Bliss.

Wilf has been exploring in the fields. He returned from our early morning saunter with his face and coat covered in grass seeds and other assorted vegetation. The remedy was a fretful ten minutes of detangling with a comb with Wilf fidgeting and generally letting it be known that he would rather be somewhere else - anywhere else other than on the grooming table. He has now settled down into a deep mid-morning snooze to try to forget the traumas that faced him.

Todi is looking quite blissful this morning above the ripening vines . The local grape here is the sagrantino which is small in size, with a thick skin and a slightly acid note to its sweetness. Over the last four or five years the big Italian insurance companies have bought up many of the small producers which has resulted in a marked improvement in quality and an even more marked increase in price.

I was delighted to read in the papers this morning that the senior management of EADS the aircraft manufacturer are to be fined for what was effectively insider trading. It's good to see watchdogs doing what they are supposed to. Governments around the world are keen to expand their own powers through closer supervision of banks and other financial institutions. All of this additional oversight and cost will be a waste of money as the industry is already weighed down under a raft of incoherent regulations. To put things right what is needed is for 100 or so criminal lawyers to be put onto enforcing the current laws and be paid by result - many people on Wall Street or the City might then find that there is no such thing as power without responsibility.The prosecutors might want to start with a long hard look at High Frequency Trading - or what in my day would have been known as the cardinal sin of front running.

Jethro Tull coming to Todi

Another glorious start to the day. The wildflowers along the driveway have really started to multiply in the three years since we stopped using chemicals on the fields. The blue cornflowers are nearly five feet high this summer and are mixing with the wild orchids and daisies in a thick verge about three feet across. The tall wild grasses add an architectural dimension to the scene but their seeds are attracted to the boyz coats like iron filings to a magnet. I've spent thirty minutes this morning pulling the sharp,hard shards from Digby's coat. Wilf meantime has settled down with a yoghurt carton that he is determinedly licking every last trace of yoghurt out of.

The roads around here are suddenly plastered with signs screaming 'Jethro Tull'. I had gone happily through life thinking Mr.Tull was a solo artist, but I am told by the font of all knowledge that Jethro Tull is the name of a blues band founded in London in 1967. Apparently they are coming to Todi to give a concert on July 5th this year. From the extent of the advertising it seems to be the highlight of the town calendar with tickets on sale in every shop in the central square. For Todi this is pretty adventurous stuff. However, I'm looking forward to reading next weeks letters page of the local newspaper - you can be sure that there are local citizens who are concerned that the concert will lead to scenes of depravity in the streets with 'young' people dancing in public, smoking pot or displaying too much flesh.

This afternoons view across the new olive trees towards Todi

Have been in the fields this afternoon looking at the new olive and oak trees we planted earlier this year. With all the rain they had in March they have been well and truly watered in. Now, with the temperatures rocketing they are beginning to look heat stressed. I'll need to find a way of getting a hose pipe from the cistern into the fields so that they can be watered through the summer. Much to their joint chagrin the boyz haven't been allowed out with me today. When we came back from Rome we found a very large dead viper by the side of the pool. Venomous snake bites are something I'd rather not add to my list of experiences as a dog owner and as a result the long grass where the snakes are breeding is out of bounds.

Wild lupins, strange plants, peace and quiet, and a slowly recovering Wilf.

The builders have gone with their tractors and forklift , the electricians make occasional and random brief appearances , and the long absent gardeners who went off for lunch a week ago never to return , tell us they will be back next week. In other words for the first time in months it is just us and the two boyz. Peace! Sweet, heavenly peace.

I've had a chance to look at the olives today. The wild lupins that we planted as a good eco crop to get nutrient back into the soil are now coming into bloom - I'm hoping that as they come into full flower we will have hectares of red underplanting to the olive groves within a week. It should look amazing and provide excellent feed for the local farmers cows come winter.

We've also started to notice some weird and wonderful blue and purple bulbs cropping up in strange places. I've never seen anything like them growing wild in Scotland. Thank you by the way to the highly intelligent reader who sent us the name of the white crocus like flowers - can you help us with these?.

Wilf is on the mend and will be having plain rice for dinner - hardly his favourite meal but after last nights antics probably the safest to calm his digestion. We are praying that everyhting is now calm, and that we will get a full nights sleep after being up and down with the problem tummy.

View onto Todi at 5.30 this afternoon

After a wonderful start to the day the weather became schizoid and we've had solid,heavy rain. It's quite unlike Scottish rain which is basically wet and grey ( there is a wonderful Scots word - dreech - to describe it ). Here it has been cascading down as it would in the Caribbean. This is tonights view, with heavy clouds, across the olive groves to Todi.

11.00 am view towards Todi

The view towards Todi from the house this morning

There is something about the Italian landscape that appeals to the northern soul. Scotland is beautiful but in an Alaskan-Norwegian-elemental way. Here, the evidence of continuous cultivation and habitation gives the land a softness and sensuality that can't be found anywhere else. This is the view across the fields towards Todi at six this morning. The local villagers think that we are terribly isolated being all of 2 kilometres from the nearest tarmaced road. We on the other hand coming from Scotland think that we're in the middle of it all.The joys of cultural differences!

View of Todi at 6.30 am today

Todi on a windy Tuesday morning in January.

A quick trip into town this morning before we settle down to watch the inauguration on CNN. Before we left there were already people beginning to gather on the Mall and by now it looks as if it's going to be packed solid all the way from the Capitol to the Washington Monument. What a joy to see participatory democracy flourishing despite the cynics.

Todi was deserted.One of the oddities of Italian towns is that every parking space can be filled but there are never any pedestrians in sight. In the main square they are demolishing the Christmas garden and there is now a large unsightly pile of brown earth heaped up in front of the cathedral. This square is one of the most perfect renaissance squares in Europe but is devoid of life - the town needs a good small boutique hotel with a quality restaurant and wine bar attached- then the tourists would come. At its highest point Todi has a church with the most perfect accoustics. This would be an ideal venue for concerts but for some reason it is rarely ever used.

Mist rolling in

We've been out in the garden this afternoon collecting up leaves and generally tidying up. I had it pointed out to me that we wouldn't have been able to do this in Scotland at this time of the year because it's already dark by 3.30 in the afternoon and it would probably be below freezing with a strong wind. Here, it's been another perfect day although there is a bank of mist rolling in from the Tiber. Once again the valleys have disappeared into the fog and the house hangs suspended above this vast sea of cloud with the occasional island surmounted by a town breaking the surface in the distance.Quite magical.

Another bizarre sunset over Todi - broken snowfall record in Milan

The photo from the camera on the mobile phone doesn't do the scene justice but we are having another of the deepest red sunsets I've ever seen - anywhere. It must be something to do with the band of bitterly cold weather that is sitting over much of northern Europe. Apparently Milan has had the heaviest recorded snowfall since in over a hundred years.
Our micro-climate has been delightful with temperatures in low double digits and not a cloud in the sky until late in the afternoon.

Off shopping

It was a wonderful dawn today with the hills behind the house garlanded in red. This morning the cleaning lady is coming in to try to restore the house to a semblance of civility after the ravages of the holiday season. In order to give her some peace we have decide that rather than leave the boyz at home they will come shopping with us to the grocery store outside Todi. Having traipsed across Europe in the back of a car they seem to find going in the car both an adventure and great fun.

Learning about blogging

I've been trying to use the camera on the mobile phone to take all the pictures posted on the blog. Using the mobile to take pictures is really easy and keeps the news flow current but at the risk of becoming too familiar or pedestrian. - but there again isn't that part and parcel of blogging ? This is a view from the house towards Todi taken this morning and I have to say the quality doesn't seem that different from using the Leica digital even for long shots like this. The Sony Ericsson phone I use in Italy has a pretty good lens but after each snap I have to go back to the menu and reset the photo option which takes time and can be really annoying. When I was back in the UK last week I took lots of pictures on the UK Nokia phone but these can only be downloaded by wireless and the UK and Italian operating systems are compatible at some level beyond my technical understanding.Hence the absence of pictures from London and Brighton.Looking back at the last six weeks worth of blogs it's also apparent that by downloading from the phone I'm probably swamping the blog with pictures of the boyz. It might be better to restrict them to just one a day. I'm finding the map showing geographic spread of visitors to be really interesting - the pattern seems to be entirely random. When I take the time to become more proficient I'll see whether people want a blog about the boyz, about Italy, or about a broader range of topics.

Todi's Roman amphitheatre.

Drove into Todi earlier today for a coffee and some grocery shopping. What a glorious day -blue sky and sun but still with the bitter northerly wind. On the walk into town took a side turning and came across the old Roman amphitheatre with houses in an oval pattern where the stands stood and a church built into the centre of the arena. The gate was locked but I'll find out when it's open and take some pictures. Typical of Italy, things that would be tourist magnets anywhere else, are simply ignored and left unsignposted.