Our Home in Tuscany

I have heard from a lot of you that you are worried we have met with some ill fate. Well, 'tis not so. We have a terrible internet connection here and it is hard to upload pictures. That coupled with the fact my children are working like dogs to finish their online coursework leaves little opportunity for me to get blogs out to you. However, in the interest of alleviating your concerns, this is where we are:

We’re in Scrofiano, Italy. We've been here for the past three weeks with one more to go. From here, we've explored Tuscany, visiting Florence, Pisa, Siena and so on as daytrips. Scrofiano is a small village perched on low hill in view of several other small villages perched on several other low hills. The weather is wonderful with warm, sunny days in the mid to high 20’s. We’ve had several cloudy evenings and even a couple of lightning storms to entertain us at night but our days have been gorgeous.

The place we’re staying is just through the arched gate of the little medieval village. I think the building must be owned by the host but we are the only ones staying here right now. We are in an apartment on the second floor and have a beautiful view of the Tuscany countryside.

It is easy to forget we are in an apartment because there are two floors. The main floor has a large kitchen, large bathroom with Jacuzzi tub and a large living/dining area with windows overlooking the great view. The furniture is mostly antique. One of the cabinets in the kitchen must be at least two hundred years old. The age of the furniture gives our whole place a lovely woodsy smell. The staircase to the second floor is new but has an interesting creak to it none-the-less.
Upstairs there are three bedrooms with enough space for all of us to stretch out. The top floor is the top of the building so the ceilings of the rooms are low and slanted. This seems charming until you have to live in one. None of us can stand up straight in all parts of the room and it is incredible how much is located in the area you cannot stand up in. Tom has bashed his head a few times. There is also a full bathroom with shower. Both of our bathrooms have a bidet. The upstairs one Tom has turned into a bag lined waste basket.
Our bedroom is the real gem of the place. We have French doors leading out to a large balcony overlooking the Tuscan land. We’ve dragged a couple of chairs up to sit out and enjoy the view. The weather is warm enough that we can sit out well into the evening now, sipping our Chianti and feeling the eternal summer of our year away.

Interestingly, all of us have been feeling like coming home recently. We were told this would hit about six months in but it has been ten months now. I think it is happening because our thoughts are turning more and more to what we will return to in Canada. It is funny to feel like our vacation is coming to an end when we have about two months left! That’s longer than almost all of our previous vacations put together!