Hello All

Not too much news from here as we are having a lazy ol' time of it at the moment. The house is great - very big, warm and with running water and a big, professional style kitchen. I managed to buy lamb in the supermarket and cooked a delicious roast in red wine on Sunday (ahhhh, it was heaven) - Gary, I know you love a lamb update !! We've also had some delicious fresh trout and plenty of antipasti - I have discovered a strange love of anchovies in vinegar. James has been making excellent bruschetta although we struggle to ask for goats cheese at the supermarket - we usually have to find a picture of a goat on something and point to that !

Most days we go for a long walk, it's a 30 minute walk to and from the main house to feed the dogs each day and it's uphill all the way there so that soon gets the heart pumping ! It's a lovely estate to wander around and since the other houses aren't occupied we can have a nosey in the windows (mind you, I set the alarm off on one of them doing that the other day so I am being more cautious now !)

We went to Assisi on Saturday, birthplace of St Francis - the main church was very impressive with beautiful artwork and a Mass was taking place so we got to listen a little although we couldn't understand. You can also go down to the crypt and see the tomb of St Francis, which we did. I hadn't mentioned before but whilst we were in Palermo we went to the catacombs which were really quite horrific and disturbing so I was surprised we made it into the crypt ! We also saw a little nun (why are they always so little ?) carrying a guitar which had 'Rock Guitar' written on the back, and gave us a good giggle - Rock Out Sister :)

We went to a second church in Assisi, it was very small, no pews but a great modern exhibition of the Virgin Mary in a wooden sculpted form, which has travelled to many countries, and a huge wooden cross also in a very modern style - we loved both of them despite our general atheism.

The weather here has been a complete mix so far, we started with grey, cloudy days and rain and then had a beautiful blue sky on Sunday and yesterday morning it was snowing ! I am sure we will experience more snow whilst we are here, I am stocking up on basics in case we get snowed in as there is no chance of a snow plough up here !

Love to you all x x