A Happy Place

Happy places... 

It was wonderful to be back in Tuscany, staying at La Casina in Castagneto Carducci for a fabulous family holiday, filled with laughter, many celebrations and a few glasses of wine.

The memories of this special time will be coming in serial form, as I have so much to be grateful for and one blog will just not due it justice. This episode is all about the happy places that I appreciate when I come here. 

Next episode is all about the people who make places happy for me. The last blog in the series is... well you will just have to wait to find out. 

The above photo is of me standing outside my accommodation, La Casa Melograno, with a little glimpse of the view of the Tuscan coast behind me. The next few photos feature the overall setup.

one way...

 I rented 5 of the the 13 apartments this time and I think you could say that we took over the place. Which made both Rodolfo and myself, very happy.

Rodolfo is Il Padrone of La Casina and looks after us very well, as did Luca the caretaker. Wonderful occupational name "care taker". One we should all take to heart.

The view from this home from home is superb, showing a panoramic view of the Tuscan coast. However the situation itself is inspiring, lending itself to many a convivial evening, some celebrational events and even moments of sheer joy.

and another...

 

The pool is another of my happy places. I was able to swim most days, depending on what else we were doing. A minimum of 20 lengths at a time and most days I managed 40. 

It is a small pool, so a quick dip before lunch and another after lunch fitted in nicely to cool down from, after a walk up to the village.

Blue skies, Cypress trees and a refreshing pool, what more could I want. 

For the first 5 days, I was on my own allowing me time to settle in and to recover from the journey. Also to recover from the injured ribs and even recover a sense of peace after quite a few weeks of disharmony on the health front.

It really was my very own health spa, one that worked wonders on my well being and physical fitness. 

I am sure the sunshine, vitamin D component helped greatly. As well as a break from wifi, as my devices weren't playing nicely with the in house router. I had to resort to reading a book... and what a book it was. 

David Baldacci was one of Andy's favourite authors and there it was in the "Library" of La Casina, just waiting for me.

Eating simple nutritional food, gazing at a panoramic view that makes you see the big picture in more ways than one and being surrounded by beauty that can lift even the dreariest of spirits, and I was feeling far from dreary.

As I said before, this is my happy place.

As many of you know Andy and I first found ourselves in this part of Italy 15 years ago, when we came to celebrate my 60th birthday and here I was again, this time to celebrate being 75.

Now all it needed was the guests.

Sunset view from my bedroom

Buona notte, baci e un abbraccio 

Eileen.