Forever out of place

  Spring time, again. And again, we are locked at home, hoping this time it will be short, but knowing that it's impossible to predict how long it will last this time.  The picture above was taken by my daughter, last year on a Saturday we were working outside, preparing the ground for planting our vegetables, as we do every year. And now, it's the first day of spring, as it is every year. There is something so conforting in knowing every year, spring will come again, followed by summer, and so on. It is something that keeps me grounded, maybe because it's one thing we cannot control, but we can predict. And I bet it was more so for my granmothers and grandfathers - the regular alternance of seasons, meant it was time for the work of the season: year after year, the prepration, planting, harvesting, rest, would happen, would be something predictable. I find these thoughts so very grounding. And I found myself buying a book, I haven't read since high school - "Le Op...

And here we go again. Starting on Monday, we'll have a new lockdown. No schools,  no horseriding lessons, no walks on the beach in the nearby town, no bike rides at the National Park... Only online classes for the little ballerina, and work. A lot of work. The thing that hurts more are the "lasts". Yesterday little ballerina had her last day at school. Today we had our last horseriding lesson and games in the park with other kids.  Tomorrow, last visit to my parents. Last year, it happened overnight. This year, we have time to do things we love... one last time for we don't know how long.  They say - until April 6th. Last year too, it was supposed to last for three weeks. It lasted three months. And this time, I feel like I don't have the energy to do this all again. I realize... I have it much easier than other people. Still have jobs, husband and I. We have a little backyard, which is foundamental under these circumstances. We are all healthy, and so are our fri...

What I am wearing today: Only shirt, Gap jeans and Geox boots.  When I planned for my fall capsule, I figured I wouldn't need heavy outerwear for the fall since here it never gets really cold. So I just chose my grey midweight jacket as the heaviest outerwear. I was wrong. We had a cold bout of weather up to three days ago, and I had to resort to my wool coat. It's not really cheating, as I didn't buy anything new, but it's a sure sign my planning skills need improving. And since I planned my wardrobe around the notion that it doesn't get really cold here until the end of December, I might need to switch to my winter capsule before  December 21st, as planned. Now I am aiming to Dec the 15th, but I might switch at the beginning of the month even, if it gets colder. Oh well... I have my winter capsule pretty much in place, and I don't need to buy anything to complete it: I only used pieces I already own. Plus, I am really looking forward to wear my wint...

I started this whole capsule experiment on September 21st, and I was very worried at first. I mean, 37 pieces is really not a lot, plus I had two work trips planned for October... Turns out, a capsule wardrobe really is life changing. All the stuff about it I had read is true: less time spent deciding what to wear, not much more laundry to do, and a definite improvement on personal style, because one has to wear the nice thing she picked even to go to the supermarket. I actually haven't gotten around wearing all the stuff I picked, especially shoes. Packing for work trips was easy too. I haven't taken a picture of what I packed for Barcelona, but here is the stuff I brougt with me in Manchester. Here are 5 tops, including the one I was wearing for travelling, a cardigan, a pair of black pants and a pair of jeans. It was a 3 days conference, so I could have done with a couple of less tops, but I am clumsy when I eat, so I wanted to be safe. Shoes and bag... And ...

Since deciding to go for a 37 pieces capsule wardrobe starting on Sep 21st, first day of Fall -more or less- I was getting anxious I would miserably fail my experiment. What if the choices I had made weren't the best? What if I needed something I had kept out of my capsule very badly? So, to try a "soft start" I decided to do one of these 30X30 challenge that were all the rage some years ago ( remember them ? Kendi invented them well before the capsule trend). So I selected 30 pieces to wear between Aug 21st and Sep 20th. I included clothes and shoes, and excluded handbags and swimsuits. It's actually a pretty difficult time of the year to plan for clothing, since the weather here can go from scorching hot to almost Fall. I included only one pair of closed shoes, knowing it would be a bit risky... So, here is my list -everything was already in my closet, no new pieces here. Shoes 1.Black flat sandals 2. Brown flat sandals 3. Beige heeled sandals 4...

Last July, when we came back from our beach vacation, we decided to spend some days in August in the cool Abruzzo. We found a good deal on an apartment in Santo Stefano di Sessanio, 1200 m altitude, and booked it. It was really a magical place. The apartment was lovely - here is a picture of the place: And the towns around were as beautiful. We went to Santo Stefano, Calascio, Castel del Monte and Castelvecchio. We also drive to Campo Imperatore, at 2100m altitude: We visited l'Aquila too, but didn't take pictures there.  L'Aquila, but also these smaller town, still show the wounds of the 2009 eartquake. I didn't feel like taking pictures of these. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable trip. I would love to go back during the Winter, when there is snow.