I've fallen in love

...with Italy! Hubby and I have just had a fantastic weekend away in Milan!

The weather was hot!

The architecture was amazing:

La Scala

and Il Duomo, which was beautiful inside too!

We discovered a market just minutes from our hotel on Saturday morning with stalls brimming with delicious, fresh produce:

and how about this for a shopping centre?

Gorgeous food, wine, ice creams...just the two of us! It was a real treat and the first time that we've been abroad, child-free, since before they were born! We were sad to leave...

but our post-wonderful weekend blues were soon lifted by news of our daughter's GCSE results yesterday: a total of 7 A*s and 5 As - we are so proud of her!

Back soon,

Rebecca

x

We've been having a rather lazy Sunday, making the most of the last day of the holidays, with breakfast at 11 o'clock - scrummy smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. This afternoon I ventured no further than the back garden to top up the bird table...

and then I had a little walk around. Despite bright sunshine, the temperature has hovered around 0 degrees all day...

leaving gorgeous frost patterns and icy droplets on the broccoli.

I love the rich, russet stems of the philadelphus against the green conifer and blue sky.

There are signs of life as the daffodils begin to push their way through the solid ground.

I was being followed as I wandered around...

and, just as I was about the take the 'Christmas card' photo of the robin on the holly, he popped through the trellis and onto next door's bird table!

Back in the warm, the mission to return the house to normal mode continues - all the boxes are down from the loft and piles of Christmassy things wait to be packed away for another year.

I've made a start on the ironing that had begun to take over a corner of the kitchen. As I ironed...and ironed...and ironed a little more, I was able to look out onto the garden and watch the birds visit the freshly stocked bird table and drink from and splash around in the bird baths that I had defrosted.

The ironing's not over yet...but Christmas is definitely over for another year in this house - hubby's just poured the last of the sherry and turkey curry bubbles away on the stove as I type!
Back soon,

Rebecca

x

Happy New Year!

The festive season has passed so quickly! It was a fairly quiet one here, with visits from family and friends just before Christmas, and just one extra for Christmas dinner - our lovely neighbour B. We've all had a turn at being poorly over the holidays with a horrible throaty, virussy thing that's made each one of us feel utterly rotten so it was just as well that it was a quiet time!

Feeling under the weather made me stop...made me take time out to just sit, watch old films, enjoy time with my family...and I have to say it's been a real treat! I've been able to catch up on some reading, to browse through some magazines before they are months out of date, and managed to do some non-rebeccamaryjane's knitting! I made each of the children a pair of wrist warmers.

Today, I am starting to put the house back into normal mode...I've made a neat pile of all the cards we received and have taken a couple of decorations down in the kitchen...I shall do a little more tomorrow, after all there's still another couple of days before hubby returns to work and the children are back at school! So, for now, I can tell myself it's still the holidays...time for a cup of tea and a chunk of the delicious, homemade Christmas cake that was part of the delightful foodie Christmas present we received from our neighbours...mmm!

I tend not to make "resolutions" as such, but I have told myself that I am going to be more organised in 2010, part of which involves updating this blog more often - so watch this space to see how I get on! It also involves doing ironing on a more regular basis! I hope that the coming year is kind to us all and, above all, I hope that it is a year of good health and happiness.

Happy New Year!

Rebecca

x