A PAPPARAZZO IS BORN

A windfall came my way yesterday and it didn't even have time to burn a hole in my pocket. I hot-footed to the camera shop and bought a new lens. It's as near to an all-purpose lens as you can get and a far better zoom than I had.

So then, this is the villa below us. It's a half mile away as the crow flies or, as Italians say, in a line of air. I'm sorry about the wires but they are a fact of life. There is no point using PhotoShop to deny it. The villa is owned by a lawyer whose casual advice we once sought regarding a ruined old mill we bought. The mill room was windowless and when converted into a sitting room would have been a cave. Planning laws in Tuscany are very strict. No window before? Too bad, no window after, either.

We asked the lawyer what we might do when applying for planning permission. He thought about it for a flash minute and then said that we could "test the wall" for soundness and if a hole appeared...well, who could say what was there before? And that's why the sitting room of the mill house now has a lovely double window looking out onto a water fall.

This is the picture I got normally when taking pictures out of my window with the villa beneath. It's a misty day and neither picture is crystal clear but it doesn't stop me chortling with glee over the new lens. Regular villa view

This is sunlight on a peony blossom, straight from the camera and the other end of the lens.
Peony