Today is the 'dreaded' day; another year, another period of reflection and anticipation. I was just looking through Facebook, at the 'memories' section, where I could see posts from previous birthdays, and firstly, it's hard to believe that it's 2 years since I celebrated my 60th with a wonderful party in Gabiano, Italy. I know [...]
Category: Gabiano
Where did that holiday go?
It's been 3 weeks since we got back from our wonderful break, so what better time to go through the photos, and relive those precious days, wishing we were back there. In addition to our trip to Lake Como, we had some other great highlights, culminating with the transition into my next decade. In this [...]
Morning Mist

As I stood and watched the mists slowly rising this morning, I wondered what view was more beautiful that this - Hal Borland We are back at our Italian home, in Gabiano and enjoying some wonderful October weather. The surrounding hills however are shrouded in an almost constant mist, and whilst I was initially disappointed [...]
Home for the Holidays | Part 2, Discovering Gabiano

I've gotten into the habit in recent months when in a new place, of waking early, and heading out for a long walk to explore and take photos in the early morning light, and this trip was no exception. Although we have visited Gabiano several times previously, I'd never really walked around the area, especially [...]
Home for the Holidays
Holiday Postscript
Following our wonderful 2 week holiday, I've been back at work now for 3 days, and to be honest it hasn't been as bad as I had feared, the 'post holiday blues' didn't really materialise. However, in my quiet moments, I am in the habit of slipping into a daydream, and thinking about what I was doing 'this [...]
Doing things the Italian way
As we approach the end of our week in Gabiano, it seems appropriate to think about what we have experienced, and learnt. The great thing about staying in our own house, rather than a hotel is that we are really immersed into the local culture, and more importantly, we get to mix with the wonderful local [...]
Comfort or Speed?
One of my favourite albums is the 1981 solo effort by Jim Steinman, 'Bad for Good'. For those who aren't aware of Jim, he was the mastermind behind the Meatloaf classic, 'Bat out of Hell' - which brings to mind a Karaoke session during my honeymoon in Antigua, where my wife Melanie and I performed [...]
My first blog post – The ‘Why’
At work, we are always thinking about the 'Why' - why are we doing what we are doing? Why do we build the products that we do? You might know the 'what' and the 'how', but the why is not always so obvious. I've played around with websites in the past, and more recently had [...]