cemetries, cars parked for miles down the road and then dressing up to look like them in the evening. Failing that, it’s an excuse to have a two-day festa and dress in amazing costumes, sometimes not even related to Halloween! The fancy dress themes ranged from animals to cartoon characters. The lovely Benedetta from Fiano has promised to let me have pictures of her own costume to show you. So watch this space.
Back in the land of the sane, well almost, we have finally accepted that Autumn is here. The countryside is looking glorious, however, there is no denying that, now the last olives have been picked, it is time to start tucking in with the log fire and warmed Chianti. Despite this, the lunchtimes are still proving to be lovely and sunny. Grab a warm spot out of the wind and it’s really nice. Yesterday, the man and Farty Barty the cat spread themselves across the outside table and enjoyed doing a crossword together, which they had earlier found amongst old newspapers put aside for the fire. Meanwhile I managed another chapter of ‘The Bolivian Connection’ and so Sunday turned out to be a very good day indeed.
Last Thursday we took the day off and drove down to the coast and Castiglione della Pescaia. We usually try to go down in October when the tourists have gone, yet is still nice enough to stroll in the gorgeous yellow sand and around the beautiful harbour. We had lunch in a tried and tested restaurant, however, next time we’ll take a picnic and sit on the beach. There were several very brown people still sunbathing as we walked past in our winter jackets! Die hards… I spent my childhood on the beach at Exmouth in Devon and have always been drawn to the sea. There’s something about the ocean, the smell of the clear water and the swaying seaweed just below the surface. The low Autumn sun made it difficult to get any really good pictures of the beach, which was a lovely fine yellow sand, so perhaps we’ll go at the end of September next time. But it was lovely. I would love to hear from any of you who live on the Tuscan coast. We adore Chianti, however, if we could be persuaded to a region near the coast that offers similar rolling hills, vineyards and olives, and not too touristy, we may be tempted.
Meanwhile, back in the land of the super rich, Silvio Berlusconi reigns supreme at AC Milan. Having sold Mario Balotelli to Liverpool, describing him as a bad apple, he watched his side lose 2-0 to Palermo. He told his players to stop playing like the Liverpool striker and get themselves inside the box. Meanwhile, SB is doing his best to be constantly ‘on’ the box. “Love me, love my club!”
Well, enough of that. It’s probably the last day to enjoy lunch in the garden this week, as rain is forecast for the next few days. So, time to prepare lunch, then soak up some much-needed vitamin D with an aperitivo.
Have a really good week and see you next time.
Salute June x
ps Visit my author site at http://www.amazon.com/author/junefinnigan
Autumn is the best isn’t it… the perfect combination of warm, sunny days and cosy evenings in front of the fire with a good glass of wine. I think the seasons are one of the best of the best things about Italy! Oh, and it’s not Tuscany, but southern Piemonte has everything you ask for!!
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So glad you are still feeling passionate about the seasons. They never fail to enthrall us! Perhaps we’ll pay a visit to Southern Piemonte in the spring. When will you be open for business?
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Now there’s a question… hopefully next summer, but who really knows! You should absolutely visit, I’m sure you’ll love it!
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