Summer with Love

Where has it all gone, the months of sun have zoomed by in a haze of huge work projects, homework, holidays, daytrips, family and friends, trips to the pool, museums, picnics, moving house, an episode in hospital, healing (still), jam making, hornet stings, surnburn, BBQs, bowling, sleepovers, puppy training, tooth fairy visits, time with Grandma, the warm sea, Rugby camps, Circus Camps, Riding, making new friends, festivals, concerts, baking,  making christmas creations, packing, knitting, sewing, reading and talking.  Not long ago I thought we had really done very little this summer, but when I really think it through it has been a very, very full 3 months.  Now we are moving gently into Autumn and I love it, with it comes water, something we have a scarse supply of, and I will be able to give my plants the attention they deserve.

This week my eye has been drawn to conkers, sloes, blackberries, grapes, figs, bee eaters, swallows, bats, hawks, wispy clouds, forest views, walnut trees, ripe lemons, sad tomatoes, swelling olives, summer rain, grasshoppers, Oleanders, terracotta, ceramics, flat peaches and pomegranites - signs of September.

I am trying very hard to upload pictures in logical batches, so here goes... FESTIVAL time at Monteriggioni.

Nostalgia, Duran Duran

Its time to come out of the closet, in terms of my rather dubious taste in music at least.  As a teenager I loved, truly loved Duran Duran and absolutely believed at the age of 11 that one day I would marry Simon Le Bon.  However, over time my relationship with the God of pop wained a little and we lost touch, well I stopped listening to The Reflex a million times a day on a huge brick like Sony Walkman anyway.  But nostalgia is nostalgia and I remember clearly heading for Wembly Stadium 30 years ago with my Mum in her TR7 to see Duran Duran and it was truly awesome.  So when I noticed they were playing here in Italy, the deed had to be done, this time the roles were reversed and I took my 11 year old on the train to Lucca where the boys were playing in a historic piazza.  We booked into a youth hostel which was once an old monestry and spent the day riding around the old fortress walls on a tandem.  We ate expensive icecream and I enjoyed a gold plated coffee (4 Euro), we shopped, we absorbed the atmosphere of one of Tuscany's most impressive Medieval Walled Cities and prepped ourselves for the concert.  The Piazza was packed, filled to the brim with people all of which were sadly a similar age to me but a wonderful melting pot of nationalities, tourists, locals and families.  The boy was nervous as he never has liked crowds but after 2 hours fantastic, nostalgic and truly uplifting music, he was seriously happy.  He loved hearing the instruments, the guitars, saxaphone etc and he loved the whole experience, the lights the crowd and the overwhelmingly happy atmosphere and he was even able to see, just.  I on the other hand indulged in a really good boogy, couldnt stop myself from singing very loud to all the songs and reflected on where the last 30 years have gone, please tell me if you find them!!  I did stop myself from screaming though, but only just.  Thank you to Lucca and Duran Duran, fond memories of a teenage bedroom covered in posters of Simon Le Bon - is this just a little tragic?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1s1M_mbuhU&feature=related

Some pics from the trip - lovely, lovely time with my young man!  Now best described as an 'inbetweenager' as he's 12 next month.

Changing Times

Phew, where to start, so much is changing, most for the better and certainly all will help bring fresh air into our lives even if a lot of hard work is needed.

Firstly, I am doing nothing, absolutely nothing, well this is what I am supposed to say having had a hernia operation 2 days ago.  It was pretty bloody painful and needed a general anesthetic and open surgey rather than the keyhole op I thought I was having. So here I am, trussed up, unable to bend, stretch, roll over, push up from a seat or lift anything and I am alone.  Months ago we organised for the man to take the kids back to Blighty to see friends and family and arranged travel and a rugby camp for the boy and to cancel this would have left them heartbroken and us out of pocket by about £1000, so when the hospital called last thursday! to tell me my appointment had been been bought forward it was a shock and a bit of a nightmare.  Fast forward... a house full of boxes, a load of painkillers and two fed up dogs and here I am. 

Most upsetting is the fact that I wanted to create a lovely nest in our new home for everyone to return home to, my visions of picking them up at the airport and driving the kids back to their newly made up rooms has been shelved.  I so wanted to start homemaking, unpacking special things I've saved, new tins of herbal tea, fresh towels, new mugs, candles and cushions.  So I have simply promised myself fresh flowers and fresh coffee, these will have to do for now. 

I am missing my family so much, they are having a ball I know with good old friends and enjoying downtime in England away from this scorching heat but it is so strange without the background chatter and passing hugs.

I cant even knit if sew (not very good at these really anyway) but the movement hurts my tummy, also cant lift pans to make proper wholesome food, so a little grouchy to say the least.  However am still gateful for the future happiness just around the corner and the assurity that the pain will pass and things will mend.

The girl loves horses

Circus School on Horseback ...... well done our fearless girl x

new home - 2 weeks to go

Shedding Skin

We are on the move and loving it.  We are packing for our new house, getting rid of mountains of stuff, clearing cupboards, emptying draws and breathing fresh air into our hearts.  The kids are sooo into looking through older photos, baby books and are both very happy to pass on outgrown toys etc to friends which makes us feel great.

Lately so much negative energy has been heading my way from people I trusted and I now know that my family unit is so much stronger without certain stressful influences, it really is time to let go and enjoy life.

School Holidays are nearing an end and the children are packing bags to visit England with Daddy leaving me 'solo' to move house, we think this will work well, fingers crossed Im not being too optmistic.  Lately we have crammed in culture including the following:

Days out with Grandma to Lucca, Poggibonsi, Castellina in Chianti, Colle Val Delsa.  We have had many wondeful Italian icecreams, trips to gardens and museums, A day at the beach at Castiglione Della Pescaia we bought fish and had a BBQ.  I have even managed to make jam...twice.  TT has been to circus school 'on horseback' and the boy is off to train with the Newcastle Falcons this month to brush up his beloved Rugby Skills.  The Man took the boy to the golf driving range and we have been so lucky to enjoy many days at the pool near Siena.  AA and I went to see Duran Duran and stayed in a youth hostel which was fab.  All in all its been hectic and my temper has not been in check so from now on I hope to:

Breathe more
Sleep
Cycle
Dog Walk (our crazy Clifford size puppy and his Mummy)
Make Christmas presents
Read
Nurture myself and others
Boost my confidence
Spend Time with good Friends
Look at the view
Nest a little in our new home

Of course all of these things will have to gently mould themselves around my work but I will try and find that elusive balance.

For now some pictures of the summer so far, my heart breaks at how much I love these wonderful bright intuitive and creative children and their long suffering Babbo xxx

Reflections

For the first time in months I am a little calmer, I have felt overwhelmed and exhausted and close to breaking point lately. With huge work comittments and issues within the family, stressed and fragile children and health worries at times I simply havent had time or energy to shower or tidy the house.  Everything felt like it was sliding away or piling on top of me, but I think I am finally turning a corner.  For years, actually forever I have felt that I am failing, not working hard enough, not being a good wife, not being home enough, being horribly unorginised, always late and messy, not being intune with my kids, too chubby, too pale and pink, simply not living up to what I thought I should be.  But things are changing, I have to change as I am so tired emotionally and physically that I simply must be kinder to myself.  So in a kind of moving on cycle I feel that I am letting go of some of my hangups and I am literally clearing out our lives from the bottom up.  We hope so much that we have finally found a new house, one nearer school, nearer the boys Rugby, on a beautiful hilltop overlooking the forest.  We hope to have orgnised a new school for the boy, one that will encourage and help him succeed.  Our wolf size puppy has had the snip and is calming slowly, my wonderful children are just amazingly creative, patient and nourish my soul, the vegis are growing and sometimes we have enough water to share some with them, we have a new car which is giving freedom.  We have had some wonderful visits from friends and Grandma comes soon too but for now in order to be the Mummy and woman by family deserve I intend to.....

Read More
Breathe Deeply
Walk the Dogs everyday
Make more jam and soups
Plan for simple homemade Christmas
Nurture my Soul
Enjoy Music
Cutout the booze, caffiene and meat
Smell the Roses
Enjoy a long soak (new house has only showers)
Start decluttering and Packing and looking through old pics
Meditate and Yoga every morning
Repeat my affirmations
Be kind to myself
Learn to love who I am now
Soak up the summer
Let go of the things and people that cause me sadness
Laugh more and more x

four layer gluten free chocolate tower inspired by Roald Dahl

Twirling and dreaming

windy day in Firenze on the Ponte Vecchio