So here's my revisit of september last year. 3/4 of a year into our new homestead in Marradi. First experience of the early signs of autumn. I love going back into my photos that I made since moving here. So much has happened, the images help me remember all the details. September 2016 brought new experiences, old friends and first visitors and I had a special birthday with some interesting surprises. But let me tell you how september started. As mentioned earlier we had our son Jelle visiting and for the first time we explored nearby Bologna, which so far we had only seen airport wise. The weather was as whimsical as this year, contrary to what we seem to remember.
Ofcourse good food is a must in our family and abundantly available in Bologna. Our favourite ristorante so far is http://www.trattoria-trebbi.com, recommended by a friend in Marradi.
Gianluca is the very hospitable owner. What comes out of his kitchen has not disappointed us ever (of course we have been back several times).
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| Mouthwatering zuppa al pomodoro |
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| Tagliatelle ai funghi e pomodorini freschi |
We picked up Jelle's girlfriend arriving from Croatia into Bologna and spent the next few days enjoying beautiful weather and lots of long mountain walks. We are fortunate to have an abundance of good trails right around the corner, showing the beauty of this region. Old farm houses, chestnut groves, beautiful views, boulders for Jelle to check out his bouldering skills. We were treated to more skinwarming sunshine, causing the French Hibiscus, our first green present, to surprise us with beautiful flowers.
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| Neighbour Vincenzo Moffa's property across the valley |
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| Jelle checking out places to practice his new passion: bouldering. |
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| September is the start of Funghi Porcini time and we all love them! |
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| Dinner time at Val di Nibbio |
Meanwhile we celebrated 32 years of marriage with a nice dinner at our favourite ristorante La Colombaia, where we have celebrate many other occasions. Good food accompanied by good wine with the curious name of Tre Miracoli..........how fitting! For anyone to guess what the three miracles mean to us! And we are ready for many more.
Next on the calendar was our niece and husband visiting with their one year old daughter. We stood in as grandparents and wow, I have seen a lot I wish I had known when my babies were little! What a joy to see these new little humans explore the world, while feeling safe, secure and loved.
The Lamone river which springs close to the Colla di Casaglia, the pass that separates us from the hilly country side of Tuscany, created the valley in which Marradi lies. In the winter rushing with rain and spring water, in the summer the place to cool off and play in the water on hot sunny days.
Just before the weather was to change we made one of our first wine tasting trips to the Zerbina winery
http://www.zerbina.com in Marzeno. Our first encounter with Enrico, enologo honoris causa as far as I am concerned. It will certainly not be our last. The passion with which he talks about their wine production, their cultivation of vines, the cloning, the research makes me want to go back again and again. We have become good customers and are always eager to learn about their new adventures.
As September will throw some surprises here and there, after this wonderful wine adventure we were up for a rough night. The next day our river Lamone raged through town, bringing down lots of muddy water after a long dry summer. So off we trotted in a dry spell to see how much rain had fallen higher up in the mountains.
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| Even our little house mouse somehow suffered from the amount of rain |
As much as the trees and fields were happily absorbing the lucious amounts of water, we were hoping for some more beautiful September weather as we were only half way through the month and not ready for autumn yet. With my special birthday coming up I could not wish for more than a balmy warm one.............
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