Little Baby Thea

Mmmm ! quiet I may have been but my 1 month old new baby daughter certainly isn't. She has been keeping us occupied over the last couple of months. First the anxious hanging around and then the rock a bye baby routine. She has a voice like the siren that sounds when work is finished at the big quarries up in Carrara. I am quite slick at the nappies but the cost of these things. Does anyone want to buy any stone ? The workers should be back from the beach any time soon. Me, I am just taking it easy till iit all starts up again
Ciao
Nickie

Biblical Rain

It just won't stop. There have been rumours for months but it just keeps coming. The good news is that the lakes such as Trasimeno which two years ago was on life support, are fuller than ever. The bad news is that if you come to visit you must bring a rain coat.
Tractors are still getting stuck in the fields, the rivers are overflowing, the vines still haven't committed as to whether they are coming out this year. The quarries are all full of water and extraction is limited. No-one can remember 6 months like this.
But will it all be forgotten about in a month's time when we are talking about drouts and global warming again. lets hope so
Ciao
Nickie

Acting Out A Fantasy

Sorry I have been so quiet recently on the old blog. I have been back and forward to London in some terrible weather helping out my friends at The Stone Theatre. They are hoping to fulfil your greatest marble fantasies, and apart from working on a few recent projects they have, I have been finding suitable antique stone flooring for their revamped showroom in Waterloo.
I was caught in the ash cloud fiasco and also the BA strike and I am now thinking of travelling by car. I will have to crank up the old banger and see how far I get. Conking out in the alps isn't such a bad thing, in fact I can highly recommend it.
Ciao
Nickie

Dallaglio Cycle Slam

A chill wind blew in from the north last week and with it snow and some strange folk.

I was driving down from Siena through a gloomy Buonconvento and happened across some cyclists participating in the Dallaglio Cycle Slam. I stopped to pass on my support and ran into old pal Simon Hunter of Marmi and Granito ltd London.

They are riding between the stadia of the 6 nations Rugby teams. Starting in Rome they hope to head all the way to Edinburgh. Not just tough on the legs but there is snow lying everywhere, and I am told on the first day they had to battle through it as they made the climb out of Rome and up to the lake of Bolsena. Hopefully the weather will improve for the next stage from San Gimmignano up to Lucca.

Its all for a good cause.

Best of Luck

Nikkie

Pan Forte

Happy New year everybody. There is no snow here in Italy, at least not this far South, although we have had lots of rain. Over the new year I watched an interesting twist on "Shove Ha'penny" in Pienza. The locals were using a table in the main Piazza and tossing Pan Forte on top trying to get as close to the far end as possible without them falling off. The women seemed to be coming out on top and there was much commotion as they jostled for a front row seat.
Pan Forte by the way is a delicacy local to Siena. It is made from dried fruit in a sort of cake but un cooked. I am sticking to the pandoro.
Ciao
Nickie