Villa Cassia di Baccano, San Giustino

I still haven't finished writing up the last two posts about our Italy trip but here's a the last one; a few snaps taken in and around the fabulous villa we stayed in on our holiday, taken early in the morning and at (what Terrence Malick calls) 'magic hour', when the sun is low in the sky, just before dusk.

Week 31

A couple of weeks ago, on an ante-natal visit, a doctor told Ibolya that he was concerned about little bubba's growth; that she was below the where she should be on the growth graph and that, potentially, she might have stopped growing and have to be delivered early. He booked us in for another scan two weeks later so he'd be able to measure the growth in between the two dates. We've been holding our breathes for two weeks but rejoicing in every little, reassuring, movement bubba's been making in Ibolya's tummy.
We had the scan on Monday afternoon and to our over-whelming relief, bubba's size is bang on where it should be and the original measurements were probably a bit shoddy.
It was also really great to hear that she's turned, is now head down and the right way down to start her journey into the big wide world, in about 8 weeks time.
I read somewhere this week that from Week 31, babies start to dream. It's an amazing thought that this little life, in it's dark cramped world, already has an active consciousness.

Grass

Our new grass is getting rather long and luxuriant. Ruby and the cats are making the most of it before the first cut at the weekend.

Saturday Morning

Saturday morning - I woke with a bit of a head from seeing LCD Soundsystem at Brixton Acedmy, the night before. We had a quick breakfast with Christophe (our friend from Beunne, who staying the weekend) and then took a quick ride down the Central Line, to Queensway, for a brisk walk through Kensington Gardens, stopping to say hello to lots of dogs. Then on to the Serpentine Gallery to see Richard Hamilton's spectacular one man show. After that we went to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground, which is by far, the best playground we've ever taken Ruby to; we all had a lot of fun and Ruby particularly loved throwing herself down the big slides.

Sienna, Italy: April 8th 2010

Again, adding text sometime over the weekend but here are the pcitures from our final stop in Sienna. Think I wacked up the lighting levels a bit too high on these.

Arezzo, 7th April 2010

Still about 2 holiday posts to go now and will have to return to this one with some more text about the scintillating town of Arezzo and the gobsmacking 'Legend of the True Cross' fresco cycle by Piero Della Francesca, when I get time. But as it's Friday afternoon and it's a lovely sunny day out, I thought I'd share these few pictures and reminisce about the wonderful day we spent there.

Barley Croft

We spent the weekend at my twin sister's house, in the Bedforshire countryside, surrounded by my wonderful family. I'd been looking forward to getting up to my sister's since Ruby's started walking so she could really enjoy their huge garden, for the first time and get to see some country wildlife. The weather was perfect for an afternoon walk in a nearby country park and as well as meeting the Bennett's chickens, Ruby also got to meet a very friendly pony called Mandy and a neighbour's dogs. I got to have a cross-country run with my elder sister, Jane, had a lot of fun with my brother-in-laws playing Wii, loved playing football with my niece and nephews, had some terrific food and wine and also got to see my Mum and Dad too. What a glorious weekend.