Italian Adventure Part Two

Everything is now planned - apologies for the lack of blogging, but the amount of time I have spent booking travel and accommodation has left precious little over for the usual day to day stuff and now I am immersed in a packing dilemma. Obviously it is Italy so I have to look effortlessly stylish but that has to be within the limitations of flying with Ryanair and the tiny baggage allowance, that plus the fact that the weather forecast for the week looks like everything except snow - my daughter was in Florence last week and was suffering heat exhaustion in a vest and jeans, whilst the locals were parading around in boots, coats and hats!

So - how many pairs of sunglasses? Whilst I have this theory that if I don't take any, the sun will shine so much I will have to buy some, I do have an extensive collection gathered over the years which begins with Raybans from the eighties and ends with Oliver Goldsmiths "Sophia" (I do actually own the goggle-ish white pair - bought in Amsterdam after inhaling some second hand smoke I think! and however on trend they are, they simply do not suit me). Now you can understand why the packing is taking so long when I can't even make a simple decision about sunglasses, don't get me started on heels and comfy shoes, or dressy for the evenings, or how many handbags is reasonable?

Autumn in North Wales

Spurred on by Hestia's Larder, I have been foraging locally and as a result we have been eating mostly purple food - figs, blackberries, damsons all mixed with Bramley apples from our tree. Last night I made damson cheese from a recipe in Roast Figs and Sugar Snow (it is the most amazing shiny jelly which you serve in small cubes with cold meats and cheeses), and today from the same book I am preparing Georgian Lamb which has damsons and spices to make a rich sauce. The kitchen is a lovely place to be on windy autumnal days, and since it is National Cupcake week (apparently?) I may make some peanut butter cupcakes too - crunchy peanut butter in the sponge, smooth in the topping - fab - and these of course will be a great help in the forthcoming diet (diets always start next week in this house).

Italian Adventure Part I

Well I was browsing for a photo depicting Florence, and this is what I came across! Sorry if it offends ;-} Apologies for the lengthy gap in my blogging, we have had a couple of health issues which are now thankfully completely resolved and have left me with a sense of live for the moment, really live for the moment. So the Italian Adventure is one I am hoping some of you well travelled bloggers might be able to help me with - we plan to spend a week in October (courtesy of Ryanair £75 return) travelling between Venice and Rome and I am on the lookout for some sensational places to stay in both cities and anywhere in between so any suggestions would be most welcome. I have included the photo of David because I would like to spend a day or two in Florence - I have been there before in July when it was too hot to do much other than quaff large amounts of Prosecco, I am still hoping for sunshine in October but not quite so much heat.

In the further spirit of living for the moment I am alternating between exercising like a demon and eating healthily and then a little of what you fancy does you good - dark chocolate with sea salt, champagne, white wine kettle chips and Crespo olives (all at the same time). Like Hestia, I am going to a wedding in November and have a target dress to slip into, so the diet and exercise stories will unfold - this week I WILL go to the gym, just paying the membership is not enough to loose inches unfortunately. AM says rowing is the way forward, the only problem is it is soooo boring, unless I watch Come Dine with Me as I row, and then I inevitably have to leave the machine to eat!

This poem which reminds me of our story is taken from a book of love poetry which was a 10th anniversary present

At school, friendship is a passion. It entrances the being; it tears the soul. All loves of afterlife can never bring its rapture, or its wretchedness; no bliss so absorbing, no pangs of jealousy or despair so crushing and so keen! What tenderness and what devotion; what illimitable confidence, infinite revelations of inmost thoughts; what ecstatic present and romantic future; what bitter estrangements and what melting recriminations; what scenes of wild recrimination, agitating explanations, passionate correspondence; what insane sensitiveness, and what frantic sensibility; what earthquakes of the heart and whirlwinds of the soul are confined in that simple phrase, a schoolboy's friendship!