I was quite fortunate to have an easy trip back as there was a lot of snow and both planes had to be de-iced before take off. I did the journey in two days and stayed overnight at the Willows Guest House near Stansted airport. (It is a lovely place to stay and they pick you up and take you back to the airport. The area round about is like something out of Midsomer Murders with all types of gorgeous cute houses and the guest house has a thatched roof -which is why I picked it years ago and have stayed there several times. This time with snow on the roof and in the garden it looked magical.)
I flew into Bari airport and for the first time had booked a seat on a bus to take me as far as Matera. However - as so often happens - it changed. I was just walking past a tourist info booth in the airport and thought I would see if they had any bus timetables, resulting in me getting on another bus (the most beautiful metallic pink colour) which took me all the way to Metaponto - for 7 euros.
Since I got back, apart from a marathon, house clean ,I have been just easing into life here.
This morning to get me in the mood I went uptown and had coffee and a strawberry tart for breakfast. Then went to the flower shop where I bought all the flowers I could afford (4) and got a possible commission from the lady selling the flowers.
It was a lovely sunny morning and planting and re arranging flowers and pots was a great job. (tee shirt weather) I think I have room for a lot more flowerpots and am having vague plans involving climbing plants and more interesting things. Mostly I grow geraniums because they put up with me.
It is definitely spring here and my studio has heated up inside from a chilly 12c to a frankly not much better 15c , but it is going in the right direction. Outside its between 15 -20c.
This week will be mainly getting myself organised I think and then hopefully I will spring into action . (Very bad pun)
The last photo is of a small Painting I did in Scotland while, sniffing and coughing to cheer myself up. It worked!
