APRIL IN TUSCANY

It’s April in Tuscany and the flora is waking up, shaking off its winter sleep, rolling out its green carpet, and hanging its leafy drapes.  We’ve had quite a lot of rain since we arrived on the cusp of Spring on April 10^th (see photo above--the "before the rain.")  The streams are now loudly rushing, the fields are resplendently verdant, buds are daily swelling, fruit trees are fragrantly flowering, and I've planted pink and fuchsia geraniums in those planters (see photo below--the "after the rain.")  Mother Nature!!  She always shows up---even if we look the other way.

Last Saturday I took a walk from our Borgo Valuberti down to Borgo Fiume, another small settlement of stone houses on a hill overlooking the Nestore, the river that gives our valley its name.  iPhone in hand, jaw dropped, eyes popped, and heart filled, I took these photos. 

This is the old lilac bush at the edge of our field.

This is our small orchard. 

 

 Our gardener planted these iris along the rock wall at the edge of the orchard.

This is one of our three cherry trees.  We've never seen our fruit trees in bloom, as we usually come to Valuberti in May.

Here is one of three plum trees

and one of three peach trees.

Our prolific white Iceberg climbing rose on the front of the house died a couple of years ago, and we replaced her with a pink Cecil Brunner climber.  Here she is in bud.

Leaving our property, I headed down the dirt road through a light wood and noticed a sapling unrolling its pink and green leaf in a spiral.

At the end of our dirt road, I turned right onto the paved state road toward Castiglion Fiorentino.  Along the way, I noticed a wild cherry (they are everywhere and you know them by their bark, which grows horizontally to the trunk)

 and this apple.

At a distance of about a kilometer, I reached the turn-off to Borgo Fiume.

The Nestore runs through the fields below the borgo.  You can see the river banks in the middle distance in the photo below.

Here is the Nestore itself.

Crossing an old wooden bridge over the river, I walked along a path at the edge of a wood, where I saw nestled among last year's oak leaves these flowers

Further on, I came to two abandoned stone buildings, which I've known for almost 25 years.  My guess is the larger of the two was a dwelling and the smaller a barn to store agricultural equipment.  Many years ago, the farmers at Borgo Fiume planted and harvested grain from these fields and carted it to a mill on the river about two kilometers downstream.  The mill is now so overgrown, it's no longer visible to wanderers.  

 

Continuing along the path, which snaked past some fields newly plowed but not yet planted, I accessed the bank of the roaring Nestore, and I saw this tree, whose leaves were pendent with seeds.

Having for the moment slaked my unquenchable thirst for Spring, I returned to the bridge and headed back to Valuberti, where this wet stone outcropping, adorned in lichens and moss, arrested my progress.

As did this tree, blushing with pink-cheeked seeds.

A day earlier, on another walk, (but this time in the opposite direction, toward Trestina), between kilometer markers 17 and 18, I revisited the Nestore at a bend in the state road.  I so love this river, which is full this time of the year, but dries out to a trickle in summer.  Today, after even more rain, I'm sure it's milk chocolate brown and turbulent.  But on this day, it was crystal clear, relaxed, and relaxing.

Speaking of chocolate, with which everything goes better, even these incredibly heady lilacs that scent the entire dining room, I leave you with this photo of the Lindt dark chocolate Easter Bunny we brought with us from Berlin.

Keep it real!  Keep it fresh!  And stay clear of the news.

Marilyn