We arrived in Cortona almost two weeks ago. It is always a special time for us to be able to be in this most beautiful town with the most lovely people. Whenever we arrive up at the top of the hill that Cortona sits on and start walking down Via Natzionale we feel like we are home.

As we walk along, dragging our suitcases, there are Massimo and Danniele from Cafe Tuscher smiling and giving us a warm hug. If he is not in there with them having something to drink, we are pretty sure we will soon run into Ivan. He is the owner of the tobacco shop and Il Pozzo, the beautiful gallery that carries unimaginably spectacular photography, leathers, gifts etc. As a “coming home” ritual we always share a drink. We see the Mollesinis who own the grocery store as we stop by for some groceries to take to the apartment. It seems like we are in there just about every day, but we always enjoy seeing them. We usually stop and say hello to Rob and Emma who own Bar 500. Other friendly, familiar faces gesture to us and we know we are home.

Lunch or coffee with Judy and Len, if they are in town is always fun. Judy and I met through our shared love of photography and Italy many years ago. Her blog page is blogginginitaly.com. She loves research and detail so her blog posts are educational as well as fun.

Visiting with our special friend Maria is like spending time with family. Within no time we have caught up on happenings, children, health etc. and we are settled in for the evening playing cards.

Soon to meet up again with Vanessa who we met as a teenager. Now grown and married with two children she is a busy young woman. We do manage to get together with her and her beautiful, loving parents and grandparents for visits when we are here each year. Then we get to see Francesco who is a lovely soul and amazingly talented pianist. We met him many years ago and have enjoyed keeping in touch with him through the years.

I think you can see why it takes a while to update on here what we have been doing. We have been settling in, back here, at home in Cortona.