Life on the Vine

As I was working on my post about our trip to Tuscany, I was looking through our photos and saw several pictures we'd taken of cats we'd seen in some of the hill towns.  Seeing those pictures reminded me of the cats we'd seen in Sicily and Malta.  While I can't say I've ever seen cats roaming the streets in Germany (dogs rule here), we do see them often in Italy and countries in the Mediterranean.  This is a totally random post but I thought I might share pictures of our international kitties. Chillin' in Malta Mooching up to Tom in Mt. Etna, Sicily - hoping for a handout Cruising the streets in Sarteano Street Urchin in Taormina, Sicily Waiting for someone to let them inside in Sarteano The house cat at our agriturismi ( Il Sasso ) in Tuscany Catching some rays in Montepulciano Kitty in Sarteano -- looks like he had a long night I think this is Medina, Malta Two of my favorite kitties - found these guys in Taormina, Sicil

Shortly before Tom moved back to the States and a couple weeks before our wedding anniversary, Tom and I flew to Florence, Italy to do a six day trip through the hill towns of Tuscany in early October.  We had originally planned to do the trip over our anniversary, which is October 25, but had to reschedule after Tom got his job offer.  Tom is not a fan of large cities so we opted to skip Florence and spend our time exploring the countryside.   I am a big fan of Frances Mayes , having read almost all of her non-fiction work - Under the Tuscan Sun , Bella Tuscany , Bringing Tuscany Home , In Tuscany, A Year in the World and Every Day in Tuscany.   I have wanted to visit Tuscany for many years and it was an absolute must-do trip while living in Europe. I can't speak for Tom but for me it was a perfect vacation.  The weather was incredible the entire time we were there.  It was relaxing and fun.  We ate good food, drank wine, explored beautiful towns, bought treasures and enjoyed