It has been 5 days we are back from holidays and it already looks like we never went.It is always sad to leave but this summer we were there for a long time and the last few days It felts it was time to go home.Sometimes I miss not to live in the same country of my parents and my grandparents .Sometimes I regret I am not giving my daughters the possibility to actually grow up with their grand and great grandparents.A gift I had and enjoyed very much.I still speak on the phone with my grandparents every day.A daily quick call that it is enough,for me to know they are fine and for them to know I am doing fine and I am thinking about them.Sometimes I regret I can’t stop by at my mom just for a quick coffee but,would I do it if I was in Italy? Hard to say,we all have busy lives.I am convinced that what makes so special and deeply precious and enjoyable the time I now spend with them is the fact that it is not routine,it is a special time because it is limited and it is really wanted.May be what they say,that you don’t appreciate what you have until you don’t have it anymore,it is true!First day or two after coming back girls are a bit sad and melancholic too but then ,without even realising it ,everything goes back to normal.Our “real”life takes over.It is like we never left. These days are still a bit strange because school is not started yet so we are not really back to the usual routine.We are in a sort of limbo and what makes it ever more out of ordinary, is having my husband home unbelievably early in the evening,6.30/7 rather then the usual 8/830/9.August is always a very quiet month at work for him and he won’t back travelling until September.Today is the first Sunday back .We are up quite early.We overslept yesterday and probably had enough beauty sleep.I brought home with me from holidays a terrible cold and cough .In the last two nights I’m taking a codeine sirup to calm the cough and guarantee myself some sleep.It really works.Problem is ,it shouldn’t be taken for more then 3 days ,as it supposed to give addiction.Wow,I can be the first mom addicted to codeine sirup…..who bothers with amphetamine anymore when you can do Codinex!By 1030,we already had breakfast,read the news,made the beds.I am still in my nightshirt and no, I have no intention of walking the dogs .I walk them Monday to Friday,week ends are their father responsibility.The weather was supposed to be cloudy,but it turned out to be pretty sunny instead and warm.The girls set up their tent in the garden that is soon transformed in their origami and drawing shop.The first customer of the day will be rewarded with a free gift and I can’t miss this incredible offer.It is bad to say but with the amount of paper is used in this house we could repopulate the Amazon Forest.I suppose in a way is better then having 2 kids totally addicted to video games. My eldest daughter has been into origami for a long while,paper animals are ganging all over the house(swans,dogs,bats,peacocks,……)but now she discovered Kirigami as well.Basically pop up cards.She is still experimenting with them but,I am sure,we will soon be invaded by pop up cards for every possible occasion.Being the weather so nice we are having BBQ,it might be one of the last of the season.BBQ is my husband territory,I only take care of the sides.Today will be potatoes.I decided to do some roasted potatoes and some boiled too.Leftover will be eaten tomorrow for lunch,if any…..the house rule about potatoes is in fact:” they are never enough”.While peeling the potatoes,still in my nightshirt,I’m being taken by a sudden will of dressing up.I have spent the last 2 months wearing nearly exclusively shorts,t-shirts and Birkenstocks.It is time to regain some vanity!When I am done in the kitchen,I go upstairs,take a shower and open my wardrobe to find inspiration but also something nice and comfortable to wear all day at home.Here it is,my lovely new flower dress that I bought on sale before the holidays and didn’t have the chance to wear, yet.Not that I didn’t try,but,every time there was something wrong.I put it on one night to go to pub with my husband but apparently it was too much for the local pub.I tried again the following week end ,we were supposed to meet friends at the harbour, of course it started to rain and it really looked too summery and flowery.My last hope was Italy.I packed it and imagine myself wearing it while drinking red wine in the evening ,outside in the garden of the house we were staying in Tuscany.A hope that never did find its way to reality: First of all, while in Tuscany, we were gone in the morning and back in the evening,usually after dinner and most of the time so wrecked that the only thing I could drink was a glass of water after brushing my teeth already dreaming the pillow;second of all, we never went below 38 degrees:no way I could wear something long down my ankles.Today is sunny,there is 18 degree,I am not going anywhere ,in one word it is the perfect day to wear my lovely new flower dress.I put it on,pick some pendant hearings with red roses to match and I go downstairs to set the table for lunch.When my husband saw me,I could clearly see the terror in his face: “damn it ,we are supposed to go somewhere and I forgot it”.That is what he was more then likely thinking .He says nothing,I put him out of his misery and said:”don’t worry we are not going anywhere you forgot,I was feeling like a nice dress”.Pew,relief on his face. We have lunch ,BBQ is tasty as usual,potatoes are nearly finished,as usual.My husband is not a sport mad.Football,soccer,rugby season can start and finish without our household to be affected.Shooting season is different.I always joke about the fact I signed a premarital agreement where I agreed that potentially every weekend from 1st of September to 31st of January is booked for hunting.It sounds like a lot but it is not.It s never both days of the week end and in exchange I get to eat a very nice home made woodcock pate'(made exclusively with breasts).This to say that ,when he asked if I minded if he was going to watch the formula1, of course I didn’t.I can’t really complaint about his addiction to television and sport, beside,I grew up being fed with cars,motorbike,formula1 ,MotoGP and I always enjoyed that world.The girls are back to their shop,he helped me clean the table and then go sitting on the couch watching tv.Coffee is ready.I serve it to both of us in my nice cups and bring his to him.I leave it on the coffee table. I drink mine in the garden.I sit and instinctively let my head go back .I close my eyes for few seconds enjoying the silence .I feel the sun caressing my face.I feel content.I feel today I am happy just wearing a fancy dress for no specific reason and drinking my coffee from my great grandmother china.