Although we had some snow in early December, the weather over Christmas was unseasonably mild - we rarely had to light the wood stove in the kitchen. Unfortunately the weather forecast suggests this is simply the lull before the storm and General Winter will launch his blitzkrieg towards the end of this week. It seems likely we will have a repeat of last year's appalling winter.
Sophy and Adam arrived on Christmas Eve - eventually. Owing to fog their plane was diverted from Ancona to Pescara. They shared a taxi with an English couple from the airport to Pedaso where Pat picked them up.
Pat's riding instructor, Glyn, was a very congenial guest for Christmas dinner.
As the large turkey which Pat had ordered from the organic shop in Servigliano had been swept away in floods we replaced it with three small ones. To our surprise they tasted better than a large one, so we will probably stick with tacchinelli next Christmas.
The day after Boxing Day, Sophy, Adam and Pat went for a trek at San Ruffino in the morning -see video above - and in the evening we went for Pat's birthday dinner at the Hotel Leone in Montélparo, owned by the nephew of the couple with whom Sophy and Adam had shared a taxi from Pescara.
Like last year, the village erected a large number of cribs. New locales this year included the approach to the panoramic terrace, the cage which formerly housed a falcon, the cantina of the Palazzo Mercuri and the the former alimentari pictured below.
The Conways very kindly invited us to their New Year's Eve celebration. Gordon was amongst our fellow-guests.
On Saturday we went to the Centro Ippico Balduccia at Sant'Arcangelo di Romagna near Rimini. Pat was thinking of buying the very beautiful grey pictured below.
Unfortunately Pat and Glyn decided that it would be too spirited for her to feel comfortable with.
On the way back we stopped at the Chienti service station on the A14 for dinner and I bought Camilleri's latest Montalbano detective novel, Una voce di notte. James and Gabrielle bought me two novels for Christmas, Bring up the Bodies and Alone in Berlin. In addition, Apple's seasonal app, The Twelve Days of Christmas, which offers a free gift each day from Boxing Day to the Epiphany included two e-novels: Margaret Mazzantini's Venuto al mondo and Il mercante di libri maledetti by Marcello Simoni. So when the snow arrives at least I'll have plenty to read.
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