Tuscan Towns : Cortona & Chiusi

During my last trip to Italy I was able to spend a few wonderful days in Tuscany. I shared a villa in Foiano della Chiana near Cortona with some girlfriends (and Carlos). We were required to rent a car to get from town to town to explore. We had to get one of the larger cars with trunk space due to the the requirements to hold luggage for 4 women (and 1 guy’s backpack). It proved challenging at first to try to maneuver the car around the roads but we soon got the hang of it. We made sure that enough of us got international driving permits so the driving was distributed among us and not one taking the brunt work of driving everywhere.
Trying to find our villa was very difficult. The directions were vague, and in kilometers (we are not used to the metric system). After a detour down a bumpy dirt road through someone’s farm (my friend swears we were supposed to turn down that road) we eventually find our villa. I wish I had taken more pictures, it really was a great and relaxing villa to return to after sightseeing all day.

Our first night this happens.

This guy is staying with us as well.

The villa contained 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths and a full working kitchen that we used a few nights to make our own dinners. The weather was perfect for open windows and outdoor dining. Out by the resort style pool was a magnificent view and rows of rosemary and lavender bushes in bloom. It really was blissful lounging by the pool, hearing the sounds of bees and nature in the background, and smelling lavender and rosemary while you are reading a book. I can’t think of too many better things in life….except maybe food. Food is kind of great too. I would say my only complaint was the washer that took took 2 hours to wash clothes. I didn’t mind hanging them to dry (I prefer more environmentally friendly) except we did have rain one day and all our wet clothes got more wet.
Exploring near by town of Cortona was fun.

Cortona

Chiusi

One of the day trips we took was to Chiusi. Chuisi has some of the best Etruscan tombs. Unfortunately I did not take any photos but I do have video that I will hopefully upload one day. During our visit to the city center we got to witness a day of games from the bell tower.

National Archaeological Museum

A day in Glasgow

While visting Edinburgh we decided to take a train ride to Glasgow for the day. Conveniently my friend was in Glasgow for a layover and we were able to meet up while we were there. Glasgow is full of interesting architecture. Although we did Glasgow as a day trip, I wouldn’t have minded spending the night there to explore more.

One of the highlights of the day was the tour of the Glasgow School of Art. This tour must be booked in advance. Charles Rennie Mackintosh is responsible to designing the school inside and out. He is famous for his contributions to the Art Nouveau movement. I couldn’t begin to describe the magnificent detail that went into this building. One must come visit for themselves. We couldn’t take any pictures at Mackintosh s masterpiece…. but I did snap a pic from the team room he designed (but it was already closed)

More interesting Glasgow structures.

Meeting Kerri in town!!!!!

Preparing for the freeze

My plan to use the EZ-UP to make a tomato tent was a failure (see the closed tent to the right). I rushed home from work to put the tomato house together but I could not put the tent up on my own. After trying for about 30 minutes I gave up on that plan and went back to what I know – sheets. I had a couple of coverups that were given to me as a gift last year. Two of them were used but the third completely fell apart (see photo below). What the &*&(*&???

I tried really hard to secure both of my square foot gardens with what sheets I had. I think I did an ok job but there might be a little hole or two. We will find out after tomorrow’s freeze.

 
Possible hole….
 
 
Finally some tomatoes are ripe. I took this opportunity to do a quick check and harvest ones close to ripen.
 
 
 
I ran out of sheets was too lazy to cover the citrus so I decided to pick the good key limes to prevent them from getting damaged in the freeze. Looks like some cocktails are happening in the future.
 
 


Garden Update

Because we have yet to have a freeze, the garden is flourishing. Around the time I am supposed to be starting seeds for Spring crops, I am getting ready to get a winter tomato bounty.

We are expecting cold temps in the next week or so but so far no threat of frost. Crossing fingers!!!!

Another area in the garden flourishing is the mint area. The mint was planted in a wooden container a couple years ago and has since been neglected. Although mint is best contained (since it can take over a garden with its minty-ness) you can see from the photo below that the container fell apart and the mint is free to spread. It looks so pretty and I love the taste of mint so I don’t want to mess with it – for now.

The key lime is not as fortunate. We will most likely lose this one in the year. Luckily it gave us one last crop of limes before its demise. The citrus greening is too much work for me to try to fight. After the key lime we will still have the Persian Lime and Grapefruit trees. I fear that these won’t last past a couple of years unless some easy treatment exists for the greening.