A special visit and a push forward

Having spent a week in the UK, the latter 6 days of which were spent in London, helping to run a conference of over 430 delegates, staying in a hotel room with a view of rooftops, tower blocks and the Heathrow flight path as well as and a close up view of Hammersmith Flyover, it was with a big sigh of relief that I returned to the natural beauty, peace and tranquility of our corner of Italy.

So much better!

No sooner had I finished unpacking my bags and turning around all my washing than it was time to head back to the airport once again, but this time for a much, much more enjoyable reason: to collect my Dad, who was coming for his second visit of the year.

Dad was already waiting for us when we arrived, so it was straight into the car and back to the valley in time for a barky reunion with Reggie and a spot of lunch under the pergola where we could all admire and appreciate the beautiful newly laid floor that Stuart had worked hard to complete (and keep secret from me) while I was away in the UK!

Beautiful pergola floor.

Over lunch Dad was keen to find out what jobs were on the list of things to do during his stay, so we pulled out the list and mulled over what things we might do first. Despite having got up before 4am for his early morning flight over, Dad was keen to get stuck in right away, so while Stuart headed off into Pescia to give an English lesson to his student, Dad and I spent a couple of hours on the relatively gentle task of starting to clear to appallingly overgrown veg beds.

A couple of hours was enough for the first day though, and when the sun dipped below the hill opposite and the temperature started to drop we declared it time to head in and think about dinner. Stuart was surprised to find out that we had been working while he was out - mistakenly having thought that Dad would want to take it easy on his first day!

After an early night for everyone, Reggie and I met up with Dad at 8.30 the next morning for Reggie's morning walk, scouting out the terraces for suitable fruit tree growing space as we did so.

After a morning coffee at our regular coffee bar we headed out in search of fruit trees, eventually ending up at a grower just off the road towards Chiesina. The owner of the nursery was friendly and helpful, helping us to pick out different fruit trees with different fruiting periods - our aim being to try and spread the harvest so that we are kept in fruit for longer period of the summer rather than everything all coming at once. We picked out 2 peach trees, 2 plum trees, an apricot, a pear and two grapes, and asked if we could set them aside and return to collect them later (without 3 people in the Panda!), which he was only too happy to do.

A rainbow in the nursery.

So Stuart dropped Dad and me back home and we made a start on digging holes for the trees while Stuart headed back to go and collect them.

More fruit trees.

Grape vines for the guest pergola.

The next job was the spreading of spurgho - a heavy mix of clay and gravel - onto the drive in an attempt to fill some of the holes where the surface of the drive has been washed away in all the heavy rains. Stuart had arranged for 4 cubic metres of the stuff to be delivered to our gates, so Dad and I set off with spades and shovels in hand while Stuart brought the tractor up. We then started a process of shovelling spurgho into the tractor bucket until it was full, then following the tractor slowly back down the drive, spreading the spurgho onto the drive as we went. Once we'd emptied the tractor, Stuart reversed it back over where we'd spread the spurgho to try to flatten it down, then we headed back to the pile at the gate to fill up the tractor once again. We continued like this until we were about two thirds down the drive, it had started to rain, and the light was starting to fade, at which point we decided to call it enough for one day.

4 cubic metres delivered

Filling the tractor.

Spreading on the drive.

The rain that started to fall while we were working on the drive continued overnight, along with some pretty stiff winds, and we were relieved to find the next morning that, rather than having been washed away, the stuff we had spread on the drive had set (as it is meant to) and stuck in place. Great stuff!

There followed a couple of days filled with planting the fruit trees, sourcing (from one of the local growers in the area) and planting 27 photinia shrubs at the back of the house with the aim of creating a beautiful green and red hedge to surround the area that, eventually, will become another seating area (nice and shady in the summer), and finishing off the laying of spurgho on the drive.

Planting the trees

27 photinia shrubs!

27 shrubs planted.

A fledgling photinia hedge.

After several days of work around the property, we had a break from the week's routine on Friday in the form of an excursion to stretch our legs. We knew that there was a footpath that runs from the village of San Quirico further up the valley, up along the ridge of the hills that we look out onto, and all the way into Pescia. We fancied the idea of finding this route and, knowing that our friend David had walked it (or at least a part of it) before, and that he was home alone with Sarah working away, we asked if he would join us. He was game, and so after an early lunch we met up, leaving our car at the end point of the walk in Pescia, and then transferring to David's car to take us to the start of the walk just outside San Quirico village.

The walk was enjoyable - the weather was perfect walking weather: dry, warm but not too hot, sunny at times, but with lots of shade from the trees we were walking among. The signpost at the start of the walk estimated a duration of four and a half hours. We set off at a good pace and at times it seemed as if we would finish the walk in half that time, but as the path wended its way around various ridges it became clear that it was, in fact, quite a long walk!

We lost count of the number of mushroom hunters we spotted in the woods - there would be a car abandoned on the side of the track, some rustling in the undergrowth, and a somewhat reluctant "buona sera" when we came across them.

While it was lovely walking through the trees there were times when we wished there were slightly fewer of them - we were high up on the ridge of the hillside and kept catching tantalising glimpses of the vista through the trees, the whole of our valley on one side and the whole of the Collodi/Villa Basilica valley on the other, but there was never a clear view of either!

Having started out just after 2pm, we marched onwards at a fast pace (a pace set by Dad!), finally dropping down from Monte a Pescia into Pescia itself a little after 6pm, having been walking for 4 hours and 20 minutes - almost exactly the time the signpost had suggested at the start! We estimated we had walked around 18km.

Nearly there...

With the end in sight - Pescia in the background.

Weary but satisfied, we climbed into our car, Stuart dropped Dad and me at our gates while he took David up to San Quirico to retrieve his car before both coming back to the house where I'd got dinner in the oven. We had an enjoyable meal - all the more satisfying for having earned it with our long walk - and a good evening with great company.

The following day Stuart and I were both a little weary from the long walk (we're out of practice!) but after a somewhat leisurely morning (coffee, a trip to Obi to buy an outdoor broom), we swung back into action and began the project of tidying the end of the drive. This included cutting down a small acacia tree that was covered in vines and hops and overhung the drive (particularly so when wet), strimming the grass in the quarry area and outside the gate, sweeping up the debris from the entrance to the driveway, covering the wood piles with sheets of plastic to keep them dry in case we need extra wood to supplement our woodpile this winter, and cutting some additional small trees and branches to put towards a pile to be chipped.

After a fairly active afternoon we all scrubbed ourselves up and headed out for dinner - a treat from Dad. We decided to go to Toti, one of our favourite restaurants for its slightly unusual offerings, its friendly atmosphere and its beautiful surroundings. The restaurant was packed, and although slightly on the slow side as a result, the food was excellent and a lovely evening was had.

Sunday's activities were more on the cultural side. We began the day with a visit to the paper museum in the village. Despite it being on our doorstep, Stuart and I had never visited the museum before, and this was our chance to do so - it was a special event organised by the group who run the museum, starting with a talk about the history of paper making in our area, followed by a demonstration of making paper by hand.

Poor Dad had to sit through 40 minutes or so of a presentation in Italian, but there were at least some slides to look at, and we were able to pass on some of the more interesting points to him afterwards. It was indeed an interesting talk for us, we learned a bit more about the paper mills that abound in our valley, and their illustrious history.

After the talk we all (a group of around 10 people from Pistoia, plus the three of us) headed upstairs where we were shown scale models of the workings of the old paper mill before being shown exactly how it was done - a perfectly watermarked folio of paper was made in front of our very eyes.

Working model of various machinery.

Frames for making paper, resting on the barrel of cotton solution.

The paper drying.

After an interesting morning at the paper mill, we had a spot of lunch before heading up the hill to Vellano for the annual chestnut festival. We had taken Mum and Dad to the chestnut festival on the day they arrived for their first visit to us here in Italy, so it was nice to remember those memories as we walked around the village again. We stopped for a chat with our friend Stefano the shepherd/cheese maker, sampled some of his cheeses and relieved him of some of his pecorino flavoured with cumin, some pepper covered pecorino, and some spicy chilli flavoured pecorino. We then headed up to the circolo where we said a quick hello to David and Donatella, who were busy working on the stall selling donuts, ate a couple of fritelle di castagne each (fried balls of sweet chestnut flour), watched the marching band and took in the atmosphere for a while, before heading back to the car and back home.

After having sampled the cheeses and the fritelle, we felt the need to do something active for the couple of hours we had left before darkness fell, so we changed into work clothes and boots and turned our attention to the chipping of the wood we had cut the previous day, the cutting up of some large olive tree roots that Stuart had cut out of the ground back in the spring, and collecting up all of the metal posts and the rope that made up the electric fence that surrounded the orto. With our idea of creating raised beds next year, the electric fence around the orto (which is too low to deter deer and really only intended to keep out porcupines/badges - although that didn't seem to be effective this year!) will serve no purpose. We had, however, identified an alternative use for the posts and the rope, so Dad and I went and collected them all up.

Monday brought us some work activity but with a change of scenery. With our Sarah working away, and not wanting to be using the chainsaw with nobody else around, David had asked if Stuart would be able to help him with cutting some wood from the woods at the bottom of their land. Stuart of course was happy to help, and Dad and I offered to go along as extra pairs of hands. So we set off up the hill, tools in the car and after a quick coffee the four of us headed down into the woods. David, Stuart and I busied ourselves with our chainsaws while Dad ferried the wood through the trees and up to a temporary wood pile. It was a humid day and before long we were all dripping in sweat. I soon ran out of trunks that were small enough for my chainsaw to get through, so switched to helping Dad with the moving of the wood, and after a couple of hours' work we had amassed a healthy looking pile of wood!

Cutting trees.

Removing ivy before moving the wood.

David very kindly then provided us with a tasty lunch - another meal that was all the more satisfying for having felt we had truly earned it!

Hot and sweaty and ready for sustenance!

After lunch we wended our way back down the hill - some may have jumped straight in the shower and had an easy afternoon of it, but not us! Despite having had such an active morning, Dad was still keen to do more, so we spent the rest of the afternoon having a bonfire and starting work on deer-proofing the fencing on the upper terraces. To do this, we attached the metal posts from the electric fence that had been around the orto to the fence posts that were already in situ. We then ran lengths of the rope (from the electric fence) between them to create what we hope will be enough of a visual deterrent. 

Tuesday 15th October was a special and poignant day, it being a year since we lost my dear Mum, who is deeply, deeply missed. Long before Dad arrived on this visit I had pondered the idea of taking a trip up to the mountains and in particular doing the same walk that Mum and Dad had done on their last visit to us together, to the peak of Penna di Lucchio just beyond the top of our valley. Mum had been so pleased to make it to the top of the peak, it seemed like a very fitting way to spend the day. It turned out that Dad had been mulling over the exact same idea. However, it turned out that the weather had very different ideas altogether.

With the exception of a bit of overnight rain, every other day of Dad's visit was dry and clear, but 15th October was the polar opposite. Knowing that the forecast was not good, we reluctantly decided that the mountains were not a good idea (especially with thunder in the forecast). Instead, I came up with the idea of doing a walk that we did with Mum and Dad on their first visit to us in 2014, starting from the suspension bridge over the Lima river. Dad agreed that that would be a better idea, given the weather, and so it was decided. It was only when I looked back at our blog to remind myself of the time we'd done the walk before that I realised we had done the walk exactly 3 years and 364 days previously - having done it on 16th October 2014 - which made it feel all the more appropriate and poignant.

With the forecast suggesting that the rain would worsen as the day drew on, we decided to set out early, with the aim of finishing the walk before lunch and stopping somewhere for lunch afterwards. So we set out at about 10am. As we drove up the hill and over the top, we found ourselves in thick, thick fog. The edges of the road were barely visible at times and I think we all held our breaths, desperately willing the fog to disperse. Thankfully, as we dropped back down the hill on the other side we emerged from the fog and by the time we reached the suspension bridge we were in the clear - and, for the time being at least, it was even dry.

We set out in the dry, retracing the steps we had taken almost 4 years ago to the day. As on the last occasion Dad strode fearlessly across the bridge that swings, bounces and oscillates 40m above the river below, while I tried to keep my jelly legs moving and concentrated on looking ahead and keeping going until I reached the end.

Fear vs. no fear.

Can you blame me for being afraid?

At a safe distance, bridge having been conquered.

The walk then took us for a longish stretch along the main road until we reached the village of Popiglio. Here, we picked up a path through the village before heading down out of the village towards the Ponte di Castruccio. We didn't have any need to consult maps this time, each of us remembering the route and remembering fondly the stops and photos with Mum we'd had along the way.

Sunshine through the clouds.

We stopped for photos on the Ponte di Castruccio, as we had done with Mum back in 2014. Her presence was profoundly missed.

Ponte di Castuccio

The rain started to fall when we were at about the halfway point on the walk, but to start off with it was light and not too much bother. After a while though, the rain started to fall in earnest and we were all relieved to be on the homeward stretch. While back in 2014 we had spent a considerable amount of time collecting enormous chestnuts from amongst the trees on this part of the walk, this time it was far too wet to delay our return and we strode on through the wet.

Mammiano Basso.

Walking in the rain.

We reached the car feeling pleased to have completed the walk - we agreed that, had we set out any later, we may well have been put off by the rain and not actually done the walk. We peeled off our sodden anoraks and jumped into the car and set off in search of somewhere to have some lunch.

The drive home took us through the village of Prataccio, where we spotted a restaurant that looked open (and indeed it was). So we installed ourselves in the dry (by this time the rain was hammering down and the wind had whipped up) and enjoyed a tasty meal, beginning with a toast to dear Mum before feasting on pasta (with garlic and chilli for Stuart and Dad, and with a mushroom sauce for me), followed by a main course, and Dad and Stuart also managed to find room for a pudding to finish.

We then wended our way through the pouring rain back over the tops and back down into our valley, where it seemed the rain had not been quite so bad. It turned out that the rain had merely yet to catch us up as, over a cup a cup of tea, we sat and watched as the trees swayed wildly around in the wind, the lighting flashed, the thunder crashed, and the rain hurled its way down. All very dramatic, and perhaps in a fitting way for the significance of the day.

As the afternoon drew to a close and the rain eased off and the thunder rumbled off into the distance, there was a truly magical moment when the entire valley glowed an amazing orange colour. A meteorological phenomenon for sure, but today of all days it felt very poignant and beautiful.

A magical glow after the storm.

The next day Dad and I discovered some more jobs to do - the excessive amount of rain that had fallen had softened the soil around a clump of acacia trees at the top of the terraces, causing one of them to lean over right across the path. Consequently the day's jobs started with cutting the tree down, cleaning it all up and stacking it at the top of the donkey track. Work then progressed with planting a new fig tree and 2 more fruit trees, and then a continuation of the work on the deer-proofing of the fence.

Leaning tree.

Deer-proof fencing work.

On the last day of Dad's visit to us, we decided to do something different again and, after a morning coffee and a stop to buy more fencing wire, we drove towards Lucca and to one of the many large and opulent villas that populate the countryside surrounding the city. This one, Villa Reale, was once lived in by Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi, Duchess of Lucca and the sister of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The grounds were beautiful and varied (rather more impressive than the house itself, we felt), and we spent a good while wandering round exploring all the different areas.

Villa Reale.

After a morning's sightseeing, it was back home for a quick lunch followed by more fencing for what was left of the afternoon. We didn't quite manage to finish the fencing, but made it a good three quarters of the way around, and with this being a job that hadn't even been on the to-do list at the start of Dad's visit, we are thrilled to have it almost all done!

Dad treated us to another dinner out on the last night of his visit, so we went to another of our favourite places, the pizzeria La Terrazza in Montecarlo, where we had the place to ourselves - although we were joined at our table by a particularly handsome and friendly ginger cat. Looking at the friendly cat, I couldn't help but think of Mum, her love of cats, and the pride she took in her own beautiful red hair.

Dad's visit was over all too soon, but what an incredible and non-stop 12 days it was. His enthusiastic work rate has helped push us forward hugely - we are more than pleased with the progress we've made in such a short period of time. Above all, it was a delight and a privilege to be able to spend such good quality time with Dad, and we are very much looking forward to his next visit.

Two-tailed pasha.

Ink cap mushrooms in the geranium pot.

Coral fungi in the leaf litter.

Octopus stinkhorn (Clathrus archeri) in the flowebed!

Slow transition into autumn

September passed by in a blur of hard work, heat and visitors, and regretfully there was little time or, more importantly, energy left to put into writing blog posts.

A brief summary follows, along with some photos, with apologies for the brevity and lack of detail:

At the start of the month we had another visit from Stuart's Mum (Sheila) and her friend Yvonne - the third visit of the year for Sheila, and the second of the year for Yvonne. As usual, a good amount of gin was drunk, some sightseeing done, and plenty of laughter was had.

They were followed hot on the heels by the arrival of apartment guests Allen & Gisi who live in New York state and who first visited us three years ago. It was great to welcome them back again and, while they mainly did their own thing, we managed to catch up with them on a couple of the evenings that they were here, which was great - we very much enjoy their company.

Shortly after Allen & Gisi we welcomed back apartment guests Jon & Tina, who first came to stay with us back in April this year, but who are long-time visitors to the area and who enjoyed their April visit so much that they decided to return just 5 months later. Again, they did their own thing, but we caught up with them over a meal on a couple of occasions, the first cooked by us and the second very kindly cooked by them. Again, lovely people and good company!

Work was hard during September - Stuart working hard to finish the tiling of the kitchen floor he had laid in Pescia, while I had my head down the entire month working on preparations for the Virus Bulletin conference.

Towards the end of the month we spent a day laying concrete on the floor under our pergola. A long awaited job that we finally got around to working on! Initially we spent a day barrowing hard core round from the area at the back of the house (from the pile of rubble that originally came from the apartment bedroom ceiling/office floor), after which we were finally ready to start laying concrete.

Hardcore - the rubble has now travelled from the apartment ceiling, to the apartment floor, to the back of the house, and now to the pergola floor.

The area at the back of the house is looking tidier now that a lot of the rubble has been removed.

Having had offers of help with the laying of concrete from both David and Paul & Kathy, we didn't hesitate to take them up on the offer, and so it was that the 5 of us spent a day labouring - hard - Stuart doing the important task of spreading and levelling the concrete, which was being mixed and carried by David, Paul, Kathy and me. A long day's back-breaking work, but a huge accomplishment and we were (and are!) hugely grateful for the extra muscle power!

And so it begins!

The mixing team.

Mixing team. 

More mixing.

We mixed 75 bags of concrete - that's almost 2 tonnes.

Almost done.

A thing of beauty.

A flat and level pergola floor for the first time.

The weather in September ranged from super-hot to the odd cooler day, and notably, there happened the first time for a very long time that, while sitting at my desk working, I had to close the window to keep the heat in rather than to keep the heat out!

The first signs of autumn crept in.

Our fig tree was prolific this year.

And September's mushroom harvest was prolific!

Late cropping peaches.

Wild growing hops.

The river just outside Pescia was bone dry - the sign of a long and dry summer.

Nowhere for Reggie to splash in on his walk along the river.

A cooler evening but the warmth of the firepit made being outdoors comfortable.

And so there you have it, a woefully brief round-up of an entire month in just a few words and pictures. I can't promise to do better next time, but I do promise that I will try!

Hot and humid

Over recent weeks the intense heat of summer has continued, although we are now in a more changeable phase - hot weather but with regular thunderstorms, that sometimes bring torrential rain and other times just bang and crash and rumble but without so much as a drop of rain. The storms we've been having of late haven't been the sort that bring any relief from the intense temperature, but rather just make the air hot and damp - a bit like being in a sauna.

The intense heat has almost entirely put a halt on our work around the property. Every morning when it's a pleasant 21C I think "right, this afternoon I will do XYZ", but as the afternoon rolls around and the temperature is a searing 34C or similar, the will to even be outside for more than a couple of minutes completely disappears, let alone the motivation to do anything constructive. The sun doesn't start to disappear from our patio area until around 6.30pm, so until then we find ourselves hiding in the shade and even questioning the wisdom of our decision to buy a west-facing house!!

But of course, once the intensity of the heat is dialled down, the evenings here are perfect - a lovely temperature, not too hot but definitely not cold either - and as we sit in our comfy garden sofa-chairs taking in the view, we are often treated to amazing aerial displays by swifts that swoop low over the garden picking up the evening insects then high up into the sky, somehow managing to avoid crashing into each other. And once the light starts to fade, the swifts are replaced by bats that flit across the dusky sky doing the same thing. Once darkness proper has fallen we are often entertained by the various different owls we hear screeching, hooting and tu-whit tu-whoo-ing (we sometimes even wonder if someone is standing in the trees taking us for a ride doing an impression of an owl, such is the totally classic sound of some of the "tu-whit tu-whoo"s). Naturally, Reggie is not quite as enamoured with the owl noises, and it's never long before his bark overrides all other animal noises!

Summer evening sky.

So, all this is a long-winded way of saying that we haven't done much to report.

We've been busy socially - a Greek meal at our local circolo in celebration of Emanuele's birthday (along with our lovely apartment guests, Jenny and Gordon, and our friends Paul & Kathy and Andrea); a fabulously fun evening at the annual summer Sagra at the circolo in Vellano with our friends Paul & Kathy, Ludmila & James and later in the evening David & Sarah and Donatella too, complete with Irish music and dancing; a long-awaited catch up with our friends Samatha & Mario over dinner under the stars on their roof terrace; dinner followed by a dip in the hot (well, cold) tub at our friends Andrea & Begona's; a curry dinner at our house for our friends Serena & Gianni, as well as various other catch-ups with other friends. A busy time on the social front - somewhat tiring but in a most enjoyable way!

Hmm, the less said the better.

I also had a lovely birthday...

... a delicious fish meal with my lovely husband, the day off work, and an evening sharing a drink or two with our guests - perfect!

We haven't shirked work entirely, in fact quite the opposite - I've been busy at my computer, this being the busiest time of year for my work, spending around 7 hours a day at my desk. And Stuart has worked on our friend Dave's new website and both re-built a set of stairs and laid a new kitchen floor for our lovely friend Sue. While he slaved over the set of stairs on his own (a back-breaking job made harder by trying to do it during the biggest holiday week in Italy when all builders' merchants were closed and he had to trek to Obi and back many times over for materials), he knew from the outset that the kitchen floor would be a job that required some extra muscle. Ever ready for a challenge, I took the day off my office work so that I could join our friend David as a labourer on the project (David and me being the brawn), while Stuart (the brains) worked his magic laying and levelling the floor. By the end of a hard, hot, dusty, dirty days' work, David and I had mixed and carried 70 bags of concrete (a little under 2 tonnes), and Stuart had laid a perfect floor - a thing of beauty even before tiles have been laid! A tough day, but the change of scene, the great company and the finishing of a project by the end of the day all made it incredibly enjoyable and satisfying!

The master at work.

A thing of beauty!

"Team Kitchen Floor".

Sadly, the orto has really suffered this year, and over recent weeks the weeds have really taken hold - after Potato Gate (porcupines having eaten every single last one that we put in the ground) and Fennel/Onion Gate (voles having eaten 90% of the fennels and 60% of the onions), we rather lost our way in terms of motivation to keep things going. Not only that, but the very unseasonally cool and wet weather in May stunted the growth of a lot of the plants. As such, weeding hasn't been done, tomatoes haven't been tied up, and an overall air of neglect has taken its toll. It's all a bit disappointing but we are still harvesting tomatoes and have had amazing crops of beetroot and aubergine, both grown from seed. Encouragingly, the raised bed trial that Stuart set up a few months back has been a huge success and everything that he planted in it (he threw a bit of everything in, just to see how it fared: parsnips, kohlrabi, tomatoes, beetroot, spinach, basil, rocket, aubergines...) has seemed to thrive and do really well. So the plan for the winter is to create several more raised beds, which can't be reached by porcupines or voles! (We just have to hope that the deer don't become the next big problem!)

Rain drops on the sunflowers.

The sunflowers are loving the "wild" treatment of the orto!

The chickens have been suffering somewhat in the heat - while they are still laying routinely, there have been days when I've spotted them sitting under the olive tree with their beaks open and wings spread trying hard to keep cool. We decided to treat them to a chicken-spa in a bid to help them cope with the hot weather. We installed a mini-pergola for an added spot of shade in their enclosure, as well as a cooling mist-spray (a hose attached to the water pipe that sprays water into the air). They seemed a bit confused about the water spray at first, but soon started pecking around in the wet soil - whether they enjoy the cooling effects of the spray or just the bugs it brings up from the ground we're not sure, but they seem to like it either way!

Mini pergola for shade

..and a mist-er.

Complete with rainbow.

We are about to welcome Sheila (Stuart's Mum) and Yvonne (her - and our - friend) back again for another week here - Yvonne's second visit this year and Sheila's third. So amongst office work and other chores there will no doubt be time made to catch up with them over a drink or two in the coming days - days which we hope will bring a little bit of respite in the temperature and start to see the beginnings of what we hope will be a fine autumn!

A step back in time?

The events of the last week have almost made us feel as if we have stepped back in time 4 years: we've had trouble with our internet supply; car troubles and a broken down tractor. While nothing insurmountable, general weariness left us feeling as if it was all quite a lot to contend with.

Of course, in these situations there is no alternative than to get on with things, and thankfully the internet issues were eventually sorted out (well, of a fashion), the car problem was fixed first with a jump start from a passing stranger (Stuart was stuck halfway between Pescia and Lucca when the car failed to start) and then a visit the following morning from the friendly mechanic from our local garage (who diagnosed a duff battery and duly replaced it with a new one). The tractor problem remains an open ticket, but at least doesn't impinge on daily life in quite the same way as other issues (at least, not until we need it...).

For me, this time of year has always been about work - not the satisfying physical outdoor type of work, but the computer-screen-staring, sedentary, office-based work. This year is somehow seems to be even more challenging than in previous years - 7 hours sitting in front of pages and pages of technical conference papers seems quite energy-sapping, which is not helped by the fact that for at least half of that time it's in a room that is plunged into darkness and it could as easily be night-time as daytime. The shutters-on-windows exercise that we started a month or so back (closing all the windows and shutters to keep the sunlight out in an attempt to make the house less oven-like) has been very successful, and even when temperatures hit 39.5C the other week, we still managed to keep the house (just!)below 30C. So it's worth it. But it does somewhat mess with the mind and natural body rhythms when you spend hours on end indoors in semi-darkness!

Of course, not all of our time has been spent indoors. We spent a week getting up at 6.30am every day in order to get the grass cut on the terraces. In the extreme heat, the last thing we feel like doing is cutting the grass on the terraces, and in theory, the heat (and dryness) should keep things from growing too fast and looking untidy. However, throw in the odd day of rain (thunderstorms), and lo and behold the grass shoots up and the weeds even more so. With visitors due to arrive, and the place looking unkempt, it was a task we simply had to tackle. Doing a couple of hours of strimming each morning before the day heated up (finishing by about 10.30am) proved to be a fairly efficient (and certainly more comfortable) way of operating, and after having repeated the exercise 5 days in a row we had finally got all the grass cut and looking much neater.

Aside from grass cutting we have tackled precious few outdoor jobs - a combination of heat, visitors, flu-like illness (Stuart), bursitis of the elbow (Stuart) and days of full-time office work (me) have pretty much put a halt on progress. We find ourselves almost counting down the days to the cooler weather of autumn and winter that will allow us to get back outdoors more comfortably and achieve a lot more.

Our most recent visitors were Stuart's daughter, Kerys, and her boyfriend, Nick. They arrived hot on the heels of Sheila's departure, giving us a brief two-day window in which to collect our thoughts and prepare for more guests. That proved to be a much needed window, as Stuart was struck down with a flu-like lurgy (left behind by our Kiwi helpers the previous week) and needed the time to rest.

Thankfully, while not 100% better, he was sufficiently recovered to spend some time taking Kerys and Nick out and about, taking them to Pescia, Montecarlo, Montecatini Terme, Montecatini Alto and Vinci (no, not all in the same day!). Kerys and Nick also took the opportunity of being here in Italy to take a whistle-stop trip to Rome. Having originally planned to spend one night in the city, after deciding to change mode of transport from the expensive fast train to the much cheaper but much slower bus from Florence (which was then delayed), they extended their stay to two nights to ensure that they had enough time to see everything they wanted to see. They came back to us exhausted but entirely satisfied with their trip - they loved Rome and all it had to offer.

As ever, it was lovely having them to stay and we look forward to their next visit.

Montecatini Terme.

Tettuccio spa.

No sooner had Kerys and Nick left than it was time for more guests, but this time ones we didn't already know - it feels as if this year has been very heavily focused on visits from family and friends, as well as returning guests (who are more or less friends too), so the arrival of completely new people in the apartment was quite a change.

As has so often been the case, our new guests Karen and Rich turned out to be great company, and we enjoyed spending a couple of evenings with them over a glass of wine or three. Not only that, but it turned out that Rich does wood working professionally, being a teacher of teachers! Having spotted Stuart's workshop and the lathe, he wasted no time in asking Stuart about it, and offering him some advice and a lesson - an amazing opportunity!

Too early for Christmas? 

Aside from guests we have been busy on the social front too - sometimes a little too busy, with seemingly non-stop late nights adding to overall weariness!

One evening we entertained Luciano, who is the gardener at the house we look after in Medicina, and his wife Monica. They are lovely people, very easy company, and absolute fonts of knowledge. The next evening we headed up to the very same house for a barbecue and social evening with Ludmila and James, who are currently renting the house for a year. Ludmila and James first visited us as guests last year, before deciding they loved the area so much they would like to return, but this time for a whole year. They have become great friends and are forever generous in their hospitality. On this occasion James even braved torrential rain, thunder and lightning to stand at the BBQ cooking for us while the rest of us waited in the dry indoors!

A week on, we headed up to Medicina itself, also with Ludmila and James, to a meal laid on by Stefano, the sheep farmer. Having known of Stefano for some time, it has only been relatively recently that we have met him on a few occasions and started to get to know him - another fascinating individual whose skills range from shepherding to cheese making, carpentry, music (drumming) and street artistry! During the summer he and his wife put on a number of meals up at their farm, where people from all around come to enjoy the delights that they cook, each week there being a different theme. This time around it was a pig roast, with more pork and sausages than 25 people could manage to eat - but there was also antipasti, cheeses to die for, fried chestnut flour donuts, lemon cake, plentiful wine, limoncello... All eaten at a large communal table under the stars, making it a truly social event - we met some interesting fellow diners and covered topics from food and drink to politics, and even managed to involve James and Ludmila when our fellow diners slowly revealed that they could speak a little English.

The following night we had an impromptu invitation to join our neighbours for dinner - we had popped in to see them briefly the previous morning as it had been a long while since we'd caught up with them.. and they promptly invited us for dinner along with Rosanna's brother, Marco and his wife Marcella, who had just got back from a holiday on the island of Elba. We've long coveted Rosanna and Valerio's outdoor kitchen and dining area from afar, and on this occasion we got to experience it close up as we dined outside, with Rosanna cooking fish, steaks and sausages on the outdoor grill. As ever with our neighbours, there was enough food to sink a battleship - we were relieved that we had decided to walk there, giving us a small chance to let it all go down at the end of the night before we got home, but we still felt full the following morning!!

At the beginning of a new week we hope for fewer challenges and the chance to have some earlier nights.

The orto is not very productive this year, but is still providing us with the odd crop or two.

Meanwhile, the fruit trees on our terraces have been more productive than ever before - peaches, apricots, plums, pears and almonds.