Tuscany

It is now two weeks after our wonderful holiday in Tuscany and thought it was about time we got it on our blog.

The trip overall was great. Lots of beautiful weather, a farmhouse and swimming pool to ourselves, parks and walks for the kids, yummy meals, great focaccia everywhere, some history, a wee bit of Uncle Paddy time and more.

Day 1: Settled into the villa and enjoyed the pool




Day 2: Drove to Siena, checked out the Campo which was featured in one of the more recent James Bond movies and Duomo & had our first ice cream.


Day 3: Drove to Castiglione dei Pepoli to visit Siobhan's great grandfather's grave then through a national parc enroute to Lucca. It was a rainy morning but the sun popped out as we arrived at the cemetery and we spent a relaxed hour or more just hanging out in the cemetery, talking, telling stories, drawing, taking photos and looking at the view. Siobhan's great grandfather, Philip Greig died in Italy on 1st October, 1944 and she told Brendan about him- he was 34, had a butcher's shop, had three girls, had volunteered to go, etc etc. Brendan was very interested and wanted to know more. All in all a great thing to do.


Then we went for a walk along a ridge top trail nearby and then to Lucca for lunch and a bike ride around the town.


Day 4: Florence with Paddy, then Paddy and Siobhan went to the Uffizi and the Museo Galileo.



Day 5: Cinqua Terre. Drove to a train station to get the coast train only to be told that it was a general strike and there weren't any trains. Further enquiries told us that there "may be trains there but may not be any between villages or back". Well we went anyway but had to come staright back on a direct train. The beach was overcrowded but we had fun in the water and lunch on the beach.



Day 6: The abbey at San Galgano. And Italy's version of the sword in the stone. Siobhan told the story of the knight who set his sword into the rock and vowed never to be bad again- she embellished it more and more with each telling. But we still don't know the real story!

That night we had dinner at the lovely restaurant run by the owner of the farm and property we were staying on. Delicious wine to take home.

Day 7: San Gimignano Probably our favourite place. And always great to be there early in the morning to wander around in peace before the busloads of tourists arrive!

And we think this was the night when we had the most amazing sunset. Best we've seen for a long, long time. Alas, didn't have a camera but it wouldn't have done it justice anyway.

Day 8: Left the villa, drove back to Pisa and had a quick walk around the campo dei miracoli and the leaning tower before heading to the airport.

garden goings on

Here's a quick garden update before we head off on our trip to Italy. I think I've already mentioned that we lost all our tomatoes to late blight and Steve especially was very disappointed. But there have been some great successes too.
The first pumpkin we picked with 4 year old Grace's hand in for scale. Also a butternut squash there. I've since learned that I should leave the butternut squashes on a but longer, bit this one still tasted great.

The pumpkin patch is a tangle of vines and leaves and nettles. We have to dress up for battle before venturing into it, but still always manage to get a few nettle stings. There are some huge pumpkins in there and I'm still coming across round courgettes that have grown a bit to big for anything other than soup, like this one below.



I think the two yellow courgette plants have been my ultimate favourite this year. They have been very productive, are easy to look after and they taste yummy.

The potatoes and onions were a little on the small side so we'll work on that next year.

New bike, new skill!

Brendan's new bike that we found at the giant brocante (car boot or yard sale) in our village. He loves that it is his favourite colour and he couldn't wait to try it. After me holding on for about two or three minutes, probably less, he was off and pedaling by himself. I guess it's because he's had a balance bike but I really wasn't expecting it to be so easy! I was so proud I actually cried :) Very soft, I know. I think it may be because riding my bike around the street near our first house in Saudi is one of my earliest memories, probably helped by the fact that it was one of the first things my dad recorded on his brand new 1981 video camera. That thing was a HUGE black machine, each of it's three parts was about the size of a microwave. Well, almost.

So we went out on the bike to practice every day this week. One day we went to Steve's work and they rode around on a bit of old taxiway. He still needed a bit of help getting started here.

Check out his face- he loves it!

First day of maternelle

Tadhg's first day going to school. He loved it!! He was so excited in the morning and just about skipped all the way there. It still didn't feel "right" but we're doing what works best just now. I'm picking them both up at noon and today was such a beautiful day it really got the year started perfectly. And of course I had 2 and a half hours to myself! :) I met a lovely doula who is going to work with me, more on that another time.

Hey, here's a link back to the blog post about Brendan's first day last year, for comparison.

Brendan also enjoyed the first day back. He's particularly excited about the four goldfish in his new classroom and LOVED that "their little house blows bubbles and is... guess what mummy, it's a pineapple!!!" - he cracked up telling me about that, and then had to call Steve at work to tell him.

Such a joker!

fun new space

A little bit of furniture moving brightened my day yesterday. Even though I haven't been a student for many years now I still think of September as the beginning of a new year, and get a kick out of the chance for a fresh start at whatever it is we're up to. Usually this might just involve a quick tidy up and a list writing session, but this year it felt more like the feverish "nesting" type activity before having a baby. Mind you, I don't need a big excuse to move furniture, I would do it every week if I had a little more time.
So here's the new play space. I wanted to put all the kid stuff together in one area of the room, all in preparation for the new school term and our afternoons (and some days no doubt) being spent together at home.

We've been trying something new for the past week. When the boys aren't looking I dig out four or five different activities and put them on one of the windowsills. I make sure the selection includes a variety... games to play together or alone, creative activities of all sorts, open ended toys that they can do with as they like, dressing up props, stories, dolls, pictures to make up stories, musical instruments or a cd, random miscellaneous items, and once I put a dvd up there hoping they would choose it so I could do something (can't remember what) but they DIDN'T choose it! Wow, that has to be a first.
It seems kind of "schoolish" and not what I'd normally go for but we all like the ritual of gathering on the rug, talking about how it's windowsill time and going over to choose something.

I also managed to be a bit ruthless and add a few more things to the charity shop box. Even some of my mum's and granny's bits and pieces that I was hanging on to for no particular reason. It felt quite liberating. Hopefully a lot more will follow and a few more boxes will be filled. Although these shelves are destined to be cluttered forever, at least it looks a bit better. And more colourful.

We also had some fun on the patio the other day. I joined Pinterest recently, a virtual pin board that I may or may not find addictive helpful, but it inspired me to move the sofa outside on a whim. Why not? So I curled up on it with a bright wool blanket and a magazine and the boys were content to play in the garden and leave me in peace for about an hour!

We then had a lovely but simple pasta supper outside. Here's a picture of Tadhg eating the parmesan faster than Brendan can grate it.

So a good week and a great start to the new year. So that's done. Now I have to pack for Italy before we leave in about 3o odd hours for a week's holiday. Beach, art, walking, driving, eating, Roman stuff, swimming pool and hopefully some Paddy time.

Chicken

I've just put the chickens to bed and their little house is looking decidedly roomier now that there are fewer of them. Earlier tonight we bid farewell to the rooster and one of the Malines hens, and both are now in the fridge.

The experience overall was a good one, and one we'll certainly remember. The farmer (can't remember his name) killed them both after admiring them and saying they were healthy, good looking birds. I felt tears welling at one point and held Steve's hand but I had to let go and concentrate.

Then Steve and the farmer totally hit it off and they seemed like the best of friends, especially once Steve donned the bloody jacket and plastic apron and got stuck in de-feathering the second chicken. Meanwhile, his wife, Madeleine, and I took the first up to her kitchen and she showed me how to 'process' or prepare it (I need to learn the lingo in English because all this was done in French.)

Then it was my turn... I got the rooster. I had worried I'd be a bit queasy but not at all. I loved it and the whole thing just felt so right. I won't give any more detail here, but we'll be writing about this so we can reread it before the next time.

Steve was in his element listening to and asking the farmer about his life and land. He even accepted a cigar when he was offered- a part of the experience and a special occasion I guess!

Anyway, here are a few pics from the last couple of weeks.



This could be the first layer. I can't believe I used to think of chickens as ugly birds, I don't know what I was thinking.

RIP

Although the ladies may miss their man for a bit, I like to think they may appreciate not being chased around and pecked at constantly, and will soon get used to not having him around. I think the pecking order lower down is pretty much established but, after the rooster, the two white ones seemed to be on a par but I guess one may re-establish herself as the boss now? It will be interesting to see how it pans out.

So the next couple of days will include a lot of sitting with and watching them and, most importantly, cooking and sharing a very important meal with friends.

Our first egg!!

Our very first egg was laid this morning! This will hopefully be the first of many and was a very exciting moment in our house, and I think it's safe to say that Steve and I were even more excited than the boys:)

We took it straight in and fried it up to share. Brendan was a little concerned about it's small size but I assured him that they will get bigger once the hen gets into the swing of things. I hope I was right there because I really haven't a clue.

This is sort of a symbolic event and a big deal for us. At a time when we are slowly moving towards a more simple and earth friendly way of living our lives, these first eggs just put us more firmly on that track. And tomorrow Steve and I will learn how to kill and prepare our own chickens. I'm half thinking that once we've eaten the first one, we should just never eat a bought chicken again... but maybe we're not quite ready for that. Buying local, free range chickens will do for now, until we have more space to keep some more in a few years time.

Need to find some new egg recipes now!

ups and downs and nuclear families

A favourite moment this week- joined by Jelly Mouse and Robin Bear for an easy lunch of eggs and maple beans.
This week has been one of extremes in terms of our moods. A couple of sleepless thundery nights were followed by very grouchy days, at the lowest point of which I called Steve and he actually took the afternoon off to come home and take the boys out so that I could sleep. I was having flash backs of sleep-deprived early baby days and found it hard to function without yelling or being a bloody awful mum basically, and wondering why on earth I'm still thinking about homeschooling. Not enough sleep does funky things to the brain. The main problem though, as I was seeing it, is the almost total lack of support or community here. I know, I know, we should just try harder. But when it's difficult being in a new place without any close friends or family, sometimes I wish it was all a lot easier and we could live a less itinerant life and just settle somewhere and be surrounded by people we love. When I'm having a down day and feel a bit alone then I sort of repeat an angry mantra about how it's not natural to live like this. The whole nuclear family thing and migrating away from family sucks, as Steve would say. My kids should be out playing with other kids and running in and out of other people's houses and I should have other women stopping by for a chat or walking to the park with us and there should be aunts and uncles and grandparents nearby to take over for the odd hour here and there. The lack of all that is just another annoying aspect of our culture that we have to put up with. Until we are ready and able to do something about it that is :) Dreams of the future are being blown around and sculpted every day in this house.
Maybe we're just really missing Paddy. On a lighter note... the other extreme has involved some wonderfully peaceful and beautiful moments, and some good parenting in there too :) If I send everyone out to the garden, myself included, it usually calms us all down and can work miracles after a stressful argument inside. And I've made a commitment to bringing out seldom seen activities, games and crafts from the back of the cupboard or the bottom of boxes to inject a bit more creativity into our days. And we're slowly filling some boxes of unwanted or unneeded "stuff" to send off to the thrift store- always a feel good moment. Another "solution" is to lock up the TV in a cupboard and only bring it out for movies once a week but Steve will have none of that! I think I may snap one of these days and do it though. I think the TV has been on every day this week and it's driving me crazy! Not the TV so much, or the endlessly repetitive episodes of octonauts on youtube, but my irritating lack of will power to say NO. It's just so easy to put it on but it is usually sooooooo not worth it. Just remember that Siobhan!

Well, feeling a little better after that rant. Actually a lot better... It's 9pm and Steve has just come back from a walk into our village centre to check out the first night of our local harvest festival. He said he felt a bit silly being on his own and the only person not drinking beer :) But he has brought back chips so I'm off to make sure he doesn't encroach on my half of the portion!

Happy weekend!

Belle

Her name is Belle, sort of short for Belgique and sort of similar sounding to Bill. (Very similar to "Bill" in both Steve's and Tadhg's accents.)

She is beautiful and has a lovely temperament. She puts up with the boys but can also run fast and squeeze into tiny spaces if she needs a break. Only problem is her serious lack of interest in the litter tray. I suppose that's not surprising given that her first couple of months were spent outside. We've had to temporarily lift the rugs and refrain from dumping the clean laundry on the living room floor (and leaving it there for days) like we usually do!

Wild Weather

We've had some really wild weather this week. Yesterday, Tadhg and I went out after supper for a walk along the closest road to our house that gets any sort of elevation and has a decent view of the sky. We ventured into a corn field, not for long though, who knows what has been sprayed on there!? :(


The sky was spectacular, I must get my 'proper' camera charged up and try to get some better photos of the clouds.

This photo below was actually taken at 2 in the morning by Steve. He was trying to catch some clear "fork" lightning but didn't quite manage. The following morning another storm passed through at 9am and it was so dark it felt like late evening. Tadhg says "no need dat fumber noise"...he uses "need" instead of "want" or "like" a lot these days.

And interspersed with the stormy weather we've had some lovely sunny periods. Yesterday it brightened up in the afternoon so, despite a rather rainy, grumpy morning all round, by the time Steve came home from work we were all outside in the veggie patch. Summer evenings spent in the garden have to be one of the highlights of this year. It's such a peaceful time when we all feel truly relaxed and content.


I have quite a few blog posts in draft form waiting to be finished- most are either pictures or words but none complete. I'll try to get a bunch of them published in the next few days so there may be a glut.