As summer turns to autumn, every week there are less and less visitors staying at our place. The days are still fine, sunny and hot – unusual weather the locals say.
From the height of the season when there would be kids, adults and inflatable toys everywhere around the pool, today there was just us. Bliss.
As summer recedes and autumn takes hold, the landscape around us once again changes, revealing yet another Tuscany.
Yesterday marked a milestone for Toscanakiwi with our 100th post. Given we’ve been away from New Zealand since the start of April which means something has been posted roughly (very roughly) every 1.6 days.
Part of the package from WordPress, the people who host the blog, are statistics about how many people read each post each day and total visits to the blog every day, week and month. Since starting the blog we have had over 4,800 visits or an average of 30 per day. Through August and September the average has risen to around 40 per day and over a week we regularly get anywhere from 200 to 500 visits.
So as we pass the 100th post, we want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read our ramblings and share in our Italian adventure. It means a lot to us to know that the folks at home – and all around the world based on the country visitor stats – are interested in the odd things we get up to and the fun and games that go with living in Italy.
Through watching the statistics one thing has become clear – the publishing mantra that “content is king”. Our content is based on what tends to happen around us on a daily basis, but if there is anything our lovely readers would specifically like us to do, talk about, talk about more or explore, please let us know. In fact, you can leave suggestions on this post if you wish.
Once again, thank you all for your support over the last few months and we hope you will continue to visit in the future as we continue our Italian adventure.
Ciao
Graeme and Jean
This gallery contains 15 photos.
In July we spent 2 weeks in Positano on the Amalfi Coast taking a holiday from our holiday. During that time we were joined by Mike, Charmaine and wee James. Looking back, there were photographs taken that never made it … Continue reading
We were back in Siena for the second All Black game. Once again the staff at La Birreria performed their magic and found the game buried in the Sky TV menu – as always after the usual fussing and discussions – and we settled in for the duration.
Kiwi's make their presence felt for the RWC in Siena
We were joined by a young Dutch couple who were on holiday in Siena and who were also following the RWC. Given that the total number of rugby players in Holland is around 5,000 (including men, women and juniors they said) their rugby knowledge was very good. They were, however, a little surprised when we had the inevitable 10am beer and wine and beer and wine and …
But clearly we weren’t the only Kiwis in Siena watching the game as the photo shows. The flag was hanging outside the bar we had originally earmarked to watch the games at but which didn’t open early enough for us to able to watch them live.
Apparently the Kiwis had started knocking on the bar door at 10:30am and convinced the staff to open early so they could watch the remainder of the match. I wonder if a similar approach would have worked anywhere else in the world?
Sunday was a glorious morning. Mist surrounded our place early in the morning and as it cleared we became aware of the sounds of the local hunt doing their thing across the valley. It felt like we had been transported to England.
Post hunt relaxation
Fox hunting was, in fact, introduced into Italy around 1850 by the english and is popular in both Lazio and Tuscany. These days they chase a scent rather than a fox but that certainly didn’t, from what we could see, dampen the enthusiasm of the participants.
I wonder what “tally ho” is in Italian?
It’s not often we delve into specialist areas in this blog but this post is about Riva’s Aquarama – the classic Italian speedboats of the 60s and 70s.
They defined style and cool from their launch in the early sixties and were often referred to as the Ferrari of speedboats. In all only 768 were built between 1962 and 1996 when production stopped.
The originals now sell for hundreds of thousands of Euros, however we spotted these models in a shop window in Positano. At €600 each they seem a real bargain. Any takers?
We haven’t had the chance to get out and about much lately, but yesterday the whole team made the short trip to the village of Pienza about 50kms from our cottage.
We had visited Pienza around 8 years ago and remember it for it’s fantastic Pecorino cheese and great views across the valley. In respect to both of these, nothing had changed.
We were in for an unexpected treat as the annual Pienza “Fiera del Cacio” or “Cheese Fair” was in full swing while we were there.
The highlight of the 10 day festival is later in the week when they have cheese rolling in the square. Effectively lawn bowls on a cobbled square using cheese rounds where the various contrada of Pienza compete for glory.
When we arrived, the main Piazza in Pienza, Piazza Poi II was full of flag wavers and drummers performing. Following that, and slightly less spectacular, was the presentation of a painting of the Palio by a local arist and the branding of the cheeses used for the cheese rolling later in the festival.
The drive to Pienza is through some of the loveliest scenery in Tuscany. Everywhere you look is another photo opportunity. One spot in particular looked familiar. It is a grove of Cypress trees standing in the middle of a paddock which has been photographed a thousand times and makes regular appearances in books about Tuscany.
On the way back with the sun setting it got it’s one thousand and first photographic outing.
When Mike and Charmaine and wee James were here we visited the small village of Greve in Chanti. Greve is built around a triangular piazza which has the usual assortment of shops and cafes dotted around it.
It also has one shop which we think is special. The sign outside says Norcineria – or butchery – but the experience inside is something else.
Looking out towards the piazza in Greve. Love the sign
Describing Antica Macelleria Falorni as a butchery is like calling St Peters in Rome just a church. Entering the shop, you are hit by complete sensory overload. Everywhere you look there are cured hams, cheeses, salamis, and more cured hams hanging, stacked, packed and displayed. The smell is overwhelming (I’m told as I have no sense of smell) and it strikes you like a hammer the moment you walk through the door.
The shop also sells wines to go with the wide range of cheeses available as well as the ususal Tuscan butchery mix of meats, game, and poultry.
In the usual Italian way, things can be tasted before buying – just to provide even greater sensory overload.
Inside Antica Macelleria Falorni in Greve
The shop stretches through 3 street frontages so as you move away from the front door you move from one small area to another, and in each the ceiling is hung with curing legs of ham giving the whole shop the feeling of a cave. For food-lovers, almost certainly an Aladdins cave.
If you visit Tuscany, you really should stop in Greve and marvel at this most unlikely tourist attraction.
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Summer is soon to turn into Autumn in Tuscany. Already we are starting to see the leaves on the trees turn yellow and orange. All around us paddocks are being plowed for winter. The distinctive round hay bails that, to … Continue reading
The complex has ben really busy over the last few weeks. Guests are coming and going and we have had a great mix of nationalities – Dutch, Italian, the ocassional Brit and, of course, the Germans.
One day recently Jean and I headed to the pool for an afternoon of swimming and relaxing to find that, when we got there, every lounger was either being used or was empty but with a towel drapped over it – clearly the European sign for “reserved”.
It reminded me of a UK TV commercial that aired in the early 1990’s about this very subject. Enjoy.
You can never have enough pool toys
Daisy has taken up a fair bit of our time lately, but prior to that we managed a bit of pool time. It was the only way to keep cool in the 35 to 40 degree heat.
Clearly in Europe everyone turns up at the pool with some form of inflatable toy to amuse themselves. Often there are so many toys in the pool it’s difficult to find a spot to swim.
Not to be outdone Jean splashed out (excuse the pun) on a lilo. All of 5 Euro at the local inflatable pool toy store.
Jean and Nacho Libre
The man who sits by the pool has made a wee movie showing Jean in action.
Please note, the ocassional swat at the water is simply Jean avoiding wasps, bees, bugs, etc, that have made their way into the pool.
Watching the sun go down
The last week has been unseasonably hot.
Temperatures have hovered in the late 30 degrees during the day which is great for pool life but not good for cottage life or for the dogs.
Relief comes in the evening when it becomes bearable to sit outside and enjoy the sunset.
The more observant of you may have noticed that there have been very few posts over the last few days. That’s because we have been busy looking after Daisy. She is not well and it seems her old age is catching up with her.
Last week she had two seizures in the space of 24 hours where she collapsed and did her best impersonation of a dead dog. Both times she recovered, picked herself up and soldiered on in her own unique way but it gave us a huge fright and she was off to the vet in record time.
Daisy has a heart problem and takes medication to manage it. Julia our vet thinks the medication needs to be changed so Daisy has had a thorough check-up, X-rays and now is booked in for an ECG this afternoon at a cardiologist in Florence. (We didn’t know there were dog cardiologists but apparently there are.)
Sick Daisy and friend
To complicate things in the last 24 hours she has started to fall down a lot when walking (or even just standing) which meant another rushed trip to the vet and further discussions in a mix of English and Italian and occasional arm waving.
It seems that the falling down is probably not related to her heart and is something else – most likely a neurological infection that is affecting her balance. The catch 22 is that we can’t treat the infection until we know what state her heart is in as that will affect the medication used to fight the infection. So we are waiting for the ECG to be done this afternoon. It is a long wait.
Daisy of course doesn’t know all this medical stuff and just thinks life is miserable. She has to be carried everywhere as she has given up walking. And her favourite treats and even Jean’s famous roast chicken dinner won’t cheer her up. Right now she is asleep in the bed next to me with her head buried as far under the pillows as possible.
If I were her I would do the same.
Gentle readers, I have just updated our photo album with all the latest shots used on the blog and a bunch more. Click here to see them.
La dolce far niente 