July In Umbria...So Far.

  Ahhhh...What a difference a couple of months make. We can't believe how much the landscape, light and temperature has changed.

  This is why we wanted to spend a bit of time here in high summer. Now that we have our little 'home away from home', we figured it would be a good time to see what all the summer fuss was about.

  It's about this:

  HOT WEATHER..REALLY HOT.

  LOTS MORE PEOPLE. LOTS.

  AMAZING LIGHT...REALLY AMAZING.

  STONE FRUIT!!!

  SWEET TOMATOES!!!

  SUNFLOWERS!!

  MELONS!!!

  LONG HOURS IN THE PIAZZA AT NIGHT!

  Honestly, I was not prepared for the heat. We are sleeping for 4-5 hours in the afternoon, and tonight we are heading to bed at 2am. Seriously. You live in the early hours of the morning and the late hours of the evening. 

  It's a whole new world. Views we have become so familiar with have changed drastically in just a month or two. Who knew? Not us.

  We bought a fan for the apartment today...sleeping at night is basically naked on top of the sheets.

  Coming from a coastal and cool climate, this is such a change.

  But...so glad we are here.

It's all golden and dark green now...

  This view, below is a classic view for us. Here are two shots...now, July 13, and the next in April....

July.

April.

  But our first evening's sunset was too good....

  Around the walls of town, there are big changes, too...

April. Wisteria heaven...

July, it's all about the caper plants!

Caper flower...

  Our morning walk, at six in the morning, was lovely. Cool and crisp. The best and only time to walk...

View from our terrace this morning, before our walk...

From the lower garden, looking at our new home, crack-o-dawn.

Heading down the road for a walk.

Dawn views...sunflowers in the distance.

Grapes getting all grape-y along our walk.

A large plot of onions in the morning light.

  I really hoped that the sunflowers would still be in bloom when we arrived...many are past their prime, but we still are seeing some nice patches here and there...

Bees getting all sexy with sunflowers...

  So thrilled to be back, despite the high temps. Our first lunch at home on the terrace...tomatoes, mozzarella, capers, hummus and bread sticks. Wine, of course.
  Then...a very long nap.

  Life is pretty damn good.