Most of these were taken in Pistoia but odd ones we found in Siena. They pleased me with their variety, their lovely shapes, the wooden doors and the humour. Click on any photo to see the detail.
Our eldest daughter came down for the day which was a surprise and a delight. We went to our favourite place for lunch, The Blue Bar in Porthtowan, and then had a walk on the beach in a biting cold wind. 
We followed a car with a good array of stickers on the back showing her love of Cornwall and a random one of Highland cattle. 🙂
We all three did some work in the allotment this afternoon, so good to have some help, and I was delighted to spot the first two baby tomatoes on the plants in the poly tunnel.
We took a pretty pink garden posy to our dear friend, Ti, yesterday and loved, as always, sharing poems and, this time, telling her all about our holiday in Italy. We were away for her 105th birthday at the start of the month so it was fun to see her many cards and hear about her day.
I’ve spent the afternoon at a fabulous and unusual birthday party. We started with a brilliant hour’s singing workshop with my choir leader, spent another hour eating cake and chatting to all the lovely prople. The afternoon continued with a ceilidh but I didn’t stay for that!
I made a Victoria sponge as my contribution to the party.
I love the fluffy bee who spent such a long time inside a vibrant pick Cosmos. 
Loveliness
We were dazzled by the Markets everywhere, full of colour, such a variety of beautiful, fresh and very big vegetables!
Loveliness
Buying my lemons to bring home
Courgette flowers
Fruit stall
Oh my, we ate some delicious food! Some I can give you the name, others, I forgot to get a photo of the menu. Such beautiful presentation and absolutely delicious. It was really lovely to share them with new friends K and A.
Our meal in Pistoia was another treat.
Caprese for supper one evening in the hotel in Montecatini Terme
Our last meal with aforementioned friends in Montecatini at a delightful restaurant in the town.
Our lovely friends turned up this afternoon with a beautiful bouquet of garden flowers and a delicious casserole for our dinner tonight which we have just enjoyed. 
I’ve spent much of the afternoon sitting and watching the birds as they have hoovered up the crumbs of a couple of scones that were left over from last week’s cream tea. First there were the Jackdaws who filled up and flew off followed closely by a couple of Magpies.
Then there was a bit of a stand-off…..
And lastly the Pigeon made sure of some crumbs, lots of crumbs in fact!
The little birds didn’t get a look in but they were very busy at the feeders.
There’s another very clever postbox topper along our street. Snoopy has survived rain and gales and is clearly very well secured.
An Iris has sown itself among our Wallflowers and this year has several blooms. Irises collect the rain drops particularly well.
The lovely Mr S has hung one of the bird feeders on a long wire in order to outwit our visiting squirrel. It hasn’t worked though it did for about a week while the very intelligent creature worked out how to win. We always let it have some seeds and then open the door noisily to encourage it to leave.
I’m sorry I haven’t posted for a few days. Life and medical stuff took over but we are back, finding beautiful things every day. More of Tuscany to follow.
From this point onwards the sun shone!
Most of our journeys from Montecatini Terme were by train, this one was a coach trip to the “City of the Beautiful Towers’ and it was very beautiful.We visited the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta, the duomo, and were blown away by the lovely frescoes, the painted ceilings, the stained glass. The views from the hill top town were lovely too. We also visited a delightful museum and had dinner at a vineyard – more of that another day.
We walked around Gwennap Churchyard as our friends wanted to see the gravestone that had inspired my Dad to write his first novel, The Fate of Jeremy Visick. Some photos from our walk – we were chatting so much I forgot to take many photos!
Adonis Blue butterfly
Regular readers know that I like cooking and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed making lovely meals to share with our visiting friends.
Asparagus Quiche
Cornish Cream Tea
Confit Duck and lentil Salad with pomegranate seed.
Three leaf salad with olives, peppers, avocado and flowers
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