Welcome and Benvenuti to all my Lovely Followers around the World,
Well, despite the need for facemasks and social distancing, we are thoroughly enjoying our early morning walks in the Tuscan countryside. We have had some heavy rain but mostly sunshine, so the trees and plants are looking lush and green. The farm labourers start work at around six in the morning now, as it’s a very busy time of year, strimming and clearing out the hedges and gullies. So by the time we are out they have been working for two hours and are stopping for their coffees and pastries!
We have developed a liking for Il Bar Querceto, which is an easy walk for us. They serve up the most delicious LavAzza Espresso and you get free biscuits too! You can sit inside, but it is tiny, so for social distancing it is a maximum of four people. The bar is rather beautiful with an inglenook fireplace and wall murals. Over the fireplace is a painting of Oak Leaves from where the name of the bar is derived, The Oak Tree is called Il Querceto in Italian. And, where is this bar? Ah, now that’s our secret, can’t have the place filling up with tourists, now can we? We still pop up to Fiano once or twice a week for coffee but things have yet to return to the easygoing breakfast visits we made every day before lock down. However, there is a lovely new assistant called Ullie, who works from Monday to Friday. She is Austrian and is trying to learn Italian; so we speak in English…..
This last week we made the decision to go to Brico and buy fixed framed mozzie curtains; Tende per Zanzare. We bought three and allowed half an hour for each one as they have to be assembled and cut to size if necessary. Three hours later we had managed to put together one in the kitchen, it was worse that putting together IKEA furniture and the instructions were severly lacking! We worked out the hard way about measuring the opening! What the instructions did not say was to reduce your upright measurement to cater for the plastic foot on the uprights and curtain roll container at the top! Fortunately everything can be cut to size, but what a headache. We have two more windows to do, but we’ll leave them till next weekend! Phew……
Well enough of that. We have been enjoying lunch at least twice a week at Paolo’s, that’s Ristorante C’era una Volta for the uninitiated, and coming away with loads of Zucchini as his vegetable garden is overloaded this year. Our daughter says her sweetcorn are five foot high and she doesn’t know what to do with the huge quantity of tomatoes! There is a limit to the number of bottles of passatta she can fill! So it’s a good year for the Tuscan ortos (vegetable gardens) and the fruit and veg markets too. So, no need to grow my own, I just love it!
Well, I have a busy week ahead, what with the pedicure, manicure and hair colouring. It’s so good to have everything opened again. My poor feet are desperate for attention! I must also try to relax after waiting on the phone to Easyjet for half an hour, trying to sort out the fact that they had given my man a frequent flyer ‘Flight Club Membership’ which means free flight changes, only to find that they had registered it for me and not him, even though he is the registered frequent flyer and has a Plus Membership number, so they would not make his changes free of charge! So it’s bye bye to Easyjet, they have now completely blotted their copy book!
Well enough of that, must get this blog off to you and get back to work! Do drop me a line, I love to hear from my readers. june.finnigan@virgin.net or visit my website at My site
Salute June x
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