Blue Skies and Armchair Travels

At the moment, when I leave the house by the kitchen door to go to the garden, this is what I see and smell: the glorious wisteria growing in next-door's garden and arching over the path beside the study. It is so glorious a combination, the two shades of blue in flower and sky and the subtle,heady, sweet scent as you pass below the plant.

We have been thinking a lot about summer adventures and travels, and what we can do for a holiday this year. It seems harder to plan than usual. For starters, the ash cloud effects on flying cannot be ignored, and neither can the parlous economic state of the country and its local effects on all of us.

Then there are the limitations I am experiencing due to health problems, which sap my energy so severely and also are causing extreme pain when I walk the shoert distances I can manage.

At present we can fly from our local airport to New York, but that service will be ended soon, and part of me feels we should try to take advantage of it while it is there. I've been looking around the internet but its so hard to find out information about accessible travel. So can anyone tell me how accessible New York is? I'm not confined to a wheelchair although I have the use of one, but I do use two walking sticks or a rollator walking frame with integral seat. Any advice, suggestions or comments would be ever so gratefully received. When I think of New York I think of busy traffic, the subway (which I don't use in the UK due to the amount of walking involved to get to it), yellow taxis (are they costly?)...

What are must-sees?

Then there's the rest of the world! I yearn to return to Venice, and to go to Turkey/Istanbul and to Granada in Spain, but I'm missing Greece and open to other suggestions. Am I spoiled for choice? Maybe. Over the past few years we've tended to take self-catering properties which are more family-friendly and flexible. I'd love to visit the Scilly Isles but you need to book up sp far in advance - years not months or weeks - because they are so popular. Rome has been suggested but I don't know how easy it would be to get around and I suspect hiring a car would not be a relaxing option there!

So, please, give me some information and ideas! Meanwhile, I'm glad not to be missing the glorious sight and smell of the wisteria over the fence.

Some Firsts

Some seasonal firsts, mostly from the garden with a brief diversion into the kitchen.

 

First rose of the summer, blooming outside the living room window. I wish you could smell it: deliciously fragrant, slightly citrus.

 

I'm very fond of this rose. It's called Sarah and I bought it because my elder daughter shares the name, just before we moved into this house seventeen years ago, so it was one of the first plants we added to this garden.

 

Another view of this gorgeous flower. The namesake girl will be 21 in a fortnight!

 

It's the first year this wisteria has bloomed. It was planted to grow over a wooden arch and has made a diversion into the apple tree.

 

This first is a gigantic Calzone, made yesterday by my birthday boys who were inspired to try to make their own after tasting them in Florence.

 

Above is Alfie on his first visit to our home, and his first experience of a trampoline. He coped remarkably well and behaved himself superbly during his evening with us. He belongs to Joe, Sarah's boyfriend, who visited with him.

 

Lastly, the first hot air balloon of the season - as good as seeing swallows or hearing cuckoos for heralding summer.