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Hi all. I've been away in Tuscany. I didn't really want to advertise the fact before I left for obvious reasons.

We had a wonderful time, the weather was glorious apart from one almighty thunderstorm, and even that was exhilarating.

We stayed in a valley up one of the many "white roads", which are unmetalled limestone tracks, and the scenery was beautiful, especially as the vines were all starting to be tinged with autumn. I got up with the first rays of the sun and went out with the camera and I've got lots of shots to edit. But most of all I enjoyed watching the deer and other wildlife at that hour of the day.

The photograph is of some old ladders made from olive wood below an olive tree.

We also visited Sienna and a lot of the smaller hill towns round about - Piezna was our nearest town. I'll write more about the trip later, just got too much to catch up on around here! (I also hope to go to Wigtown Book Festival this week to hear Judi Benson read.)

I got back last night and today's excitement was my son turning up unannounced to say that he'd just got off the bus from town en route to his part time job and he'd had managed to leave his wallet on the bus seat. So we jumped in the car and I drove him to the Dunbar in the hope of catching up with the bus.

99.9% of the time we'd have missed catching up with it, or someone would have taken the damned wallet - but this time we were lucky, we caught up with it at the terminus in Dunbar, just as it was about to leave and his wallet was still on the seat where he'd left it - with everything inside!

So the Gods are with us today lol :)

Other good news is that Historic Scotland so liked my shot for the SCAPE competition that they've given me a year's membership and are going to do a wee piece on it/me in their house magazine.

I also had some haiku accepted by Haiku Scotland following on from our Coldingham renga being published by them this month and I got short listed in the Tyne and Esk writers' competition. Jo Gibson won the East Lothian section, which was well deserved as I've just read the collection she's put together under Colin's imprint and it's good stuff. I'm just pleased to have improved on last year. A few of us are getting together once a month on a Tuesday to try and work together to improve our poetry writing and I'm really looking forward to that. I've got three or four draft poems from Tuscany and I hope take the best one to the group.

Will look in on you all soon, so don't give up on me - meanwhile a chicken needs roasted, tatties need peeled, washing needs unloaded and I need a G&T.