Is it October Already!?

The girls at the always beautiful Cinque Terre :-)

Mary Beth and Melissa were both here and we visited Sienna!

I am obviously not very good about timely postings on this blog. My last posting was in June.  If you're counting that was 3 months/90 days ago.  A lot has happened since then but there is NO way I'm going to write it all down here.  Let me summarize in a few sentences and leave it at that. We had a lot of house guests lol  Steve went back to the states for a month and I stayed here in Italy. It was just me and Lyra for most of July.  I went to Paris with LeeAnna for a week ( we missed our return flight and that's a story unto itself!).  I learned to successfully can jelly and jam!  Mary Beth and Hannah came and visited for 10 days :-)   It got very, very hot for one week!  The beaches in Italy are quite nice in the summer. The Italian countryside scenery is even nicer.  I went stateside for 3 weeks in September where I had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends and ate my way through NW Alabama.  There, that about sums up the 3 months!

I am now back in Italy enjoying cooler weather, the beautiful fall scenery and anticipating Alabama house guests arriving tomorrow and my Dad to arrive in mid October :-)  Steve and I have spent most of this weekend just getting the house in shape for a month of guests, stocking up on groceries and allowing me to get over jet lag.  I think we are not as young as we used to be!  I have somehow managed to injure my right shoulder (rotary cuff tear) over the summer and he has been nursing a lower back strain for several weeks. We've gotta up our game around here LOL

So rather than lots of details in this blog I'm going to post some pictures I took this summer..... in a walk on the dirt roads right back behind our house :-) as well as a few in our travels this spring and summer.  It's a beautiful walk and it is always changing with the crops and the scenery.  We went last night and it looks even different now than what these pictures show :-)

Olive Trees-We are going to get to help harvest them and take them to press at the end of October!

Evening Shadows

Grapes in August-Harvested in October

Apple Orchard behind our House looking toward the Mountains

White Grapes-These were picked when I got back late September

Lyra makes sure she walks through every mud puddle!

Walking on the country roads behind our house-Lyra loves it!

Mary Beth and Hannah looking over the wall in Cortona

Sunflower fields were everywhere all summer!

Nancy, Reid, Niki and I in Cinque Terre

Dave and Mary Beth on their visit :-)

My very first Plum Jelly!

Kathy and Dale in San Gimignano-A beautiful place!

Steve and Melissa-looking very Italian.

July in Paris-LeeAnna and Delisa-The Louvre

The Straw Market in Florence-The famous Pig,if you rub his nose legend has it that you will return to Florence

Verona with Melissa-Home of Romeo and Juliet

Stunning stained glass chapel!  St. Chappelle-Paris

This is actually an old picture from 2004 inVenice :-)  It was taken during Carnevale in February. Mary Beth is celebrating her 16th b'day and Melissa isn't quite 13. She has just gotten a "mask" painted on her face.  Wonderful memories :-)