LATE POST - SIG'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

This happened in early summer ...lots of changes over 50 years - and Don has seen many of them with being here as a kid in the 70's, again in the late 80s-90s when we met and now we are back again. It was fun - smaller than the ones we enjoyed with Chris, but enjoyable none the less. NMCRS sponsored the Dino Dig ...Don and I both worked the booth for a few hours ...we had plastic eggs with dinosaucer miniatures inside each one. The tickets earned was dependent on what color the miniature was. Don and I were kept pretty busy re-burying eggs during our volunteer time. We just ketp getting more and more kids who wanted to dig ... we had several who would dig up eggs, re-bury them, dig up others, bury those until they got tired of the process .... all of this without even openign up the eggs to see what color the miniature was.

FAST TRIP TO CALIFORNIA

Flew back to California for a very busy week the end of September --- spent 4 days with a group of friends up in Petaluma-- we ran all over the place, did a Napa Valley wine train, day trips to San Francisco, Folsem and more ... then did a quick dash down to San Diego to meet up with Chris and take care of some issues with our proprty manager ... took advantage of Disney's free admission for active and retired military, drop by the Maritime Museum, saw just a few friends ...but didn't have the time to lots of others I really REALLY wanted to see (rats!) ...will have to go back soon and try again...

SUNDAY MORNING DRIVE AND FIGS

Wanted to get out and away from the house a few Sundays ago .... just got in the car and started out. First we headed west toward Mineo, then we just followed whichever road looked interesting ... no rhyme or reason to our choices. We were way off the beaten track, up in the hills, no houses or farms around (turned out we were on a dead-end road that had been washed away sometime in the past ...the barriers had lots of TALL weeds growing in and around them. I don't even think the sheepherders came out to that area ...and they are just about everywhere.

This is looking back, part way up one of the roads --- you can still see civilization at this point.... nice view looking out over the countryside.


Honey! Pull over! It's a fig tree! Look at them all!

I can just about reach it...just another inch or two....got it!

Here, it isn't considered stealing to harvest fruit from trees like this that are along side the road so long as it isn't actually in someone's yard.

Don peeling a freshly picked fig .... until then, I didn't realize that he peeled them and he didn't realize that I ate the whole thing ... skin and all. To me, it's just like eating an apple....the skin is thin, tender and tastes fine.
UMMMMMMMMMMM.... sweet delicious figs......

FLIGHT WHERE????

While waiting in Gatwick (London) airport for my flight back to Sicily -- saw this on the flight departure board .... where is the 5:25pm flight going to???

PHOTO SCHOLARSHIP CONTEST

Thank you to every one who voted for me --- I ended up as #361 ... not a bad showing

LAST MINUTE PLEA FOR VOTES -- ENDS ON 12TH - TOP 200 CONSIDERED FOR SCHOLARSHIP

My Favorite Photo (I've Ever Taken) Brickfish

ST JAMES FESTIVAL - CALTIGIRONE

St. James is the patron saint for Caligirone and his feast day is 25 July. Every year on the 24th and 25th, the 142 steps of the Scala di Santa Maria dei Monte (each riser decorated in different styles, colors and patterns) are lit up by thousands of lamps fueled by olive oil. At 9:30 in the evening, the town lights are turned out and one long wick is lit that runs to all the cups (think of a domino chain) lighting the design.

One of newer churches in town ...it was built after 1669 when the major earthquake distroyed much of the town ...
Ceramic tiles set in a bridge wall ...
A guard at the entrance to the government building ...

The staircase with thousands of people lighting candles ...
Thousands of individual candles set on a huge staircase -- each with an outer wrapper of red, green or white paper (the colors of the Italian flag) laid out in a design selected the town council of Caltigirone. The red figure at the far end is St. James.
Looking down the stairs (another visit to town, Don and I watched the candle lighting from about where the white car on the left is).
The stairs of Caltigirone without the candles -- another visit.