At the Auto Italia Car Show

Giancarlo and Erika.

Auto Italia Car Show, Canberra, Australia - 2010

The top two photos are Giancarlo's Fiat X1/9 - that I used to own many years ago. There was a photographer there who said he was going to put its pic in the next issue of Torque magazine.

Trixie on the cat scratcher

I moved two of them about - so they were all new to Trixie!
She had a lovely play.

My Cozy Collection

What is a "cozy"? Well, the crimes take place off scene, there is usually a cat, a cup of tea and hot, buttered toast. And they are often set in an English village. There is another definition here and a list of great cozy authors from A to Z.

I was asked about my cozy collection so here some of it is:

Lilian Jackson Braun - the Cat Who series. Qwilleran is in his 50s and inherits a fortune. He has a pair of siamese cats and he solves mysteries. They are my favorites I have read them several times and I now listen to them.

Sara Paretski - the Private Investigator, V.I. Warshawski series set in the US.

Katherine Hall Page - the Body in the.... series. She is married to a minister, has 2 children, is a caterer and solves mysteries.

Jonathan Gash - the Lovejoy series. Set in East Anglia, an antiques series with mysteries.

Jill Churchill - the Jane Jeffries series. She is a mother who is an author, and has a friend she solves mysteries with.

Earlene Fowler - a mystery sort of quilting series. She doesn't talk about the quilts much actually. The character is Benni Harper.

Colin Dexter - the Inspector Morse series.

Carolyn Hart - the Death on Demand bookstore mystery series.

Marcia Mueller - Private Investigator Sharon McCone series set in San Francisco.

Patricia Wentworth - the Miss Silver series, like Agatha Christie's Miss Marple.

Agatha Christie.

Mary Stewart - the mystery books.

Dorothy Gilman - the Mrs Polifax, Spy series.

M.C. Beaton - the Agatha Raisin Private Investigator series set in the Cotswolds.

M.C. Beaton - the Hamish Macbeth mystery series set in Scotland.

Diane Mott Davidson - the Goldy Schulz catering mystery series set in the US.

Rhys Bowen, the Evan policeman series set in Wales.

Joanne Fluke - the Hannah Swensen cookie catering series set in the US.

John Grisham - a lawyer series set in the US and Italy. More action than cozy actually.

Nevada Barr - Anna Pigeon is a Park Ranger in the US who solves mysteries.

Nancy Pickard - mysteries set in the US. The Jenny Cain and Eugenia Potter series.

Amanda Cross - the Kate Fansler university series set in the US.

Patricia Moyes - the Inspector Henry Tibbett policeman series.

Sue Grafton - Kinsey Milhone series set in the US, titles go from A to Z.

Karen Kijewski - the Kat Colorado mystery series.

Nancy Atherton - the wonderful Aunt Dimity series set in England.

Gerald Hammond - two series set in England - the Keith Calder books and the Three Oaks dog series.

Digital scrapbook layouts of Italy

Positano Lion and Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Angels in the architecture

Staying in San Gimignano

I'm booked in at La Cisterna Hotel later in the year for 9 nights and the look on a colleague's face when I told her was priceless. You see, she lived in bustling Rome for three years.

If you have stayed there, have wandered the tower-shadowed streets in the golden early morning before the day (two-hour) trippers pop in to have lunch at a reviewed restaurant and to buy a bottle of wine...

When we go up to the Fortress at 8am, we only have to share the view with a resident cat or two.

Only the two main streets are tramped by the ever-changing tour groups, and only really between mid morning and late afternoon. All the rest of the town - the myriad of side streets, the walks along the town walls - are left to the inhabitants.

Now when one looks at the photos, which are all in main squares of the town, can you play "spot the tourist"? - No, just me! Honestly - it's heaven on Earth.

Capri Cat

Giancarlo has been gardening

Roses from San Gimignano