I am back at our house in the Garfagnana mountains briefly. We have guests arriving tomorrow and I am here to get everything ready.
I don’t really have much to do. Filippo has done an amazing job looking after the garden. It has been an extremely hot summer with almost no rain and it has been a full time job keeping everything alive. Lovely Elena from the village has also done a great job looking after the house for the summer guests.
We have had a bit of rain, not enough, but it means I don’t have to do much watering.
The view from the house changes constantly.
Rain is on the way.
It didn’t rain much during the day, but overnight the fall was heavier. I was happy to be sitting outside to see the lovely sunset.
I woke up early and looked out of the window to see this.
For a time mist obscured the view.
This is over the course of 24 hours. The view is constantly changing and always fabulous.
You can see in the photo below the damage the summer heat has caused. The brown trees are not changing colour for autumn, they have been dried out with the relentless heat.
The pergola offers the perfect place to keep an eye on the changing view.
Or perhaps sitting under the weeping cherry offers a different view.
This is the view of the garden at the side of the house from the top floor. The stone wall on the right is part of the original house that was here. The barbecue was added.
This is looking down on the new stone walls in front of the house. The grass in front was destroyed with all the hauling of stone during the build, but it is slowly growing back. The plants I put in just before I left grew and are tumbling over each other. I will be more selective next spring.
I was here at Casa Debbio last year when the news came that Prince Phillip had died and I am here again to hear the sad news that Queen Elizabeth has gone. I was born the year of her coronation and while I don’t think a monarchy is what we need, I think she did a brilliant job for 70 years and she will be missed.
She has always been there and part of our lives. I had a Princess Anne doll when I was little. I saw the Queen and Prince Phillip when I was a volunteer at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane. The Prince winked as he walked by and I waved back. He always reminded me of my father. Dad was prone to saying what he thought. I can only imagine how sad the Queen’s actual family is right now.