Blossoming Tuscany

We are having a great time in the Tuscan countryside!! We are staying in a farmhouse that is over 300 years old, just up the road from the studio. When they were renovating the house many years ago they felt a soft spot under the flooring and looked to find an Etruscan tomb directly beneath the house that was a couple thousand years old

Several students are staying at this lovely home, and it is a blast.

Our room is on the very top floor, with beautiful views of the countryside!

The end of summer here was rainy, and has delayed the grape harvest. They are just now beginning to pick them, mostly by hand. There are vineyards and olive orchards everywhere, with a few pastures in between. This is definitely farm country and is very beautiful. It is quiet...in the mornings we wake to a distant rooster crowing, and the crickets sing loudly at night. Last evening several of us sat before the big open fireplace after supper and sipped local wines while we enjoyed the fire. We had a special cooking demonstration by one of our hosts' family, and we had an olive oil tasting. An olive oil from "two hills over" won a world class award this year! I will bring some of it home