More travels

My imaginary travels move on today. I finished my jigsaw of Paris yesterday. Today I hope to start one of Lake Como.

I was surprised the other day when I was looking at a guidebook of Italy in an anticipation of our holiday. There was a picture of Lake Como, the very same image as this jigsaw. Its yellow curved building at the forefront, the oh so blue lake behind & the rich green forested hillside between.

I’m also hoping to read a bit more about the area we’re actually visiting. Much will depend on whether our gardener turns up. Friday is her usual day but to my mind, it’s too wet today. It’s very showery. The showers are heavy but not very long lasting. In between we seem to be having bright blue skies. It is possible she will conclude it’s worth coming for the dry spells & hope there aren’t too many showers.

The garden is looking quite autumnal. The rowans are heavy with orange berries, the apple tree with rosy apples soon ready to pick. The mint is in flower & the leaves are looking tired. The greenness is draining from them. The lavender, too, is losing its fresh purpleness. The bees do not seem to be buzzing much now. It’s seems early for autumn but it definitely seems to be on its way. Our neighbour’s silver birch has been going slowly golden for a while now – our gardener suspects it’s diseased & dying but it may just be autumn. Autumn coming this early usually presages a hard winter to come. It’s time it did. It’s a while since we had a really cold winter.