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



Add caption


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.

Got to figure out how to share more pictures

I've upload too many pictures  between my two blogs ... so I have to figure out how to set it up so I can share more of my life ... will be back soon!
Holly

MORE FROM THE AMPHITHEATRE IN POZZUOLI

This was both close to the ticket office ... have to wonder who was honored with a statue ... nothing left but the feet.

MARBLE DETAIL AT AMPHITHEATRE

Anfiteatro Flavio (Flavian Amphitheater) is in Pozzuoli, near Naples.  DH and I were up there a few weeks ago for the International Bazaar at base.   The amphitheatre wasn't too far from where we were staying  - so we spent a few hours exploring.  This detail was on a panel just inside the entrance.

INSIDE LORD NELSON'S CHAPEL

Here the inside of Lord Nelson's chapel from just inside the main door. 

The painting in yesterday's post isn't shown here ... the afternoon sun washed out everything when trying for that shot.    

Look to the right of the altar - see the arch behind the columns? 

 Yesterday's art is in a matching arch on the left side of the altar.  

Looking at the lower window (seen through the columns), you may be able to tell that the walls are nearly three-feet thick. 

This is still an active chapel.

SAINT IN LORD NELSON'S CHAPEL

Something I didn't know until recently was that Lord Horatio Nelson's family, even though they were English,  had ties to Sicily and owned a castle near Bronte on the west side of Mt Etna.  The original buildings were built shortly after the Battle of Hastings (1066 CE).  The castle and grounds are open to visitors (the family sold it to the Italian government only about 30 years ago ... there is a letter on display inviting the last resident and family to attend  his "cousin" Queen Elizabeth II's coronation).

This painting is in the chapel and takes up a large part of the wall on the left side of the altar.  While I thought it a magnificant art piece ... it wasn't until just now  that I took a good look at the chalice.

CHECK OUT THE SUNFLOWER

This sunflower was nearly a foot across ... haven't seen one like this before.  DH and I saw it over in Maniace while out exploring.