Some years, ago when the children were younger, we travelled to Northern Tuscany and stayed on a cheapie holiday with our next door neighbours. What a region! Glorious views, fabulous weather and stunning architecture. It was an agro-tourism site and we both had adjoining apartments in the old farmhouse. It was simple, clean and tidy, and each day the owners shared the delights of their garden with us.
One of the joys was to be found just a couple of hair-raising miles away, in the Medici city of Barga - a real gem! It became a place we visited a good few times and loved its warmth of welcome, along with the sites on a miniature scale. I have been recently watching the tv and learning about the rise and fall of the Medicis, this most powerful family in Mediaeval Italy, and only 'defeated' comparatively recently by their lineage dying out totally!
I love that the windows in the cathedral, from the Twelfth Century, were made of alabaster and that the mountains around showed the whiteness of marble looking like snow. I liked that the locals were so friendly inviting you into their homes to look at artwork etc even though they didn't speak English! The love of fish, chips and mushy peas there came from their ancestors travelling to Scotland and settling there - on their annual visits back to Barga, they brought our well-known and loved fish and chips and apple pie and custard which appears on menus all over town. No deep fried haggis or Mars bars there though!
A trip down the road about 40 mins takes us to Lucca which is fascinating and again well worth stopping at. I guess some of you will have travelled here or even to tiny Barga. Do share with me if you have?
Lucca is more of a lively city than tiny Barga, but both inhabited and not just touristy places. Wander through Lucca marvelling at its many piazzas beautiful buildings and the greenery of the city.
What did you like best? The striking cathedral in its black and white or the honey coloured buildings, the vast gardens or striking mansions?
Just a short hop away we are in Pisa with the famous leaning bell tower set in the Field of Miracles. It is good to see but I found it far too touristy, too crowded and not my "cup of tea." I am sure many of you will have been here and now you know where the white marble to build the leaning tower came from too!
Now this week, Diane has been busy noticing the Autumnal changes on her walks and has kindly documented these changes to share with us.
Di says, "What a difference a month makes the hedgerows have been cut and the dogwood is just red twigs. In the harvested corn fields the ground is already showing green shoots with winter wheat. On the video the tree I recorded all the bird song in the Spring has now been left to a few birds warning me away."
Let's take a look:
Beautiful, thank you for sharing with us again Di!
Marcela has also been enjoying the seasonal changes and has sent us a few more for us to enjoy. Thanks Marcela!
Jan has been penning this season. She's sent in a wonderful Bonfire poem to share so we can all enjoy. Thank you Jan!
Do you remember the 5th of November
Remember remember
the 5th of November
It’s what we would shout
when I was young
We looked forward to
Dressing Guy Fawkes
With dad’s old clothes
No pumpkins then...
We had a hard hard Swede
Taking hours to carve
Mum making tasteful soup
Potatoes in the embers of the bonfire in the back garden
Toffee apples all part of the fun.
Lucky if you had some fireworks jumping Jack’s
and sparklers held in an
Old biscuit tin.
Not quite understanding why we burnt poor Guy in the flames.
Yes Yes I remember the 5th of November....
And finally for today, Becky shared with you her keenness to make an Autumn door wreath this year to cheer up some of those dull days. She says: "well here it is, very simple (and it has had to come inside with the strong winds!) but soft and textured. I sprayed some thistles gold, but they didn't look great so I removed them and this is what was left! I didn't have much in the garden here to add colour, but I do like the soft pink tones that come through".
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