Cherry harvest in Tuscany

Everyone lends a hand when its harvest time in Tuscany. A bed-sheet is placed beneath the tree and cherries flung down, to be sorted by hand later. The ladders we used couldn't reach the top branches of the tree...so the birds will have their share.

This was Friday; by Sunday the cherries not already made into jam were beginning to turn. How fast they rot without preservatives- it does make me wonder exactly which chemicals the supermarkets use to prolong their shelf life.

Another great day

On a day like today...there's nowhere I'd rather be. The first small green tomatoes have appeared on the balcony plants and those at the orto (allotment) and with this heat they should be ripe in no time at all. Everything so full of promise...

Slow Food Restaurant of the day - Taverna Del Guerrino - Not only some of the best traditional Tuscan dishes, but a view of hills, vineyards and olive groves beyond compare.

A stop for the view.

On the road in Chianti we decided to stop and take in the view. It's magical, no matter how many times you've been here. In the last few weeks the vines have gone from gnarled stumps to vibrant greens with new life bursting out everywhere.

It certainly makes a break from Florence.

Coming Alive.

A short ride from Florence and the hills of chianti are greening as spring has well and truly begun. It's hard to take a bad photo with perfect skies, and a landscape of olive groves, vines and cyprusses.

...but a photo will never tell the whole story. Even a painting... only approaches ...being here.

Vines and Vistas.

The days grow warmer and all of a sudden life is everywhere...but the vines......slowly does it. They take their time to awaken and somehow I agree. Where is the hurry? Summer days will come. There will be time yet to grow and ripen.

Early Tomatoes.

The warm weather has got us looking forward to summer: so much so that I took it upon myself to put in some tomato plants at the allotment ahead of all the other plot holders. Will they suffer from a late frost? Will I be digging them up within the month and replacing them with those from my balcony. Wait and see.

Slow Start

We are off to a slow start, what with one thing and another this year, but perhaps that is just as well:

'To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first' Henry VIII (Act 1 Sc1)

And the reason?