Bella Tuscany

This cold pretty well laid me low for the past week, but I'm starting to get back to normal now.

One of the books I finished during that time was Bella Tuscany by Frances Mayes. I'm pretty sure it was sent to me by my aunt several years ago when she also sent me Mayes' first book on Tuscany, Under the Tuscan Sun. I think I enjoyed this book even more than the first one.

In this book she writes about the time she and her husband spent in Italy when they took their sabbaticals together and thus were able to spend a far longer amount of time there than usual. While reading of their activities there -- day trips to see other towns, stopping by farms to pick up fresh ricotta, spending a few days in Sicily at Easter, etc. -- I thought how wonderful it would be if my husband and I could rent a place in Tuscany for six months or so, possibly even a year, if we're not too decrepit by the time he retires. But then I remembered we have a dog and a cat who are so young we'll surely be decrepit by the time they're no longer with us ... if we even live that long.