A short movie showing Bella on the couch in the study yesterday afternoon. After filming she was off to make mischief elsewhere – pretty much what you would expect from a 3 year old.
Tag Archives: Wellington
It’s beginning to look a bit like Christmas – at our place
The tree is up at our place and, for the first time, the front balcony is festooned with sparkling lights. It was a little concerning when Jean, standing and admiring her work, mentioned in passing “we really need to do the upstairs balcony as well, and the gutters”.
Who knows where this will end?
Echoes of Italy
It feels like we’ve been home for ages but every so often something reminds you of holiday times.
Like the photo above. We were having breakfast at the villa one morning and two ladies arrived to clean up the madonna next door. It was our madonna apparently – because it was on the villa property – but locals take the responsibility to sweep, clean and polish it.
It was also a useful landmark if we needed to describe which vila we were in – the one next to the madonna – ahh, si la madonna. Bene.
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- Cleaning around the madonna
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- Madonna in her glass cabinet
And now we are home
After 3 weeks of rest and relaxation we’re back home in Wellington and back into our routine – including the daily commute to work. And despite it being spring we were met with a pretty good impersonation of winter. Sigh.
The house on the cliff
Every time we walked from the villa to the village of Positano we passed a house that simply had to be photographed. It is actually three apartments that are built, quite literally, on the side of a cliff overlooking the sea and above a private beach.
The setting is stunning and the way the house is fitted into the hill seems to sum up the relationship Positano has with its surroundings. They work in harmony, like that’s the way things have always been. The Italians have a word for this – simpatico.
Si, simpatico.
Two days in Rome
At the end of our holiday we had two days in Rome. It was a chance to visit some favourite places of ours as well as some new places. We stayed at Hotel Barocco in one of their junior suites – which meant we had an outdoor patio to relax on – four floors above Piazza Barberini. It was a real luxury.
As always we were looked after superbly with nothing being too much trouble. Which made it even harder to say goodbye and start the long trip home. The good thing is that we threw a coin into the Trevi fountain (well sort of as you can see from the photo) so we’ll be back.
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- Piazza Navona
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- Roman windows in Piazza Barberini
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- Fountain in Piazza Barberini
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- Trevi Fountain being refurbished
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- The Pantheon
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- Resting in Pizza Navona
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- Open top tour bus
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- Barberini fountain
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- Street vendor – selfie sticks for sale
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- Street vendor – “roses for beautiful ladies”
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- The almost invisible entrance to Hotel Barocco
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- Barocco guest book
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- Our bedroom
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- Our patio on a rainy afternoon
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- It’s the little touches that make the difference
Cheese glorious cheese
In New Zealand buying Parmigiano Reggiano usually means buying small pre-packed slices, at great expense from the super market or deli. In Italy it’s different – as can be seen from the Parmigiano available at our favourite alimnetari. You give an indication of how much you want and it’s sliced off the round – right there in the middle of the store.
These were also the rounds that Poppie and Daisy used to sit next too when they were in Positano waiting patiently for the shop keeper to cut off a wee slice as a treat.
Poppy still enjoys the taste of Parmigiano – she obediently sits and waits for a taste every time I use some in a dish at home.
At the request of my editor
Apparently this blog never features a picture of me. So says my editor who insists that I include a photograph of me just to prove that I’m actually on the trip and not sitting at home making all this up.
And if you’re wondering why I’m looking so damn smug it’s because I’ve just finished that most Italian of breakfasts – bacon and eggs – at Buca di Bacco, on the beach at Positano.
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- Sitting in Buca di Bacco
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- Uova al bacon – a most Italian breakfast
“Do you ship to New Zealand?” – Part 2
Thank you to all the gentle readers who made suggestions as to which ceramic piece is, as I write this, winging its way to New Zealand.
Sadly, neither those who know Jean well nor those who have only read about her in this blog managed to pick the correct piece – and I can’t really blame anyone – it’s a bit of a wildcard choice, as you can see.
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- Second shelf from the top on the far end
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- The Gecko Ball for sale
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- On the counter
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- Sold!
A day in the life
We’ve slid gracefully into a daily routine here in Positano helped by some warm temperatures and sunny days.
If there is no pressing urge to sightsee then our day consists of a slow start at the villa, a quick trip to the shops if anything is needed and an afternoon spent around the pool at Eden Roc. On the way back to the villa we stop at the Galli Bar for a drink and a stracciatella gelato for the walk home.
The evening means a dinner out at Chez Black or Bruno, or if we can’t be bothered going out a quick cena (dinner) at home looking out across the bay.
Simple.
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- Some swimming
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- Some sunning
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- Starfish
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- Lunch on the terrace
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- A vino with lunch
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- Persols are a must have
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- After lunch, back to the pool
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- The view over lunch
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- A drink at Galli Bar
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- Dinner at Bruno
Goodbye slide, hello helicopter
In a recent post looking at the array of super yachts that come and go in Positano, we decided that a slide seemed to be the latest “must have” accessory for any self respecting millionaire boat owner.
We were wrong – based on this shot of a yacht moored in the bay a few days ago it’s clearly a helicopter.
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- The ultimate super yacht accessory – a slide
Colazione like no other
We ventured to the hotel for breakfast last Friday. As always we were made welcome by the effervescent Tony.
He told us that Thursday was “his day off so today he was relaxed”. As a result we were spoilt – special pastries to start, four types of quiche all of which were delightful, scrambled eggs and as many cappuccinos as we could manage – all delivered to our table so we had no need to use the buffet. The meal was topped off with small slices of chocolate gateaux.
Now, gentle reader, I hear you say – gateaux for breakfast? Well why not – it complimented the coffee superbly and after a few minutes very little of it was left on the plate.
Many thanks to Tony – it was a colazione not to forget. Grazie mille.
“The boy can deliver it.”
Groceries delivered – job done. Grazie mille.
One thing we needed to do early in our stay was to shop for groceries. This meant a trip to the alimentari in the village – a walk of about 1km – but importantly, the same distance home with arms weighed down with shopping bags. Not a problem until you realise the temperature is about 28 degrees and quite humid, and the walk is predominately up hill.
Thankfully the lovely staff at the store recognised us from years past – asked if we had the dogs with us – sadly not this time, and made the kind offer that “the boy” could deliver the groceries – si, graze mille.
You cannot understand how happy that made us feel – as we added another few bottles of beer and tonic and water and bread and vegetables to the order.
The delivery address was confirmed using a picture of the villa we had on our phones – yes, next to the madonna on via Marconi. What is that villa like inside? More photos and discussion about decor and layout. It’s spacious, yes, very nice.
The walk back was a delight and as promised “the boy” – looking a little hot and bothered – delivered everything an hour later. That was worth a generous tip.
What is wrong with this picture?
It’s not simply that both Porsches are making visits to the Powerhaus for repairs at the same time. It’s something to do the with back of the 911 being way up off the ground.
That’s right dear reader, the engine that usually resides in the back of the 911 is currently across the workshop bolted to an engine stand awaiting surgery.
The Powerhaus medical team of Reuben, Dave and Reuben are working on a fix for a faulty oil return valve – hopefully which doesn’t involve stripping the engine down any further.
The 356 (which still has it’s engine attached, thankfully) is waiting for parts for a starter motor which are coming from the US. So with luck, that will be home in the next few days. The wait for the 911 will be a little bit longer.
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- My section of the Powerhaus workshop
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- The 911 engine is here, but should be ….
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- No engine in July. Back and running by December
So close and yet so far
Today was a beautiful sunny winters day in Wellington. But as some of you know, our place is shaded over winter and all we saw of the sunny day was tantalisingly beyond our front fence.
It must be time to plan an escape to the sun.
