Happy Birthday Federica!

We won't even mention walking today! But I did manage to finish a yellow cardi in time for my neice's Fede's 1st birthday. And to be honest, sitting down to a good lunch - cooked by someone else - is the next best way to pass a Sunday.

Not sure about the jumper. I adore yellow punctually buy some at the start of each season only to get home and have doubts about whether it really suits me. So this time I craftily added the crochet trim to take my mind off the sheer yellowness of the rest of the project. By the way I know I don't talk much about the wool part of this blog but I found another dedicated site called Ravelry which I follow.

Wonderful news!!! The girls are coming out for my Big Birthday in December, all I need now is Pierce Brosnan to jump out of the cake and everything will be just perfect.

And to tie in with the walking theme, this is the site of the Sentiero Ducati where we've been exploring recently. Next weekend is a bank holiday weekend so hope to get in a good walk although they're forcasting rain. http://reggioemiliaturismo.provincia.re.it/Eng/page.asp?IDCategoria=792&IDSezione=5357

Down by the riverside

Am going through one of those periods when there isn't time to do anything....
So this week's walk was really just an excuse for a breath of fresh air after a whole weekend at the computer.

I

Had intended to cross over the river but it must have been raining somewhere as there was water for the first time in several months. Not in the mood for building stepping stones.

One last look before wending homewards.

Looks like walks are going to be few and far between for a bit...

This week's cat hasn't got a name because we AREN'T going to keep her!! She's off to the petshop next week.

Lost in the woods

Picked up the walk from Gottano Sopra, see two weeks back. Glorious day and glorious colours. But although they apprently looked very inviting, these trees were a nightmare. The path optimistically described by Victor as 'rather casual!' (Avoid sentiero 680!!) soon petered out and what with fallen trunks, landslides and gullies to be crossed - in my case on bum, hands and knees - it took us almost twice the hour and half given on sign post to reach Temporia. Here a nice lady took pity on us and offered us some wine to go with our rolls but Vicotr said NO!! Why wasn't I quicker?

But still amazingly talking to each other we continued uphill to Cereggio. This is view from M. Alto 711 m. Back along ridge between torrent Enza and Lonza to car.

Victor couldn't resist a bit of birdwatching!!

The perfect place to knit a few rows. Aesthetes will note that the wool is a nice choc brown and perfectly in tint with the season. In fact have already done front and back and results seem very promising.

More next week...Sue

Wandering around. M.Pezzola

This Sunday set off on my third attempt to discover the path around M.Pezzola above S.Polo and yet again got lost coming down. But the afternoon was not wasted, still sunny although now starting to layer up with sweatshirts.

Mother Nature can't seem to decide on the season although this tree obviously thinks its Autumn.

But what are these doing north of Florence?

Mog of the week is Killer- not living up to his name.

PS All girls at heart, knocking 50 like me, SHOULD go and see Mamma Mia, preferably on a girl's night out. Meryl Streep is a breath of fresh air, still dancing at her age (no signs of aching joints) with Pierce chasing after her. So inspiring!

check out the trailer on www.mammamiamovie.com/

We were there!

Khalilov wins in Italy
Ukrainian Mykhaylo Khalilov won the fourth edition of the Memorial Cimurri / Gran Premio Bioera, which started in Cavriago and finished in Reggio Emilia in Italy.
After launching an attack in the final kilometer, the 33 year-old Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce racer won by one second in front of a charging group of eleven riders. In a sprint behind Khalilov, former Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) took second and Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes-Ballan) finished third.
The race was started by a special guest, the newly retired two-time World Champion and 2004 Olympic Games gold medallist Paolo Bettini.
After a fast start in the first 10 kilometers, a group of five escaped, including Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre), Vladimir Duma (Ceramica Flaminia - Bossini Showers), Walter Proc (LPR - Ballan), Daniele Contrin (Tinkoff - Credit Systems) And Fabrice Piedmont (NGC Medical - OTC Industria Porte).
The five earned a maximum advantage of 6'57" by kilometer 33, but the group was caught with about 48km to go as the sixteen teams in the race decided to take command.