The weather in Sicily and all over Italy has been terrible lately. Usually at this time of year we are already into the swing of spring. Here's hoping the spring will unexpectedly poke its head out like this cute little church at Martini a suburb of my little town Sinagra, Messina. Here's hoping for some…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: Spring trying to poke its head out
This year I was fortunate enough to get to San Leone’s ‘festa’ at Longi (20th Feb) which I find is generally more traditional and particular then the one celebrated at Sinagra (even if I love them both!) I liked the solemn religiosity and playfulness of Longi’s interpretation of this Saint’s celebration. Not only does the…
Continue reading ➞ E viva San Leone … E musica
I am constantly surprised by the wonderful people I am meeting and the connections I am making thanks to my blog. Not only do I give my flabby writing muscles a work out but I also seem to be meeting friends and perhaps even will get some paid work out of it. I am even…
Continue reading ➞ The Beauty of Blogging
If I were an artist it would be perfect to sketch out these winter landscapes that I see in the countryside.
It’s a bleak time of year here in the mountain villages of the Nebrodi. The intermittent rain and hail is interrupted by tiny specks of sunshine quickly smudged out by the billowing charcoal clouds. The chill makes me want to shut myself up inside. My lips are chapped and my hands are rough and sandpapery…
Continue reading ➞ Blackbird days
My son loves knights and dragons. He keeps begging me to buy him one of these marionette puppets, he would be drooling if he saw this big guy. I love the Pupi Siciliani as a form of Sicilian theatre that originated in the 18th Century and retold epic battles and tales of old. It nearly…
Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sicily: Pupi
Small town life is always insidious, the reality in Sicily is ever more so. Not only do you find everyone knows about everyone else’s business but they have been sticking in their noses for generations and so if you are a newcomer you will be a target for gossip. I’ve been living here for a…
Continue reading ➞ Political intrigue in small town Sicily
The reflective and somewhat haunting Swan River, near my native home in Perth, Western Australia seems a world away. This time of year always makes me homesick ...
It's that time of year again. Getting into the Christmas spirit with a ceramic nativity from Santo Stefano di Camastra.
It is common in Sicily to see people living in unfinished houses or apartments with exposed bricks, cement and reinforced steel poking out dangerously like rusty modern sculptures on roofs left behind as it to say: ‘I could build a second storey if I feel like it, ora vediamo ...' Yes, the quintessential loitering phrase…
Continue reading ➞ The Sicilian art of the incomplete
I’ve been wanting to post about my visits to Etna and how the volcano has always been a rich source of inspiration for me. Her latest eruptions have given me the motivation to get to writing about her. Yes to the Sicilian’s Etna, is very much a ‘she,’ a strong female symbol of…
Continue reading ➞ The inspiration of Etna
I’ve always been a coffee drinker. I started off with instant stuff, then graduated to frothy cappuccino, milky latte and now I live in Italy it’s one hundred percent hardcore espresso. I briefly flirted with tea drinking in my youth, in the anglo saxon tradition of taking afternoon tea, so common in England loving Australia…
Continue reading ➞ A coffee temptation
Some friends have told me they are finally coming to Italy next year and I’m over the moon to get to see them! They are coming in August, a time of year I’d really encourage people to avoid. I don’t understand why travel agents encourage people to book holidays to Italy in August or…
Continue reading ➞ Five reasons not to book your holiday to Italy in August
Today's friday photos are dedicated to quirky Italian homes which look like doll houses: and Italian's flare for street names. Enjoy your weekend!
According to the Roman Catholic traditions in Sicily the first two days of November are known as ‘All Saints day' and 'All Souls day' (respectively dedicated to the churches’ canonized Saints and the deceased). As with most traditions they have become colourfully interpreted by popular culture and anticipated by the thirty first of October, good…
Continue reading ➞ I morticini Halloween in Sicily
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