RAMACCA ARTICHOKE FEST - PALM SUNDAY

Don and I went over to Ramacca to experience the artichoke festival held Palm Sunday weekend. Ramacca is famous in Italy for it's artichokes.









Yum...good artichokes!

CANDY EASTER EGGS SICILIAN STYLE

On Easter Sunday, children and adults alike look forward to opening the brightly
wrapped chocolate Easter eggs that friends and relatives give them on Easter. The more the better! Of course all eggs (except the tiniest) contain a surprise that range from toys (some are small like Hot Wheels or the Happy Meal toys) to larger ones like Big Wheel toddler riding toys to walkman radios to silver charms or gold dipped jewelry (depending on the price and brand). The left over chocolate from the eggs is usually frozen or melted to make sweets. There are many versions of Colomba Pasquale such as chocolate, etc. in colorful boxes that are appreciated as gifts. Such fun!

Giant chocolate egg by Carrafour -- wonder what's in the hollow of this one? (Yes, it is a real candy egg)Don with some of the smaller eggs ....
Eggs -- eggs and more eggs ---

SNAPSHOTS OF OUR LIFE IN SICILY

Motta San Anastacia with Mt Etna in the background and looking out a window at the top of the Norman castle in Motta ...




Greek temples in Agrigento.....


Honey seller on Mt. Etna and bakery sweets....





An alley in Castelmola going up to the overlook over the main square ... Taormina is the town in the background.


On a trip to see ricotta cheese made...everything is completely organic here and government certified as made in compliance with very strict Italian law.


Hooray! Our furniture's FINALLY here! Check out the lift to get everything upstairs!
The mover and one of his SEVEN sons! Really nice guys. Funny sign we saw while wandering around Caltigirone...

ST PATRICK'S COUNTDOWN

Here's a link an E-friend posted for a St. Patrick;s count-down -- let's see if it works.... http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

GRINCH

My final tree-lighting at the wonderful, fabulous "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" at the San Diego Old Globe Theatre ... everyone should go! Such fun!!!

Studio 19 at Spanish Village, San Diego

Student sale weekend (November 2008)-- Andy holds her student glass sale the same weekend as the pottery guild show. This was the last sale that Don could participate in due to the move to Sicily -- I helped out as a cashier/wrapper and general dogsbody. Spanish Village has some interesting craft centers. Lance prepping to blow....Lance and his wife, Kim

MARBLES FOUND A NEW HOME

I let part of my childhood go not long before leaving for Sicily ... this can of marbles has been with me since I was in 5th and 6th grades shooting marbles on the playground. Time to let some other child enjoy them ... Jamie, the son of a co-worker at L3, was the right age --- he was overjoyed to get them.

Steelies, cherries, agates, flags, giants... lots and lots of marbles .... all sorts of colors, patterns and sizes.

Bye childhood ...

FRUGAL UPSTATE RULES!

A blog I follow is FrugalUpstate.blogspot.com .... she has realistic ideas and coping skills for stretching your money. Lots of recipes, fun things to do, decor -- it runs the whole gamut!

Right now she is collecting and posting ideas for Thanksgiving meals -- she just announced a dish giveaway --- perfect for holiday celebrations!

Go check out her site!

ODDS AND ENDS

It's been a bit ... have been dealing with all sorts of details getting ready to go to Sicily as well as some me stuff....

The presidential election is over ... Barrack Obama won by a landslide. He has quite a mess to deal with - of course, no matter who won, there is a mess to deal with. I worked the polls as an assistant precinct inspector - am glad I won't be doing that again anytime in the near future. We had lots of poll watchers (never had that before), a lawyer who was making that rounds that things were being done on the up-and-up (he wanted us to give him a count of how many people had voted -- there were people in line waiting to get their ballots and he wants us to count how many have already come thorough -- sheesh).

The condo has been getting painted the last three days .. dust everywhere and everything I have is in one pile in the middle of the living room. There is more space around the pile for the painters to work with with the pile in the LR than if the pile was in any other room.

Today the place was sprayed -- or at least most of it - so Indy and I had to leave. Indy went to day boarding at the vets (she just loved that - yeah right!) and got her final check-up to go to Sicily. I got my visa pictures taken, took the car to the dealership to get the airbag light dealt with, re-priced all Don's glass at Spanish Village for the student sale tomorrow, picked up my tickets to get my visa, and lots of other bits and pieces.

Am unburying the pile so I can get everything I need to take with me to Houston -- ugh! Things just got tossed into boxes and bags the first day the painters were here because they showed up early. Still have to find someone to replace the laundry room door since the painters accidentally ripped out the screws when masking the floor -- too much damage to just re-screw the hinges.

Got to stop playing and get everything set for the flight ...less than a month 'til Indy and I are off for Sig and less than two weeks before Don and Karen here for Thanksgiving.