As promised...

Once again, we apologise for the lack of updates over the last few days. It seems that having parents to stay, seeds to plant, office work to do, a dog to walk and vegetable plots to dig isn't conducive to regular blog updates!

So, to get the ball rolling, I'll start with today and work backwards.

Today's weather was forecast to be better than the last two days (which were both rainy), and the plan was for Stuart and me to go up to Lanciole to put in a day's gardening work and drop off Mum and Dad up there so that they could go for a walk around and about the Lanciole/Crespole/Pontito area.

We duly all got ourselves and our packed lunches ready, loaded the car with tools and set off for Lanciole. We left Mum and Dad at the gates of the property Stuart looks after and they headed off, GPS in one hand, map in the other, searching for the start of the route they had planned.

Stuart and I then started our morning's work - me clearing bramble and other vegetation that was encroaching on the fence that borders the property, and Stuart clearing and digging over a flower bed. All was going well until about 12.15pm when I heard a clap of thunder, which was closely followed by spots of rain. We decided that this would be a good time to stop for our lunch so we made a quick dash back to the shelter of the car before the heavens opened fully. As I ate my lunch I wondered how Mum and Dad were getting on, knowing that they didn't have the shelter of a car to eat their packed lunch in. I didn't have to wonder for too long though, as the mobile phone rang not long after we'd got into the car - they were phoning to see if we wanted to call it a day because of the rain. They were soaked through, so we tentatively suggested calling time on the wet day and heading home. However, even as the discussion was going on, the rain drops gradually slowed and the sun came back out again, albeit a bit feebly at first - so after a 30-minute burst of rain, it was back to plan A for everyone!

Poor Reggie didn't have any lunch. That is, he didn't have any lunch at lunchtime. While we were busy working away in the morning, we suddenly both looked up and realised that Reggie was very quiet and we couldn't see him. We called him, we whistled for him, but he didn't come. Stuart went off to look for him and even left the property to search a little way down the track - only to eventually turn around and find Reggie running up behind him. When he got back to the property and took Reggie to the car, all became clear as to what had happened. The bag on the back seat of the car, which had contained two boxes of sandwiches, a bag of dog biscuits, dog bowl and a couple of doggie chews, had been pilfered. The bag of dog biscuits had been shredded and all of the biscuits had gone. Both chews had gone as well. Reggie had clearly got over-excited about his packed lunch in the same way as kids do when going on a school trip and eaten his lunch before it even reached 10.30am. He must have scrambled his way through the boot and over the back seat in order to reach it. That would explain why he was so quiet and why he didn't bother to come when called! We were just grateful that Stuart had had the foresight to put our sandwiches in Tupperware boxes - which, this time at least, proved Reggie-proof.

The pup amused himself with chewing a plant pot in the afternoon.

After lunch, the weather cleared up really nicely, so Stuart and I went back to our respective tasks for the rest of the afternoon. We eventually packed up our tools at about 3.30pm and headed down the track to meet up with Mum and Dad, who had just completed a lovely walk by all accounts - after having got rather wet at lunchtime, the clouds had cleared, affording them stunning views, and while they were a little tired, they both seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed their 12km hike and the chance to explore somewhere a little different from the immediate Pietrabuona area.

With everyone loaded back in the car we trundled back down the hill to home - although not before waiting for a tractor to finish loading felled trees into its trailer.

Once home, Stuart and I sat down to share a glass of beer on the patio and make plans for tomorrow, while Dad decided he hadn't exercised enough muscles for the day and occupied himself for a while with weeding and digging some more vegetable plots.

Thursday:
Yesterday was wet. Mum and Dad had decided that this was the day they were going to visit Florence, so after breakfast, Stuart drove them into Pescia and dropped them off at the train station.

Once back at home, Stuart spent most of his day in the office with me - he was going through each seed packet and putting together a master Excel spreadsheet of planting and harvesting times, along with copious notes on each type of seed. It was a mammoth task, and there were some huffs and puffs coming from his corner of the office, but overall he seemed to relish the task. Our day was almost entirely spent in the office, although we had a brief visit from Sergio (the builder) mid-morning, who brought us a new quote for a solar water heating system, and towards the end of the afternoon, once the rain had finally stopped, Stuart went outside to start planting seeds - concentrating for now on peas and beans.

Reggie wanted to lend a hand in the photography department. We're not sure it improved the photo though.

Peas and beans!

I went to collect Mum and Dad from the station at about 7pm - they had enjoyed their day in Florence immensely, although understandably were feeling a little worn out. After they had freshened up, they came up to the house and we had dinner together and heard all about their visit to the Pitti Palace museum. We were pleased that they had enjoyed their day so much, and had even managed to miss most of the rain.

Wednesday:
Wednesday was another wet day. We'd decided to pay a visit to the Oscar Tintori citrus specialist near Pescia where there is a display greenhouse of over 200 varieties of citrus plants - lemons of all imaginable shapes and sizes (and some that are beyond imagination), as well as oranges, limes and grapefruits. We wandered around the greenhouse drinking in the lovely sweet smell of lemon blossom and marvelling at all the different varieties of citrus tree that exist.

 

After that, we ventured into the nursery to go and pick some plants to buy. After having seen so many different varieties in the display, we were a little overwhelmed as to what we should be going for, but Stuart asked an assistant, who helped us pick out a small potted lemon tree, a lime and an orange - the start of our citrus collection!

The rest of the day was taken up with a supermarket trip, a trip into Pescia for Mum and Dad while Stuart went to the garden centre to buy bags of compost, and of course I sat in front of my computer doing some work.

In the evening, Mum and Dad treated us to a lovely meal at Da Sandrino's in Sorana. It was lovely to go out to eat with them, and the food was as delicious as always, a really lovely evening.

And there you have it - a potted version of the last few days.

Tomorrow, we are hoping to go to Borgo a Mozzano in the next valley over (in the Garfagnana) to visit some bunkers that still survive as part of the WWII German Gothic Line. A bit of a history lesson for us all!