Gift for my son

lava plaque my son asked us to get for him ...
ordered it about a year ago from a local lava carver...
got it a few months ago...
now have to figure out how to get it to him.

DS asked me to post the picture so he could see what it looks like...

St James candlelighting - Caltagirone

This year's luminaria design on the Sta Maria steps
 in Caltagirone for the St James Festival (24-25 July).

Made for a long day ... didn't get home until nearly 2 this morning.
We enjoyed the day even so.

Messina clock tower

The astronomical clock is the most interesting component of the 60m high bell-tower on the left of the cathedral. The mechanism dating from 1933 was built in Strasbourg.   There are several different displays built into the various levels of the tower.  Each display has its own separate movement.

 At the bottom, a two-horse chariot driven by a deity indicates the day of the week; above, the central figure of Death waves his scythe threateningly at the child, youth, soldier or old man – the four ages of man – that pass before him. At the third stage, the Sanctuary of Montalto (turn left to compare it with the real one) sets the scene for a group of figures which, according to the time of year, represent the Nativity, Epiphany, Resurrection and Pentecost. At the top, the tableau enacts a scene in a local legend where the Madonna gives a letter to the ambassadors of Messina in which she thanks and agrees to protect the inhabitants of the town who were converted to Christianity by St. Paul the Apostle.  The Madonna della Lettera (Madonna of the Letter) is the patron saint of Messina.


The two young female bell-strikers are the local heroines Dina and Clarenza, who participated in the resistance against the Angevins (1282). The very top is capped with a lion who starts off the noon-time show with loud roars.   The southern side of the bell-tower (going up from the  bottom) has a perpetual calendar, the astronomical cycle with signs of the zodiac, and the phases of the moon. When the clock strikes midday, all the mechanical figures come to life while the music plays: the lion, symbol of the town, roars three times while the rooster crows from between the two girls.

Lots of fun to watch the show ... and people watch as well.

Yum ... roasted chicken!

Generally roasted on a brace over a wood fire ...

DH and I could eat this just about daily.

Via Roma in Belpasso

Looking up the main road in Belpasso toward the Mother Church

(seen at the end of the road) ....

normally traffic is very light.

Traffic jam?

Heading home one morning ....

Italian zodiac

Miserably hot here the last few days ... DH picked up a pizza on the way home from the poker tournament.

The local pizza place has a new logo on their boxes.

Happy Fourth of July!

“You have to love a nation that celebrates its Independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle,

but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism."



Erma Bombeck


Happy Fourth from Holly and family!