Last of the summer flowers

Soon it will be some Japanese elm branches.

1st September evening

It's getting dark earlier. Autumn in the light and air. Il Chiudo looks good in the dark.

Firenze e Lucca: end of May trip

This is my favorite photo -- had a print made. Olio di semi e oliva. Just off the Piazza Passera, Oltrarno, Florence.

Baroque anything is such a rarity in Florence, so I was surprised by this -- the court house.

Bought these lemon yellow linen-cottone jeans by Trussardi. From a delightful old shop on the Borgo San Jacopo, just off the madness of the Ponte Vecchio. Lemon yellow: who would have thought?

A baroque style fountain just across the Ponte Santa Trinita.

Boboli garden.

In Lucca. Throw a stone and you can hit 3 churches.




Loved Lucca. Here, San Michele cathedral.




Florence, off the Piazza Passera.



Simone Abbarichi tailor shop, window. Mi piace il colore.




The outside of the shop, Santa Sprito Borgo Apostoli. Also the chic street of the hotel I stayed in, the Torre Guelfa.





Piazza Limbo, just off Borgo Apostoli. Ubiquitous terra cotta planters.



Dinner at Baldovino. Coniglia, and the contorne is an asparagi e formaggio souffle.

From the tower at the hotel Torre Guelfa.

Postcard view from the tower.

Hotel Torre Guelfa interior.

Baptistery.

The bar at Caffe Galli on the via dei Banchi, my favorite Florence cafe near S. Lorenzo. It's a real caffe with locals -- working people, older ladies. Everyday luxury and elegance. This approach really defines everything I like about Italy.

Marble walls in a trattoria near Santa Croce.

Old wood beams, marble, plain tables, good wine, chandeliers, rosemary on the tables.

Summer Sunday Lunch, II

Another nicoise day.

Summer Sunday Lunch

A salade nicoise and simple bruschetta.

Il Chiudo, or: The New Sun Room

Spring Project: redecorating the former, unused sun room into a sitting room that we now use nightly for cocktails, reading, sitting and listening to music. I lacquered the pine walls in deep black, hung gold raw silk curtains, rolled out a sisal rug, borrowed and borrowed a console table from storage.

Staffordshire style lamp.

Italian toleware sconse.

Spring Saplings

Brought home a sapling that had been decorating the altar at Trinity -- they were giving them away. Pure primavera.