In The Italian Style

A quiet morning. At BB’s request I baked a lemon drizzle cake.  I then scrabbled around for something to make soup with – it ended up being pea and coriander.  I also sat on the sofa eating toast and marmalade and caught up with a bit of soapland!  The boys returned from church and told me how cold it was.  BB also told me about the delicious biscuits he had had and of the injury he is now sporting – nothing serious.

We were a bit loathed to go out in the cold this afternoon, but we ventured to Crichton Castle, a ruined castle up the River Tyne in Midlothian.  It sits in a commanding position high above the river. It appears to be a mishmash of buildings and styles, but the thing I find most interesting is the Italian-influenced façade facing onto the courtyard.  Apparently it was inspired by travels to Italy – check out the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara and Palazzo Sterepinto in Sciacca.

Once home we needed to shop for the things I didn’t get yesterday.  Then it was time for homework.  Reading went very well, although BB couldn’t remember how many chapters he had to read and hadn’t written it down.  He’s still on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and giggled his way through the chapter about Augustus Gloop!  Cello was more of a challenge as he really couldn’t remember what to do and the homework sheet wasn’t much help.  We told him just to practice anything!

Here is that Italiante façade – to be honest I think it looks out of place, but it must have been a talking point in the 16th century  -  along with the straight staircase which you can see in the far left arch (as opposed to the more usual spiral staircases).  If you look carefully you will spot BB!