Doodling About. Monday 28th September, 2009.

The day slipped through my fingers all too quickly and before I knew it, it was 3pm. We had been planning to buy AJ a lovely silver ring with small black onyx stones in it for his 13th birthday this week. We wanted it to be a surprise but at the same time we thought it would be nice to ask him if he would wear a ring and if he liked what we had chosen. We visited the jewellery store this morning and he just loved it, it is as if it was made just for him. He slipped it on his finger and there it stayed. It will be a lovely birthday gift to mark his entry into teenage hood in a few day's time, and also a lovely memento of our time in Italy. All day he looked at it, asked questions about how best to look after it, and kept telling us how much he loved it. I just love being a Mum.

Matt and Janie called on Skype; it was so nice to speak after being off line for so long. Bud is staying with them while Brad and Vikki are holidaying in the snow, so it was wonderful to see his little furry face, we miss him terribly. We talk about him daily and don’t know what we would do without our wonderful friends who look after him so well. We hope you guys are having a great time in the snow Brad, Vikk and boys; we cannot imagine it snowing as we are spending days on the beach over here.

That’s exactly what we did today; we grabbed a gelato from ‘Paradise’, our favourite gelato place in Castiglione dell Pescaia and headed to the beach. There was a little bit of a breeze about and being a Monday the beach was quiet and tranquil. We walked its length, right to the end which is a high rock wall; we explored there a while before retracing our lazy footsteps to the far end and the harbor wall. We took the long way home, along the harbor filled with fishing boats, watching locals feeding the ducks. A red Ferrari passed and was gone again in an instant.

AJ let himself into the apartment while JR and I strolled the main via with the locals. We stopped for a chat with our friend, the owner of Dal Buchaniere restaurant, he is a lovely man. JR was in raptures after finding a much sought after dish brush in a nearby shop, I don’t think he will let this one out of his sight after being without one for quite some time; this one will travel with him wherever he goes.

Back at home we cooked a big pot of spaghetti and meatballs. The pasta was fresh and just lovely, such good quality and a lovely rich yellow. We all agreed that the meatballs were the best batch ever, maybe it is the meat but I must say they were absolutely delicious and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Fun In The Sun. Saturday 26th September, 2009.

We stopped at Paninoteca-Birreria Pizzeria for pizza by the slice on our way to the beach. This was the place Claudia says is her favourite, where she took us for lunch the day we first arrived in Castiglione. We understand why, it is ours too. It is a rather unassuming place. To be honest, if it wasn’t recommended to us we probably would never have tried it, it looks a little bit unkept from the road side, but inside is a pizza nirvana. We ordered simple Margarita pizza, two slices each at 1.20 euro a slice.

We spent the afternoon at Castiglione’s beach, it was pretty busy being a weekend. Castiglione is a popular holiday/weekender for Italian families as it pretty easy to travel to from Rome, Florence and Milan. We waded out into the depths, the water was pretty clear. I was doing well until I saw a jelly-fish swimming towards me. That was it, I screamed like a big girl’s blouse and high tailed it into shore. With encouragement from the boys I returned to try again. Now there were things touching me. I would stand waist deep in water, look down and all I could see were my toes and the ripples of sand on the sea bottom. The next minute I would be screaming my head off after feeling something touching me. I yelled and screamed and the boys laughed and laughed at me. Again we returned to shore. JR did the next stint alone with AJ. I watched from the safety of the sand. They went out so deep and I longed to be with them so I had a little talk to myself and decided that everyone out there swimming was just fine, if no harm was coming to them, no harm would come to me. When the boys came back and AJ begged me to join them again I did just that. I had a little cry this time giving the boys more fodder for laughs. Once we got out deep enough and we could not touch the bottom, I calmed myself and had a lovely time. In fact, when the boys were ready to come back to shore, I was the one that wanted to stay in the water. The African dudes tried to sell us everything but the kitchen sink as we lay on our beach towels in the warm sun, we waived them on firmly but politely.

We cooked a lovely dinner at home, spinach and ricotta tortelli with a tomato and garlic sauce, and after, we got dolled up and wandered the streets, taking in the wonderful summer, seaside feel that is Castiglione. Everyone was out to enjoy Saturday night. We strolled slowly (I am teaching JR how to stroll and he is doing rather well) enjoying a gelato. JR couldn’t resist dropping into Dal Buchaniere for a late night snack of Margarita pizza, no one resisted of course although I must admit to only having a sliver.

I was ready for bed when my head hit the pillow tonight. My skin had become thirsty after the salt water and I had a little bit of colour to my usually pale complexion. Don’t you always feel exhausted and exhilarated at the same time after a day at the beach?