Tuscany and Provence

I am sitting in a small cafe on Ile Saint Louis, trying to hide from the cold and get a few seconds of quiet time. There is so much to reflect on, that I haven't the time to go into it all. I will leave a small selection of photos here to give an idea of what we've seen (leaving out Paris since we're not quite finished yet!).

Let's start in Tuscany.


We stayed in a gorgeous agriturismo and this was the view from our kitchen window.


Above is Florence. A most rich and beautiful city. So much history and so much art!!

Siena. We read that Siena is "like Florence but with less people". And it's true. Beautiful! Above is their famous church that is made with black and white marble.

The area we stayed in was filled with pottery. This is a shot of one of the warehouses we bought a few pieces from. Wholesale Italian pottery...yummy!
On our way to France, we stayed in a small sea side town on the Mediterranean. It reminded us of Malibu, but more beautiful. This is the view from our hotel room at sunrise.

Provence! We stayed in a small town called Fontvieille. It's claim to fame is all the windmills. See Moulin Daudet below.

Roma II

My internet connection is spotty and unreliable (damned Tuscany country side and their IT people) so here's the second Rome entry. For the first, please scroll down. No peeking at this one first.

Our first day of seeing the sights was by car. I know, you're probably thinking "why would they drive in Rome?!" but for a number of reasons, we had to get the car the day before we left the city. It actually turned out to be a really fun adventure!

For those of you who have never driven in Rome, let me explain. There are no speed limits, the traffic signs are merely a suggestion, lane lines don't exist and parking is a free-for-all. Romans drive incredibly fast, make three lanes when there should be one and maneuver round-abouts like nothing. Remarkably, there was little road rage, no accidents (that we saw) and people were actually aware of one another in their vehicles.

We heard stories about how hard it is to be a pedestrian in Rome, but we found that people were good about stopping if you were brazen enough to step into their path. On the flip side, I had to be hyper vigilant about people stepping out in front of me! None the less, we made it through our tour. Here are some more highlights.

View from the car onto a typical Roman street.

The Pantheon
(not to be confused with the Greek Parthenon, which I do constantly)

Corinthian columns in the entrance

View into the great dome
Coliseum drive by

Coliseum closer

Trevi (Trivoli) Fountain
(By throwing a coin into the fountain backwards, you are assured to return to Rome)

Detail of the top of the fountain

Random ruins. No name, no hoopla. Thousands of years old. -Yawn-

Viva Roma!

Wow! We made it to Italy. After a nightmare at the car rental place, then a two hour delay leaving the US, then missing our connection from London, then our rescheduled connection being an hour late...we made it! From door to door, we were traveling for more than 24 hours. Yikes!

Our apartment in Rome was very well located, quiet and warm. There was Italian TV to watch (what a spectacle) and espresso to be made. Up the street was a small park where we mingled with the locals and down the street was any kind of shop you could imagine. We ate lots of pizza and got a great Italian lesson from the guy in the Gelati shop.

Day one comprised of sleeping all day then searching for a place to eat, then sleeping again. Day two and three on the other hand were packed full of excitement. Basically, we went to the Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica and all the ancient Roman sights we could pack in.

St. Peter's Basilica

Sneaky (illegal!) picture of the most famous part of the Sistine Ceiling

There are many more things to post! My internet connection isn't great (damned Tuscan country side and its bad DSL) so, I'll try to post a Roma II.

In closing, we are now in Tuscany enjoying the amazing wine, food, art and culture. Everyone is enamored with Elliot and he seems to be enjoying all the museums we've been dragging him to. We are learning the language by rapid fire here (no one speaks English) and are loving every minute.

Knitting Sampler

After reading a few blogs about knitting, finally getting to spend the afternoon at my favorite yarn shop and sitting diligently at night to complete a few projects, I have a few knit things to show off.

Ruffle Scarf
Free Pattern from local yarn shop
Baby Alpaca Grande by Plymouth Yarn
100% Baby Alpaca

Socks
Lenora's Hybrid Adaptable Sock Pattern (again, local yarn shop)
Cascade 220 Quatro by Cascade Yarns
100% Peruvian Highland Wool

Mock Turtleneck Sweater
Rowan "Ice" from Rowan Mag #27
Royal Tweed by Lana Grossa
100% Merino Wool

The scarf is finished-yay!-and matches nicely with my new wool coat (purchased especially for our upcoming Europe adventure).

Socks are nearly finished and just need one good last session before completion. I don't think I can wear these with shoes, but they sure will keep my feet toasty warm this winter.

As for the sweater, you can see that I haven't even gotten one sleeve done yet. So, this will be a huge process that may take a while. I hope I still like the pattern when it's finished!

And yes, all three of these projects are for me. Hey, I've never knit anything for myself so I think I deserve it.

Elliot Loses His Wings and Other Stories

I should have been in bed hours ago, but the life of a mother denotes that I do all my "me" time activities into the wee hours of the night. Therefore, I am watching tv, looking at my knitting (there are 3 very unfinished pieces staring back at me) and trying to find just the right pictures to upload here...all while trying to eat that yummy root beer popsicle that I couldn't rightly eat in front of my child (oh the horrors of sugar).

Today started out as any other day. Well, ok, the morning was a little special, actually. This morning I woke up with a feeling I have rarely had in the last year and a half: restfulness (is that a word?)! Anyway, Elliot has just begun to sleep in his crib (by himself) all night long! And last night, he slept entirely through the night. Yes, from 8pm to 6am. I couldn't believe it.

The rest of the day was fairly normal. Grocery store. Garden shop. Thrift store. Post office. Quick nap. Yoga. Dinner. Wait, back up to before dinner. And after yoga. In the in between there was a momentous occurrence that seems a mundane happening now-a-days, but is none the less still traumatic the first time it happens.

Elliot has, for the passed few months, had these huge adorable curls billowing out from behind his ears. In the morning, they are unruly and stick straight out, after a bath they may lay down nicely for a while, only to spring into action again as soon as the water evaporates. Any way you slice them, they were cute.

Yes, were. When I got home from yoga class, I was greeted by the hysterical screaming of poor Elliot who was being pinned by his dad... Scissors in one hand and tuft of blond hair in the other.

"What did you do??" I wailed, looking over at Elliot who by now had only one golden wing coming from behind his ear.

"You hold him down while I get the other side." Jeremy cackled manically as he held up the bag of already cut hair.

After a few traumatic moments, Elliot emerged with a great haircut (sans wings) that makes him look so grown up and boyish, I get choked up just thinking about it.

Who knew that losing a few locks of hair could be such a momentous occasion?

The Carnival Came to Town!

In our small town, there are only a few things to do. A few festivals, a parade or two, a classic car show... and the carnival! So, of course we had to go. Myself, I'm not the biggest fan of put-together-by-crack-heads carnivals, but I sucked it up and went.

And guess what? It was a blast!

Elliot could only ride a few of the rides, so we did those. Over and over and over. In the picture above, I know that he looks as if he's not having any fun at all, but really, he's concentrating so hard on having the time of his life, he forgets to smile.

Above, if you look really hard, you can see me in the next horse. Well, I was so nervous that he would fall off, that I was trying to hold on to him. Every time I put my hand on his leg though, he would push it off with a defiant "naaa!". (He survived)

The disappointment of not being allowed on the Zipper is setting in....

The Many Faces of Elliot James

A bunch of the cutest Elliot photos from the last few months. The only one that needs any introduction is this one:When my cousin Nate and I were about 3 years old, we sat in this exact spot under the old cedar tree and had our picture taken. Now, 30 years later, it's Elliot and me! What a special spot.

Go Fly a Kite

Recently (as mentioned in a previous blog entry), we acquired the most awesome of all kites. A large orange goldfish that contrasts nicely with the sparkly blue sky.

The other day it was particularily blustery and so the three of us trudged down to the local beach to fly ol' Goldy. I was adament that I was going to start the kite off as the last time the kite was flown I didn't even touch it. So, I threw it up in the air...and it dived back to earth. I threw it up again and tugged on the string a few times to get it to catch the breeze. It floated back to earth.

Finally, I threw it up in the air and at that exact moment a huge gust of wind carried it up...up... and away! It was flying! It sailed high above the bluff, dancing with the baby seagulls. (Here Jeremy gets the glory.)

Elliot couldn't stop talking about how cool it was and asking how it all worked (ok, I made that part up, but it sure seemed as if he was saying that). So, Jeremy decided to help him to fly it. He handed him the spool and viola!

Here's a picture of the bluffs overlooking the ocean that day.