Nice thoughts from my doorstep

Have been sitting on the doorstep having breakfast.
It's one of my favourite places to be. I am screened from the street by flowers and a large picture frame carefully positioned and draped with net curtain , fake ivy and pink plastic flowers. Despite the description it blends in really well with all the real flowers.
(I think there is something funny and interesting about mixing a few fake flowers in with the genuine plants. )
It's may, so most of my flowers are blooming.
When I look towards the valley I am looking through a mixture of Rosebush and climbing shrub  mixed in with most vivid red geraniums and some basil
I look over the top of the lavender bushes which are strangely soothing. Just beyond it I can see the top of a little Christmas tree which someone gave me at my first art exhibition in my little artists house and later I planted it. It seems to like living here.
I can just see the bluey hills in the distance through the branches of the big tree at the end of the street.
It is a beautiful tall tree which stands up tu the most violent winds by bending this way any that. Presently it has new reddish orange leaves.
It is behind the little white house which is actually only a wall with about 3 rows of higgeldy piggeldy tiles left on top.if it wasn't there I would be seeing the sea in the distance.
I am very proud and amused by the little statue which stands beside me holding my coffee cup. It makes me feel I am being waited upon.
This morning it's peaceful.....just cars and bells and strimmers and people talking and birds singing....
Peaceful.

My life, mostly, as a story continues........

It's been ages since I wrote on this blog because I always think it has to be perfect and fascinating, brilliant and witty, entertaining and knowledgeable etc etc.......
It's a wonder I do anything with an attitude like that.....being a perfectionist is dumb ( though it does keep me trying ...)
On the other hand it could just be that I am lazy and boring and illiterate........
So now that I have got that out of the way,  how is my "fairytale" life going?
Well , more than once recently I have pondered on the fact that I appear on the surface to have become  someone I would have liked to have been and am mostly living a life that I could not have dreamed of because it's way beyond anything I thought I could ever do.
Before I go any further , to add a reality check, am still only eating softtish food as I can't afford to go back to the dentist, will probably still have a roof leaking in new places and an alarming bulge in the ceiling under upstairs plumbing this winter as I need to eat before fixing the roof, I won't be turning the hot water on now till I go back to once a week in October (It'll be lukewarm all summer- who needs hot water when its 30c outside.) and I will likely be back to wearing 3 jumpers and a hat inside from about november till march.
But mostly it's worth it.
I get to live as an artist. I paint portraits which people buy to give as gifts. ( that seems such a big thing to me- , to make something that is for a gift.) My studio despite its failings is so pretty - and in summer it's perfect. The weather is miles better than that in the uk. The local people are spectacularly kind and friendly. I get to practice speaking another language- and am mostly proud of my efforts. I get to drink great coffee and I can afford to buy good wine and eat (well, sort of......)delicious food. I can wear anything I like and never be overdressed. I walk up town and greet people and they greet me back . I go to concerts and plays and hear musicians in both small venues and out of doors and enjoy theatre completely different from anything I was ever used to. Recently I have worked alongside other artists which is a great treat.
But mostly I get to live in another culture where despite my lack of language I have felt at home.
Today , as I was passing the nearest restaurant I was given a copy of a new guidebook made by some of the people of Pisticci  showing some of the local attractions and traditions and I am in it too. That makes me mostly very, very happy indeed.
 I am including some photos which I will probably turn into paintings at some point ,including my new little arbour and winetable.
Today am off to meet a friend for coffee and prosecco because it's Thursday, finish a portrait, write another blog post, pay a bill in the commune and then sit on my doorstep with a glass of wine- at least that is the plan. I got up at 6.30am so that I could have time off for coffee, but as I am sitting at the table with the door open and the sun streaming in, it's not exactly been a hardship . I am looking over at my new summer fireplace which always makes me smile.
Hurray for summer and Pisticci.