The Heymann Family Journal

It's been raining allot the past two days.  It's made it easy to decide to return home one day early.  So today we packed up everything.  Juergen was sure it would never fit.  I was sure it would be fine.  And I was right.  We had loads of space to spare.  I want to fill it up with a few more plants.  We will see!  I went to a second hand shop both yesterday and today.  I picked up a few small things (nothing too big).  But they had really beautiful  furniture for very good prices (antiques).  If I wanted to rent a truck and travel 12 hours, I could really have fun shopping for furniture, food, plants and terracotta pots.  But no chance!  Besides, my house is already pretty full.  I don't really need much.  And I'm looking forward to being home.  We plan to stop in Austria over night, and get home on Saturday (God willing).  I've already packed my camera card reader.  The last photos wi...

Markets in Italy are filled with the best food. I bought my plants today. I got red onions, peppers, melon, lettuce, tomatoes, egg plant, cucumber, and basil. I love Italian vegetables. My garden will be happy to welcome these new plants. I just need to figure out how to get them home. Such a good problem!

Juergen took the kids to San Gimignano today to try the worlds best chocolate ice cream. Jessica didn't want to go anywhere. I'm ok with that. I have not slept well. The beds in this fine villa are really pretty bad. We even put the mattresses on the floor to get a firmer mattress. I'm tired of traveling. I really wouldn't mind just going home. But I'm trying to keep a good attitude. It's cold, and we expect more rain. I am just going to keep looking for good stuff to do (even if I don't feel like it really). I read Figline Valdarno has an antique market on Tuesdays. So maybe that's something for tomorrow. Italy is wonderful. It's just me, I'm tired of being away from home. The winter was so long and cold. This spring has been too busy for me. I hope to have a lazy summer. The Fall already looks too busy. I’ll be traveling, and Juergen will too. It’s nice to have the family away. I think I’ll take a nap. Jessica is being swee...

It has over 8000 kinds of roses. The smell was amazing.

Today I drove with my friends to see the hills Da Vinci painted in many of his works. People of Arezzo in the Val di Chiana, a valley in Tuscany, have traditionally claimed the Mona Lisa landscape as theirs.