Yes, I’m back after three months of recovery from a nasty fall, which broke my right wrist (yes I’m right-handed) and shattered my left knee. Thank heavens for living in a beautiful place with the man I love and the promise of an imminent return to going out into the glorious Tuscan countryside and back to C’era Una Volta Ristorante in Luccardo.
From my window I have watched the changing colours of the countryside and I know you will forgive me for including friends’ fotos that I have borrowed to share with you. This gorgeous foto was taken not far from here at Villa il Pozzo http://www.villailpozzo.it The different stripes of colour indicate the mix of grapes growing in the vineyards.
Meanwhile, today will be busy with All Saint’s Day, or Day of the Dead. Here in Tuscany you will see a huge number of cars parked outside the cemeteries (cimiteri) as whole families go to visit their forbears. On a lighter note there were also lots of parties, remembrance parades and festivals over the weekend. A great place to take the family this year was San Gimignano, which has a very popular Halloween festival.
The other thing about glorious Tuscany at this time of year is the olive harvest and the new extra virgin olive oil. My mouth waters at the thought of drizzling this wonderful nectar over just about everything. And, the menus in the local restaurants, Porcini, Tartufo and seasonal vegetables. Picture from Ristorante Quinoa, a personal favourite venue in Florence. http://ristorantequinoa.it It’s a great time to be here.
I’m also intending to ready my books for the Christmas On-line rush. You can buy them now of course and being an early bird might be in your interest. Visit my website at http://www.junefinnigan.website
Have a great week and do drop me a line, I love to hear from my readers, you are all very important to me!
Salute June x
I am firstly going to take you to Florence as there are two things I want to tell you about. Firstly, have you heard of the Wine Windows? These medieval windows, of which there are more than 150, have re-opened to serve wine to the tourists! This is most appropriate, because back in the late Middle-Ages these windows were created to serve wine to the people of Florence due to the Buconic plague or Black Death, that had swept across Europe, wiping out half of the population! So these windows provided protection for the winery owners whilst at the same time serving the much needed ‘Italian Water’ to the populace. There is actually a society that keeps all the windows registered and looked after. At the following site you can find all the windows and where they are. Fascinating stuff! 
Secondly, I was really taken with the installation of a beautiful sculpture in the famous Boboli Gardens in Florence. It is called simply ‘Give’ and is the creation of Lorenzo Quinnard. Lorenzo had always wanted to have the honour of placing a sculpture in these gardens and he will tell you a lot more about this on his website. I love the fact that an olive tree has been planted in the centre symbolising peace and love. He also made the hands that appeared to be reaching up from the canal in Venice, holding up a building! 
Meanwhile, back in our little bit of the Chianti countryside, I was itching to get down to my sound studio to do a bit of singing. You may recall that my man and I had tried to work out the technical side of things, linking the synthesiser to speakers and mics etc. Well, the good news is, we seem to have it up and running. To make things perfect I need to download backing tracks in the correct key for my voice. Now, you may not be aware that each song will need a different key. My voice is quite low and some songs, designed for men, are OK. But most aren’t. So I was delighted to get an email from ParisMusic this morning telling me they can adjust the keys on downloads without any problems! Hurrah! We have decided to go ahead with next year’s concert on 18 June 2021, with or without an audience. Fingers crossed; I’ll keep you posted!
Anyway, lets bring you down to earth and talk about wasps! Here in Tuscany, this time of year is the busy building of wasp nests (Macro of wasp) and they can be a real problem, trying to set up home in the most inappropriate places! My man found a nest attached to the outside of the kitchen door of the appartment downstairs, where we have the Sound Studio and Gymnasium. So last night around 9pm he donned protective clothes and went down to spray it. Now we hate doing this, but we have both been attacked in the past as they keep a sentry outside just waiting for anyone getting close! I was relieved when my man returned unscathed and this morning confirmed it had worked.
So, what next? Well, we are now overun with tourists, mostly from northern Europe: Poland, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Austria and some French. Most are being strict with their face masks and distancing in our local village of Fiano, but I can’t speak for the more popular tourist hot spots. Meanwhile, the locals are very busy using up the glut of tomatoes to make passatta, including my daughter who has run out of jars and is scrabbling around for more. The countryside is pretty noisy, with constant strimming of the dried grasses and squeaky tractors cutting the meadow hay below our farmhouse. We hear laughter from nearby swimming pools and the cicada’s continue to chirp away. But it is far too hot to stay outside, between 35c and 39c this week. So we batten down the shutters, turn on the air conditioning unit and fans and settle down to work in our studios. But life eeez good, life eeez now.
Yet another potentially beautiful day in Tuscany! I say potentially because it is currently overcast and raining again, however, the weekend was lovely and my man and I dropped down to Certaldo for the market (mercato) on the Saturday morning. I like to shop from the smaller stall holders who are selling the fruit and veg grown in their own garden or orto. It all looked wonderfully fresh after the rain and it was a joy to be there in the cooler air and amongst the jolly shoppers of Certaldo. I also bought some delicious cheeses, both sheep and goat’s cheese, again local products. I don’t get to the market often enough and must get back to going every Saturday morning. Not long before all the Christmas stuff will be about and Certaldo comes into it’s own at this time of year. Exciting isn’t it!
And on the subject of Italian cheeses, you may be surprised to know that the country produces an awful lot more than Parmesan! The Gran Reserve Leonardi has just won gold in the A1 World Cheese Awards, and it’s a Gorgonzola! Just look at this massive range of cheeses made in Italy, don’t they make you salivate? I adore cheese and I always get in a big choice at Christmas time. Must have some for lunch!
Meanwhile, I read that Andrea Bocelli has launched a new album. (Foto from his Facebook page.) Now, as well as books, it’s rather nice to buy albums for Christmas and this latest one sounds wonderful. Last Christmas we treated ourselves to a new record player, so all our old albums can be played again! Andrea’s album includes wonderful duets with Ellie Goulding and Jennifer Garner amongst other guest performers. It is called ‘Si Forever’ and can be bought or streamed 
The other thing I really love at Christmas time is old Italian films. Some of the comedies are really brilliant and what with so many Italian actor icons dying off, it’s good to keep these films on the shelf. Sophia, bless her, is still very much alive, but so many of her co-stars like Marcello Mastroianni, are not. What a formidable acting team those two made! By now you have probably worked out that I am a horder of books, records and DVD’s. No I am not digital, well maybe a little bit. I am a little sad that buying gifts like diaries, calendars, CD’s and watches are just not of interest to the younger lot, as everything is digital now! Yes, my thoughts have gone all festive already. It was not my intention to start talking about Christmas, but it is only six weeks or so away! Foto from Facebook.
Now I’m going to mention my books as we are on a Festive roll at the moment. I really want to encourage you to buy real books this christmas. If any of you buy my current trilogy, My Father, The Assassin, The Bolivian Connection & The Italian Connection between now and Christmas and in paperback form, I will be delighted to send you a signed copy of my short story The Man in Black. Just email me a copy of your receipt and your postal address. june.finnigan@virgin.net. Visit my website for easy access to on-line purchasing. 
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