St James candlelighting - Caltagirone

This year's luminaria design on the steps of Sta Maria in Caltagirone (Catania province).
Each year a contest is held - the winner's design is re-created for the St James Festival (he's the patron saint for Caltagirone) held the 24-25th of July.
Made for a long day ... DH and I didn't get home until nearly 2am ... but it was worth it.

CHESTNUTS

Picking chestnuts last fall.... (yup, I'm wishing for cool weather)

Spaceship over Etna

The winds blowing around Etna cause this cloud formation.

Did anyone else think of the movie "Independence Day" when seeing this?

Yum ... roasted chicken!

Generally cooked on a brace over a wood fire .... good stuff!

DH and I could eat this just about daily.

Operation Husky ... WW2

Visited the WW2 Museum in down-town Catania a few years ago ..small, but has excellent exhibits.
Well worth visiting.

Traffic jam?

On the way home one morning ...

Italian zodiac

It's been miserably hot lately here ...

DH picked up a pizza on the way home from the poker tournament.

The local pizza place has a new logo ...

haven't seen this version of the zodiac before.

Days gone by ,,,

Really hot here currently ... this was at a festival last fall

... the boy is wearing a folkloric outfit typical of 50 years ago or more.







Balcony Ironwork

Balcony detail in Ragusa Ibla.

Maletto Strawberry Fest

The main street in Maletto ...

 flag performers have finished one performance and are off to another. 

Pony walks?

DH and I saw this while going home the other day ...
interesting way to exercise a horse.

One of my dear readers commented that this looks like an accident waiting to happen ... and, if I saw this in the States, I would agree.
However, for the most part, traffic on the smaller roads (and this is at the every edge of Belpasso) tends to be a bit slower. 
I haven't seen this way of exercising a horse before .. but both DH and I have seen horses hitched to sulkies and driven around Belpasso quite a bit.

Slow Food?

Slow food restaurants are quite popular here in Sicily ...

nice change from fast food.

Balcony Ironwork

Balcony detail in Ragusa Ibla.

Yum .... Italian Ice!

Some of the best specialty ice I've had ... my favorite is jasmine flavour.
They make all sorts of flavours on-site ... chocolate and pepper, various wines...lots and lots more.
Hey honey.... let's go to Ragusa Iba!

WW2 Canadian Cemetary

Private Sabblut was one of many lost during Operation Husky.
This is in the Canadian Cementary near Triona in Catania province.

Carmela's flowers



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This plant is on the front steps to our building ... not a clue what it is ... the pods are about two inches long ... the entire stock is nearly two feet long and will soon be covered in these pods.

Door knocker

Saw this the other day while DH and I were out for a stroll ...

Early morning sun

On the way to work recently...

Carnivale Cookie

Saw these during Carnivale at a bakery DH and I frequent.

Candy Jars

These are on a local bakery's counter - I really like the flow of the curves.

Spring's slowly coming ....

Almond blossoms ... guess Sping really is coming to the island this year

St Michael

St Michael on top the Mother Church in Piedemonte Etnea (northeast side of Etna).

What a Difference a Day Makes!

This is what I saw when I left for lunch yesterday ...

...and this is what I saw while on the way to work this morning ... snow level is not that much higher than our apt.  No wonder the cat and I are both cold!

Bear Bologna!

DH and I found this at a local super-market ....

got some just for the fun of it.

Sicilian Bagpiper in Monterosso Almo



Sicilian Christmas bagpipers are known as Zampognari. The bagpipe is traditionally made of reeds and a sheepskin.
 Now the reeds may be plastic and the sheepskin imitation .. the Zampognari always are dressed traditionally.