Summer time : France

We have never been to Aix-en-Provence before. I was impressed by the bright colors of nature and houses. Lilac as lavander, gold and brown as sunflowers, green as grass, red, blue. No wonder that Cezanne, who was born here, decided to be a painter




The center of Aix is the old town (vieille ville), it's a small-enough area to explore by foot, but there's way too much to see: Cezanne lived and worked here, sometimes it seems you can even see him in one of those cafe or old-looking shops.




We have been at the flower market that is held at the Place de l'Hotel de Ville and had a walk in this town full of fountains. We visited also the Muséum d'Histoire Naturel (Museum of Natural History). It has a collection of dinosaur bones and dinosaur eggs which were the joy of the kids.





The next day we went to Roussilon, a small village located in the heart of the Massif des ochres. We visited the Conservatoire des ocres, the old Mathieu factory. The 5-hectare site washing ochres have kept the character of this industry and it's a beautiful trip to do with kids, but only if you can stand the color of their clothes at the end...

Summer time : Italy

There's a really hot weather this summer, but luckily we spent a few days in Liguria with friends. I felt really rich, because I got up early as usual and by 7.30 am I was enjoying a walk alone in the brisk morning.


No shouting, no loud music, just a few people walking by the sea.

Since last time...

... we had some good time. I spent some time sewing, some time looking after my old mother, some time cooking and driving kids to volley and swimming and lots of small things that piled up to my cheek.

In brief ...


there came Easter and spring and mother's day;
(my easter cake from Good Housekeeping, wild cyclamen, kids' artwork with lego, coloring eggs, our neighbor cherry)



we went to Rome, Orvieto and Marmore's fall;
(duomo di Orvieto column, villa Borghese park, fontana di Trevi, H blowing an ancient horn at the Colosseo, Orvieto house, mosaic at the Colosseo, H at piazza di Spagna, Marmore falls, San Pietro, mosaic in duomo di Orvieto, kids at the fontana di Trevi, inside Colosseo, fontana dei satiri in Rome)



there had been some volley matches and school end play;
(school end play at the kindergarten and at the primary school, mini volley)


we worked and H had a small injury;
(S and H with peas from our garden, pieces from the brushcutter H is trying to fix, H tuning our piano, H's aching ankle)



and finally the reason of my sewing, the first holy communion of our daughters. They chose the model and I made the dresses; they are completely different and show their personality. The first is in white satin with lilac tulle ans ribbon, ankle long: I found some difficulties in cutting and sewing satin because of its slippery. The second has a wide skirt with eight sunray pleats (spicchi soleil in italian) and has no sleeves, that's why D wears a shrug.
In the picture you can see also the other kids, two teachers and the priest, on the left can you guess who is the little boy who wants to be "as sleek as daddy"? He asked even for a striped tie!