nov, 19th - life after baby.....

day 280:

we did something spontaneous last night. i last remember doing something spontaneous back in 2009.

to be honest this was as spontaneous as you can be when you have to call a baby-sitter 8 hours in advance and plan the bedtime routine with military precision so that you've factored in your 10 minute prep time.

this was also the first time that we've used a baby-sitter that we've never met....(a good friend uses her all the time) and to be honest i was somehow more concerned that she wouldn't like us rather than the other way around.....i even did some cleaning (and worried about the lack of biscuits) in case we didn't make a good impression on the baby-sitter.

the reason we were 8-hours-in-advance-spontaneous?

a friend got some amazingly, fantastic news yesterday morning and so we headed out to celebrate.

oh! and i also got to wear impractical shoes. i have such a wonderful selection of impractical shoes...... that have been gathering dust since 2009 (i call these my wonder-woman- super-hero shoes!)

welcome back spontaneity and impractical shoes....i've missed you guys!

ps. the pre-dinner cocktails were found at a new (well new to us), jazzy bar in Nottinghill, called Montgomery Place.

nov, 18th - first report card....

day 279:

Limi's very first report card from Little Gym. she's currently a Bug but about to progress to being a Bird. 
(report card sent home with us by Greg her French gym instructor):

"Limi is a veteran of her class!! It is so great to see her enjoying her lessons since day one. She has very good interaction with the other children and loves to crawl around to wrestle with them. Or, is it in fact a hug?

To see the smile on her face is such a pleasure. She is so easy going that you can spot her for anything. She is very comfortable with her body.

The Birds class will be a great challenge for her for the next term, where she will be among walkers and older. I'm sure that they will even be impressed by her!"

nov, 17th - perspective revisited II

day 278:

on day 33 and day 119 i put limi into perspective....it's time to try again....although now, it's a whole lot tougher to capture her.....at rest.

THEN: she is about the length of two bottles of wine....

NOW: helpfully, limi is demonstrating that she's half the width of a wine bottle...

THEN: or, two whisks, if you're a cook....
NOW: that whisk is definitely looking smaller....

THEN: smaller than her largest soft toy....
NOW: look how that monk has shrunk......

THEN: with a head about the length of an iPhone...
NOW: hard to tell....but limi may be assisting by chewing off a bit of the iphone

THEN: and a body the length of a magazine....
NOW: the magazine seems to be growing??.....

nov, 16th - neighbourhood trees....

day 277:

anyone who has recently started reading this blog would think that it's a blog about trees.


it's not.

but i seem to have a slight tree obsession at the moment. it's probably all the strolling that i've done in the past 9 months.....i've never had so much time to peruse the neighbourhood and take in the trees and how they reflect the changing of the seasons.....

fogginess was in the air today and the trees looked shrouded and mysterious.....like the start of a dark fairytale....

one small, bug-eyed creature, wrapped up in blankets, was also spotted in the vicinity....

nov, 15th - trumpette socks.....

day 276:

these are definitely fantastic socks....amazing quality. 

i know that i'm a bit late to the party on Trumpette (and not fashionably late...more like the lights have been switched on, the helium balloons are wilting and the dj is packing up) but they are definitely worth a buy.

my only small complaint is that i wish that they would bring out a range that were less bright and more of the sludgy colours....but still....great socks!

nov, 14th - our sunday in pictures....

day 275:

we had a friend in town so headed down to the river today to have a typical English Sunday roast.....

A.'s pint....

not such a happy pub goer....

beautiful, chequered-board tiles.....

lovely leather couches....

take me home....

aaah...a fabulous, aubergine morris minor on the walk home.

nov, 13th - home from home.....

day 274:

it's always amazing to stay at my sister's place in Italy.......

big comfortable beds, layered with local white linen....

[pic from this Summer - day 173]

monastically simple ensuites.....

sink-into sofas and in winter, fires crackling in each room. 

back in England today and breathing in the  olive firewood scent on our clothes as i do the washing..... 

nov, 12th - olive picking in hipsta-pics....

day 273:

1. beautiful sunshine in the groves

2. me

3. working and singing. singing and working

4. blue skies

5. beautiful trees more than 100 years old

6. the nets

7. green and black

8. my sister's restored cinque, luigi

9. dreamy landscapes

10. limi and i....she wasn't much help with the picking this year

11. spotlight on.......

nov, 11th - pressing the olives....

[the first golden droplets]

day 272:

today was our final day of olive picking. at 4pm we loaded up our hard work and headed to the mill. there are smalls mills throughout Umbria but choosing one is like entering into marriage....once you've made your choice, there's no messing around with other mills.

most of the Umbrian mills now use machinery but extracting the molten gold from these tiny fruit is still a long process....

crates are unloaded onto a huge scale and then emptied into the press......

the olives are then washed and tightly squished and squeezed into a paste.....

snacks are served, wine is poured and conversations are had......

the olive paste is then wrung out like a towel to remove every last drop of water.....

and then finally.......small droplets of oil slowly turn into a trickle and then a stream.....

bread is brought out....freshly pressed oil is tasted.....it tastes of grass and sunshine.....

liquid is carefully measured out and everyone takes their treasure home to be....splashed onto salad leaves, dripped onto pizzas, tossed through pasta, drizzled onto meat and rubbed into dry skin....

until the next time. x

ps. the press is too loud for baby ears so Limi stayed home with her Lola.