Back in my second home

I’m tired.

The end of the summer and beginning of autumn have been super busy. Not in a bad way, but I’m tired.

I’ve realised recently how traumatising this summer has been and that I’m exhausted. The stress fracture and all the struggle around it, then being diagnosed with a life-changing condition. All the emotions, all the research, getting organised with how to to regain control of my life and help myself, while at the same time doing intense rehab that I can’t slack with if I want to get back to normal, playing gigs, needing to show up cheerful and positive. My head has never been able to rest, I’ve been emotionally engaged in things all the time since April.

I know things could be worse. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been doing good lately and I’m thankful, but now I feel drained.

Do I need to go talk to someone? Well no, I have my husband, and my physiotherapist, personal trainer, and God – they’re more than good enough for me! Do I need a good cry? Nope, had enough of that earlier this year.

So what DO I need?
I need a good holiday, a change of scenery (sorry West Cork, I love you but right now I need sunshine, warmer weather, road trips in the mountains and Trebbiano wine), and to rest my brain.

LET’S DO THIS!

We landed at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Rome on Sunday morning.
I can’t say the trip was smooth. We drove to Dublin on Saturday night, slept an hour in the car before we went to the airport, so let’s say we weren’t in top form when we arrived!

Then getting a car was not a great experience even if we had booked, but we got one in the end and after many ifs and buts, we could finally get going towards Abruzzo. It’s 2-3 hours drive but we took a few wrong turns here and there when we were almost arrived… it’s been too long since we’ve been here!

This is our second home and where we’ve spent our summer holidays and one autumn holiday from 2013 until we moved to Ireland. We had been in the region two holidays before that but in 2013 we were going down with my inlaws and decided to rent a house or apartment instead of staying in hotels. The first to respond to my e-mails was the owner of this place, which is a farm where they primarily grow olives and make olive oil, but they also grow vegetables and various fruits, and have some buildings with simple apartments for tourists. The concept of staying at a farm and taste the goodies from the land is called an “agriturismo” – it’s by far the best way to live while visiting Italy because it really lets you indulge in the culture, get to know some people and the way of life.

Even if the apartment seemed very small, I decided to go for it because it was summer and we would spend most of the time outside anyway.
We’ve never regretted that. This is a fantastic place that is managed by some lovely people who are now like good friends, and it’s so good to finally be back after five years. Some things are different, most are not. The beautiful dog, Bosco, has died (he was 15 years old, I hadn’t realised how time has flown!), the owners are older but still hard working as ever. This season they’re busy with the olive harvest, and we have already received a bottle of the new, ultra fresh olive oil – one of the most amazing flavours I know.

Going for walks in this environment in the morning is soothing for my soul and I already feel restored.

It’s warmer than usual for October, about 30C (86F) during the day and around 18-20C (68F) in the evening. In ireland we had great summer weather in May and June but I couldn’t enjoy it since I was miserable and later in the boot unable to do things outside other than sitting on a chair, so this is my summer of 2023 and I’m enjoying it to the fullest. It’s supposed to rain and be cooler after the weekend but it looks like the temperatures could go back up to above 20 later in the week.

While we’re here, we’ll work part time, enjoy the company of good friends, food, wine, coffee, walks and roadtrips. Stay tuned to see what we’re up to!

I’m linking this with the sadly last Denyse’s words & pics link-up.