ITALIA, QUI VENIAMO ..........

In a few days we will be off on our holidays to Italy!! It is Viareggio and Sienna who are the lucky ones to have our company. From those two bases we can explore the delights of Lucca, San

Gimignano and the Cinque de Terre among the other glorious towns and villages of Tuscany.

.......... a few platefuls of this ..........

.......... some of these ..........

.......... and a few scoopfuls of this .......... all washed down with a few glasses of ..........

THIS !!!!

Just to be sociable, of course !!!!

See you all soon.

LIVE FOR TODAY, PLAN FOR TOMORROW AND PARTY TONIGHT !!!! ..........

After a day of exploring the delights of Rye, it was time for the reason that we had come to Rye in the first place. My sister's friend's, Tina and Nigel were having a joint 60th birthday party. They live in Horsham, but have a cottage by the sea in Rye. The cottage belonged to Nigel's aunt, and he and his brother had spent many happy times there when they were children. When Nigel's aunt died, she left the cottage to Nigel.

Come on in and have a look round ..........

This is the outside ..........

The cottage is just a long, single story building and Tina has 'shabby-chic'd' her way through it !!

.......... with some lovely little touches ..........

The day of the party was the hottest day of the summer and just perfect for the setting .........

They had had tents erected outside, which were decorated with Indian fabrics, wooden elephant tables and black sofa's with brightly coloured cushions ..........

Near the lake was another, similarly decorated tent , where one could get a nice alcoholic beverage !! I had a few of those, just to be sociable !!!! ..........

There were also tables set up, beautifully decorated and ready for guests to partake in a fantastic Indian meal ..........

There were beautiful parasols placed around the cottage, made from rich Indian silk fabrics and fringes of mirrors that sparkled in the sunshine ..........

and large urns, filled with floating candles and rose petals ..........

There was a beautiful sunset and, as day turned into night, there was dancing, more food and drink and a magical time was had by all, until the wee small hours !!

It was the most wonderful setting for what was a fabulous party.

A POCKET FULL OF RYE ..........

So, after a day of pure indulgence, my sister and I went off to Rye for a couple of days. We had been invited to a 'big' party in Rye, but more of that in the next post. We booked in to ' Willow Tree House' Bed and Breakfast and what a good choice it was.


It has been beautifully renovated by the present owners, which had take them 4 years !! I took photos of some of the bedrooms before the other guests arrived !!

After settling in to our room, we went off to explore Rye. It is such a pretty town. Beautiful old houses.... even Paul McCartney has a place there and is often seen around the town.

Don't you think that it was good of this pigeon to pose for me ?!!

The weather was glorious and we had the party to go to the following day ..........

To be continued ..........