I've Been Away...

I've just returned from a wonderful week in Tuscany, staying in a friend's stunning apartment in the hills 30k south of Pisa. It was at least 30˚c every single day and the pool was invitingly cool, although I did need to spend any time out of the water under a sun umbrella to avoid turning too pink!

The week was a lovely mix of day trips to Pisa, Volterra and Siena interspersed with days spent swimming and sitting by the pool, reading and soaking up the sun. Our first full day was spent in Pisa, which was much more beautiful than I was expecting. It was such a surprise to actually see the leaning tower it in all its glorious and it was simply amazing. Pisa was also the home of the tastiest ice creams, and we really did try the gelato in every town that we visited. We'd visited Volterra on our last Tuscan holiday, and it was as lovely as I remembered, and I treated myself to a copy of Stephenie Meyer's New Moon from a bookshop in the town as part of it is set in the ancient hill town. Siena was a new destination, and possibly my favourite. It's a very small town, but it is completely packed with history and culture. Siena was founded by the son of Remus and is made up of seventeen districts that compete in the two annual horse races held in Il Campo. I was particularly taken with the one which is represented by the snail, that you can see throughout that district on buildings and flags.

Non-adventuring days were spent relaxing by the pool that over looked the valley the apartment was located in. D worked very hard on his swimming techniques, and I took it easy with the wonderful reading. Claudia had very kindly sent me a box of books just before I went away, and there were some absolute gems in there. The Bride's Farewell, a sort-of re-telling of Tess of the d'Urbervilles (one of my all-time favourite books) by the ever brilliant Meg Rosoff was real treat. Threads by Sophia Bennett which is set in the world of London fashion was an absolute delight. On a more serious bent The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid was an amzing book, that will stay in my mind for a very long time. (Thank you Caroline for such a great recommendation.) Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer were books that I really should have read before now, and I enjoyed them both enormously.

In addition to the ice-cream, D and I ate very well indeed. We had bread, cheese and the sweetest Italian tomatoes for lunch every day and dined on fresh vegetables, Tuscan bread salad, and bean and pesto pasta, all procured from the local market. I think over the course of the week we also managed to drink our own body weight in Prosecco, Peroni and Chianti!

Before our travels, I had been pretty busy on the knitting front, and had finally managed to finish Corinne's little cats. I also finished the Anthropologie inspired capelet by Julia Allen in a beautiful soft green Rowan Little Big Wool bought from a lovely shop called Jolie in the village where my sister lives.

I've also brought the great grey behemoth cardigan (aka Flicca by Anna Bell) out of hibernation. It's quite cumbersome, but having finished a couple of projects, I feel inspired to finish some old projects. I've kind of set myself a one-in, one-out policy so that I only ever have two projects on the go. (Let's see how that works out...)

I think that my next big project will be Arisaig by Isolda Teague. But then again, knowing that I'm such a slow knitter, I should probably start thinking about Christmas presents already!)

Other great news is that the folks have finally returned from their travels in India! I saw them briefly when I collected them from the airport and delivered them to my sister's place, and now that we're all in the same country again, I'm really looking forward to spending some time with them and hearing all about their adventures.