What a summer!

Where have we been for the past couple of months?

Independent girls in London

I left for London via a week driving around Ireland for work - it had been a while since I'd driven on small country roads on the 'wrong' side - and I only went on the wrong side once. Next to leave DC, were the girls  - they flew solo to London and arrived on Independence Day - P & J had decked out the house in suitable decor. We had fun catching up with family and friends while in London - including best friends who left DC last year.


Gregorio arrived for the perfect English country wedding of my cousin. It was a glorious week-end complete with elegant clothes and hats, pimms, family from far and wide, kids frolicking on the lawn, tearful moments and much happiness in the lovely Bath countryside. The walks along the river avon looking at the narrow boats and swans floating by and the roast beef and yorkshire puds at the pub on the Sunday completed the memorable week-end.

Next stop Rome for less than 24 hours. Gregorio (remember the new slim version now that he is obsessed by running....it's a mid-life crisis thing) did serious damage to his credit card picking up a new wardrobe. And we had a wonderful evening catching up with dear friends, some we had not seen since our wedding.

From Rome we drove north to the Alps via Pisa. I had been longing to go up the Leaning Tower since 1980 when we had been turned away because my mother and I were in sundresses. We stopped for a couple of hours, in the heat of the day and climbed up the tower. It was impressive but Mati and I were uneasy with the lean and being at the top and looking down. We tired to get the statutory photo of us trying to hold the tower up. We made it to Susa in time for dinner - Gregorio did brilliantly navigating  through the endless tunnels around Genoa.

Once in Susa we switched off and enjoyed nearly three weeks of hiking and picnics in Italy and France - going where the weather seemed better or whose food we fancied - was it baguette and pate sort of day or a panino with salame e formaggio. Highlights included seeing many ibex at close quarters, fantastic scenery, eating a copious amount of prosciutto and gelato and a night at the refuge at 2,700 m - which nonna also enjoyed with us.

Eating well earned dinner at the refuge with nonna and Emma

On someone's birthday we divided in Milan. Matilde and I went direct to London. Gregorio and Isabella had a delay and a detour to Washington DC. Isabella definitely wins the prize for the best traveler  - they arrived in DC at 1 am (nearly 24 hours after setting off) on Tuesday 5th August, at 9 am they were in the hospital for the monthly check-up and medication. At 10 pm, Isabella was on a flight back to London. She was full of beans as she walked into the arrivals hall at LHR the next morning and kept going all day.

with Peter and poppies at the Tower of London

Selfie at Stonehenge

The girls and I then had three lovely weeks in England staying with dear friends and generally enjoying the English countryside in Kent and Cornwall at 'dream house 1' and dream house 2'. While I worked, the girls picked fruit, made jam, helped in the garden, cleaned the pond, fed the chickens etc. We fitted in some cultural visits with jousting at Hever Castle, Chartwell (Matilde had done a project on Churchill and was fascinated), Stonehenge, poppies at the tower and much more. We had cream teas, sausage rolls, lots of 99s, scampi and chips, cornish pasties, gooseberry fool, summer pudding and more - all classic nostalgic English fare for me.

wearing wellies in England!

gelato a Roma

Meanwhile Gregorio was back in DC managing the fort and yet another round of work in the house. Needless to say, that despite promises the work is not complete and when we got back last Saturday we were greeted with dust and chaos. It always seems such a good idea to have work done while we are away....anyway we are looking forward to getting the house back to normal in the next week or so.

Year 6 - top of primary and Year 8

We spent Monday and Tuesday back in DC at rather a lot of medical appointments - all stable. We are due to end the treatment at the end of October and then three monthly follow ups. The good news is that if there is regrowth we can retreat with the same drug.

Today the girls started back at school. Much excitement. Here is our usual first-day-of-school-smiles-outside-the-front-door photo. And a new year begins. I am sure there will be many tales and adventures to tell. We will update you soon. Highlights to look forward to for some - I am off to the Venice Film Festival on Friday - hey, it's work and someone's got to do it! Gregorio heads to Turkey just after I get back. Italian grandparents are kindly arriving later in the month so that I can then fly out to Turkey and join Gregorio for a few days. Finally I will get to see why he loves Istanbul so much. In November we are heading to Mexico where the girls will be bridesmaids. It's all go.



Lots of love,
Emma et famille xx