Wonderful weekend

This particular week in Carmine Superiore has started damp and cold, with a sprinkling of snow on the hills of the Valle Cannobina. Two degrees at 8:30 am as we rolled into a Cannobio whose streets were littered with distinctly soggy carnival confetti. And this, after we clocked 17°C in the garden at the weekend.

It was a stupendous weekend. Blowy, but sunny. We took off our jackets and made for the garden, where we pruned roses, planted sunflowers and clematis, and generally tidied up. We were accompanied by the roar of chainsaws in the woods; the sound of warmth-in-winter, the sound of log fires in the making, the sound of long, hot, relaxing baths. We ate lunch al fresco not once but twice, and we found ourselves telling a wave of Sunday visitors how lucky we are to live here. It's good to remind ourselves of that fact.