"Santa" kid

Just thought this a cute outfit ....

Monterosso Almo, Ragusa

On the 26th, DH and I visited Monterosso Almo (Ragusa province) to see the Living Nativity.  Seems like the entire town gets involved.  You wander through quite a few streets looking at various displays of townpeople showing what life was like in the 1600-1800s (or there about) .... cobblers, rope-makers, broom-makers, pottery repair, stonemasons, bakers, cantina and a whole lot more ... ending up at a cave where the Holy Family with Magi and shepherds are placed.  Last year, the infant representing the Child was fussy when we visited the cave; "Mary" was having no success calming the child ... Mom ended up taking the child away and a statue was put in the crib. 
This year our group was one of the first to go through ... so DH and I explored while we waited for the bus to go back home again.  We wandered up to the upper part of town ... this is looking back down on the older section of town where the Nativity is being held.

Holiday lights - Via Roma

Looking down Via Roma during the Santa Lucia festival ...

Santa Lucia is the patron saint for Belpasso.

Her feast-day is 13 December.

She is quite popular in Sicily. 

She is also Syracusa's (south-east corner of the island) patron saint.   Every year Sweden sends a girl to Syracusa to portray Sta. Lucia during the festival in Sta. Lucia's honor.

Unique nativity

Nativity set in a tire at one of Belpasso's annual displays

Haven't seen this for quite some time ...

DH woke me up early this morning to go check out the balcony... it was snowing.. and sticking.

thinking outside the box

Someone had a good idea to paint the normally bland and boring TV antenna and give it some character.  Would have missed seeing this entirely if I hadn't climbed a staircase to look in a shop window while in Taormina.

Taormina

DH, a friend and I took a Sunday drive up to Taormina (on the eastern coast of Sicily about an hour and a half from our apt).  Wonderful little town ... a bit of a resort area. so there are frequently lots of tourists from cruise ships wandering around the town.  This is looking down one of the walking streets back through the old city wall which goes back at least to the early 1400's, and may be much older.    Taormina is famous for its marvelous Greek Amphitheatre ...but it was closed today.

Dominick the Christmas Donkey

Just a funny song ... Brucoli is a small village well south of Belpasso.

This is not my video .. I found it on YouTube.

The YouTube link is http://youtu.be/Ok5rOO2v2dU

Enjoy!

spices at the market

Perfect timing ... I need to buy fresh spices for holiday baking!

Seen at Milo Wine Festival

At the Milo Wine Festival ... selling sweets out of your home ...

Catnaps

It REALLY does exist!!

Homer Simpson's legendary brew ...  a fine German brew (or so I am told)

Fall is here ... it's a rainy day

Il Catanese

DH and I saw this last weekend while at a local festival.  The puppet is known as "Il Catanese" and represents a citizen from Catania, Sicily,  The elephant is the symbol of the city and is a reminder of Hannabal crossing the Alps with his elephants.  The puppet is about two and a half feet tall from shoe soles to top of the feathers. 

Nice garden display ...

Saw this while out and about with DH on a drive ....
too much traffic to be able to stop for long.

At the beach near Giardini-Naxos

Went to the beach two weekends ago with some Sicilian friends ... first time either DH or I have been to the beach in nearly four years.   The beach is lot different than the ones in San Diego ... lots of small rocks rather than sand.  Both DH and I are going to get water shoes before we go again.
I'll need to put on sunscreen as well ... ended up with a second-degree burn.... lots of small blisters.  Oh well ... so life goes.

Buying figs in Belpasso

We passed this vendor on the way to work -- haven't seen him before two weeks ago.  Most local vendors set up near the top of town or on the main road coming down from the top.  Others drive through town either in the morning or evening with small (very small) trucks and loud speakers letting people know what is being offered.  This one is closer to the bottom of Belpasso.

The figs were pretty great!

Let's see what looks good....

Checking out the offerings of a new produce vendor we saw.

Weeding the roof

Lots of ripe prickly pears (fruit of the beavertail cactus) round.... birds eat the fruit and leave some of the seeds in our rain gutters (which are filled with volcanic ash and dirt).  DH was able to remove some of the cacti ... but not all. 

Pretty car!

 ... bet there are lots of horses in this one.

More on the eyelashes ...

Another photo of the eyelashes ...

Cute eyelashes!

Seen at the mechanic's lot ...

Coffee makers in cars ???

Fiat plans to add in-car espresso makers to its new 500L cars.... only the European editions though. 

I have to wonder about the logic behind the idea ... haven't driven much in the rest of Europe, but here in Sicily drivers have enough distractions without adding in this.  Granted, the announcement said that the espresso maker would only work when the car was stopped .... that's just a challenge for some one to figure out a way  around it.

Here is the link for more information: 
 http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blogs/autosblogpost-tech.aspx?post=7df474e2-1330-442b-9c0d-44db4f537d79

My Scenic is a goner!

The after-math of a rainy night and wash-outs on a narrow road. 

 Mechanic told my husband it will cost more to fix

than to buy a different car. 

 Farewell my little Renault Scenic.

Brot seller in Berlin

Nope ... I haven't (quite) fallen off the ends of the earth ... though between work, school and most recently, going on holiday ... one would think so.  Got lots to share ...

Visited Berlin (Germany) last month with DH, DS and a co-worker (who lived 11 years there .. our own personal tour guide!)  Saw this guy at a couple of the tourist spots we visited.  Carries all that he needs to sell wonderful German sausages to passers-by. 

Yum!!