Thursday 13 October 2011

Summer Recap

As we move well into autumn, knocking on winters door, its time for a summer recap to warm  my bones.

We had an early summer this year with temperatures reaching the mid 20's as early as April. My favourite memory of that month was a week long trip to Tuscany. We went with friends to a picturesque little village called Poppi. My enduring memories of that trip was a tastefully furnished villa with spectacular views of a medieval castle, rolling hills and vineyards. Our hosts Franseca, her mother and our chef Mamma. Learning how to stuff a quail, roll fresh pasta and make stuffed tortellini. Finishing several bottles of fantastic wine. Spending most mornings in the heated pool even though the temperature was sub optimal. 


A room with a view.
This March our friends G & S had a gorgeous baby girl and asked us to be her fairy parents. She is a feisty little poppet, keeping her parents on their toes and bringing much joy to all who spend time with her.



Mandarin ducks at the Isabella Planatation
The best bits of summer was my week off in London. I spent a day trekking through Richmond park and exploring Isabella plantation with a friend. I started training for a 5k with my friend A and my sil A. I discovered my love for running, who would have known! A day spent with both the A's exploring portobello street walking into random pubs and then changing in S's office and continuing our 5 k training that evening around Lincoln Inns field ruing the fruli 's we had consumed. I entered and ran the Adidas 5k and finished it in 35 minutes and 8 seconds. I tried to get S to run but he seems to prefer spending time at the cricket nets in regents park with the boys.




My quota of luck this summer was pretty decent as well. I won 80 quid on the lottery. I got centre court tickets at Wimbledon this year. I discovered a beautiful lavender field close to my old apartment and enjoyed it till summer ended and we moved. I got to watch a bit of village cricket in Torquay.


Cockington Cricket Pavillion





Lavender fields
I have also realised S and I have developed a yearly routine of events. We always catch some cricket and tennis every summer. We explored Taste of London with my sil and enjoyed every morsel. S used his BFI membership to catch some interesting movies, unfortunately this year we will be in Bombay during the festival. We have trekked through Dorset for 4 years in a row and this year was no different. We always catch an interesting musical act at the Royal Albert Hall and this year it was Shankar Ehsaan Loy. We always get a large quota of Ethiopian/ Eritrean and Korean food into our system.

Durdle Door


Dolsot Bimbim Bap

I also made the biggest purchase of my life. S and I bought a house. We spent the best part of a year hunting for an apartment and fell in love with a house. We moved a month ago and are slowly trying to make this 80 year old house into our home. I am sure there will be many more stories from our new house but I will leave that for another post.


All in all its been a fabulous summer and I would not change a day. Hope your summer was just as memorable.