Ho Ho Ho in Nuremburg

Santa and Rudolph DH and I saw while visiting this year's 

Nuremburg Christmas Market.

He gave candy to the kids whether or not he was given money.

We stopped by to watch him every night we were there

Ho Ho Ho ... Merry Christmas everyone!

Cold flower ....

Gerianum plant on the terraza had a rough time the day it snowed.

It snowed last night!

There was a dusting of snow on the car this morning. 

It gets parked at the bottom of a long driveway.

Santa Pup

Santa Pup -  

DH and I saw him while visiting the Nativity displays in Mineo

(a hill town about an hour from where we live)

Street view

Looking out of my doctor's window onto the street below ...

Sunset ...

A recent sunset ... and my timing was good ...

a week later, only one water tower was standing there.

I've missed you all ... my computer died, my camera wonky ...

and work, well ...

let's just say it has been very challenging.

Via Roma in Belpasso

Looking up Via Roma (the main road in Belpasso)

 toward the Mother Church (you can see it at the top of the road).  

Way more traffic than you would normally see. 

You can tell it's the central part of town ... lava cobblestone road.

another painting at Garibaldi

"We are the heirs of a great history ... the future of a grand country:

1861 was the unification of Italy as a single country

lobby picture at Garibaldi Hospital

One of many pictures in Garibaldi Hospital's lobby and waiting rooms  ...

all were painted by the students at a local school.

"Brothers and Sisters of Italy"

Jester at Medieval Festival

Even not understanding Italian, he's fun to watch...

three different clips.

Jester in Motta S.A.

Recently Motta Sant'Anastasia (CT) Sicily had its annual Medieval Fest

 and celebrations in honor of the town’s patron saint, Santa Anastasia.

This jester was a lead performer one night. 

He's also a juggler and ventriloquist and a bunch more all rolled in one.

He was a riot to watch!

Etna erupts again

Etna has been erupting off and on all year long ...

This was taken from th end of our street.

Belpasso is located about a third of the way up the side of Etna ..

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.



Christmas in Monterosso Almo (Ragusa province)

DH and I visited a living nativity in Monterosso Almo, a small town in Ragusa province. The evening opened up with Joseph leading Mary on a donkey through the main streets of the town, stopping at a few places to ask for shelter. You had to buy tickets to go through the nativity ... and your entry time was determined by the number on your ticket. We were lucky in that we were able to enter in the first hour.


This one was more than just the manager scene... you trudged up and down various streets and looked at small village life scenes ... such as men making rope. a bakery, a cheese producer and so on ... the townspeople would explain what they were doing, the history and other facts. At the end was the cave with the Holy Family, the Magi and shepherds.

This is one of the churches on the main square.