Day 360

Of course, it's a weekend with glorious weather when I have to come down with a cold. But aren't the sheep cute?! more...

Day 359

Against all odds, my little rosemary bush has survived and is actually blooming! more...

Day 358

Blister season has arrived. more...

Day 357

Big potato, little potato. more...

Day 356

Two shops had no bananas and one had only solid green ones. Since when does one have to go to FOUR shops to find an edible banana? more...

Day 355

Decluttering the wardrobe. more...

Day 354

One of the highlights of our bank holiday in Skipton was this minstrel in the castle courtyard. more...

Day 353

9.52 pm and there's still light in the sky! more...

Day 352

The last of the bluebells in the woods behind our house. more...

Day 351

45% silk, 55% merino wool, 100% luscious. more...

Day 350

Think he's comfy enough? more...

Day 349

This cat doesn't care what I do to him as long as he can sit on my lap. (That's a summer wrap-scarf-thingy that I'm knitting, incidentally.) more...

Day 348

Does this mean the nasty black cat next door will be leaving?! I hardly dare to hope. more...

Day 347

Best paper title ever. more...

Day 346

Playing around with framing ideas for my new picture. The original framing job was appalling. more...

Day 345

We picked up this lovely little watercolour from the antique shop down the street for the grand sum of £16. This is what sold it to me:



I've been there! more...

Day 344

Bird-watching. Or, more likely, cat-next-door-watching. more...

Day 343

The very first thing I did when I arrived home was to make a Proper Cup of Tea. Ahhhhh. more...

Day 342

The view from the breakfast room at the Palazzone. I had to stop and stare out the window every time I walked through.





And this is the breakfast room itself. Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of the Palazzone, but this gives a good sense of the feel of the place.

We had the afternoon free, so I wandered around Cortona shopping and taking pictures and generally being touristy.












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Day 341

This is the room where all the talks were held. Quite the contrast: Renaissance frescoes and quantum physics. more...

Day 340

The bane of my week. Do you know how LOUD pigeons are?!! Especially when they're sitting on your windowsill at 4 am. more...

Day 339

The perfect picnic spot...





...for a perfect picnic.

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Day 338

During our outing to Arezzo, we stumbled upon what I gather was a police conference of some sort. It entailed a great deal of medieval-ish pomp and ceremony, including these absolutely amazing flag guys. I was impressed.





Before the pomp and ceremony kicked off, there was a considerable amount of standing about doing nothing. I felt sorry for all these guys - their outfits looked hot. The ones in chain mail probably had it the worst.




But hey, they looked good! I was a bit bemused that they were playing Beethoven. Finally someone explained that "Ode to Joy" is the official hymn of Europe.




A medieval cross in a church.




The cathedral in Arezzo.



And last but not least, (one of) the chimaera(e). That fountain looked pretty nice by then...

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Day 337

I was lucky enough to get to stay at the spectacular Renaissance villa where the conference was held. This was the view from my bedroom window.





The view from the piazza in Cortona where the restaurant for the conference dinner was located.




I was drawn to the light of the setting sun down a random street.




Swallows circling the town hall. Noisy!

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Day 336

Today's itinerary: taxi to Leeds-Bradford airport, plane to Pisa, bus to Florence, train to Camucia, taxi to Il Palazzone di Cortona. Fortunately all went smoothly and it was a beautiful day. more...

Day 335

An end-of-the-year card from my students. They've been amazing and I shall miss them. more...

Day 334

I hate it when this happens. more...

Day 333

Shiny new shoes, in fabulous slate blue. Yum. more...

Day 332

Bluebells at Hardcastle Crags.





















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