Junefinnigan's Weblog

Benvenuti and Welcome to all my Lovely Followers

This morning will be noted in my diary as the first real day of early summer.  Why, because finally, it was warm enough to wear flip-flops to our local village of Fiano for coffee!  This gave me a huge lift.  The only sad thing is that my favourite biker jacket may have to be put in mothballs until the Autumn.  But it’s still a strange time of year, here in Tuscany, the clouds can suddenly come over and it changes from hot sunshine to a cool breeze.  As a rock chick, I’m never quite sure what to wear, particularly as one needs to keep that ‘famous in Fiano’ image going.

Mick soon to be rocking in Tuscany.  La Repubblica.

The most exciting news of the week was the announcement in the papers that The Rolling Stones will be in Lucca, which is just north of Pisa, in September.  Tickets went on sale yesterday on-line, and were sold out in two hours!  My good friend Flavio, who loves rock concerts including my own, told me that the Piazza Arena in Lucca only holds twenty thousand and a Stones tour generally needs space for more than twice that number!  So it was not surprising that it was a sell out so quickly.

My delicious breakfast.  Photo J Finnigan.

Anyway, back to the relative calm of our lovely old monastery farmhouse, where my man and I are enjoying big bowls of fresh fruit salad for breakfast.  The markets are full of summer fruits including strawberries, peaches, nectarines, kiwis and the last of the pears.  This also makes me feel so much happier, as we shed the need for hot meals and start thinking about salads.

Gluten free school lunch. Il Nazione.

On the subject of food, my man spotted an article in the paper.  “Look at this!  Would you believe it, it’s International Coeliac Week and the schools are going to be serving up gluten-free meals on Tuesday and Thursday!”  He said, looking very serious.  Now I was surprised to hear this, I had not heard about it in previous years.  I have to eat gluten-free and I was aware that there is a very high percentage of Coeliacs in Italy.  So, this is a step in the right direction, although non-coeliacs are warned not to take up a gluten-free diet unless they are advised to do so by their doctors.  Fortunately, wine is gluten-free.  Praise the gods!

Looking east at the sunset’s reflection. Photo J Finnigan.

Meanwhile, we are having some wonderful sunsets here and I thought you might like to see the effect of the sunset looking east from our home across the hills.  The dramatic contrast of orange against the green of the olive trees and vines is really dramatic.

And finally, on the subject of summer again, it’s not just time to put away the winter clothes, but also to bring out one’s summery handbags and sandals.  I have just changed my bag from orange to cream, another lift to one’s psyche.  And, of course, we are now enjoying lunchtime and evening aperitivi in the garden.  So far, we have not had an invasion of mosquitos (zanzari), so life is pretty idyllic.  I did just touch wood, can’t have the little devils waking up now, can we?

Well, enough of that.  I’ll finish this blog off when we get back from lunch at C’era Una Volta in Lucardo.  OK, I’m back, had a great lunch and another delicious bottle of Bibbiano.  I’ve had a siesta and now feel refreshed enough to finish this blog and get it off to you.

Here’s wishing you a good week and don’t forget to chill out in the evenings with a nice aperitivo.  Working long hours is not good for you!

Salute June x

Ps Visit my author site at http://www.amazon.com/author/junefinnigan