Rooftop garden at the place where we stayed. The light and air were gorgeous here.
Happy Friday!

Where we stayed in Rome. On a quiet street in the Trastevere neighborhood.

Chesnut vendors on the street of Rome. Right around the corner from the Piazza Navona, if I remember correctly. I love the colors in these photos; the yellows, browns, blacks, and greys. And the stripes too. Perfect for fall. It's not really fall here yet. Still getting very warm days. It's gorgeous, but I'm getting ready for some crisp weather.

Happy Monday! All this week, I'm going to be revisiting Italy (on the blog). I took so many photos last fall, but never really took the time to post all my favorites. In Rome, I fell in love with the color of this building and with looking at the windows, imagining who lives behind the shutters.

Almost a year ago that we were in Italy! This little market was in the Trastevere neighborhood in Rome. I love daily markets. We're lucky to have a great weekly market right in our neighborhood, but wouldn't a daily market be amazing?

It's the end of the flower season in my garden. A few straggling roses and thank goodness for the hydrangea, whose nice dose of color perks things up. Flowers on fabric are nice too!

We went to a family wedding this past weekend. We were a bit late having run into traffic on the way and we had to rush inside and finish getting dressed before the ceremony started outside the house. The house was empty except for us, the calm before an explosion of a party. There have been many family weddings at this place, including our own 14 years ago. I thought maybe going to this wedding would be like revisiting our own, but it wasn't. Ours stands alone in my mind as being unique to us in every way.

School started on Tuesday and so did the rain. It just stopped a few hours ago, so the last few days I've been holed up inside my house cleaning, knitting, cooking, baking. Doing all those things I really didn't do much of in the summer weather. Anyway, I was glad for the rain as my plants needed it so badly! And as I really needed some quiet time, the rain gave me an excuse to stay inside and be domestic.

So, the cake pictured above is apple and raisin, and a really nice one to bake in the fall. You can find the recipe here. It's the kind of cake that makes your whole house smell delicious for at least a few hours after baking it. And it tastes even better the next day.

Late summer, back at home now after being away for almost 5 weeks. I'm happy to be home. It's cooler now in the city, cool enough to drink a cup of tea at night. I like that. It's been taking all week to get things together here, getting ready for the kids going back to school, seeing friends and neighbors, cleaning, weeding the garden, grocery shopping. It's nice to cook in my own kitchen again and to visit the farmer's market down the street from my house. I'm working on knitting a sweater. Almost half way done, I think. I've got lots of knits planned for the fall in my shop....so yeah, got to get knitting!