Sogni di Sicilia

While sipping our morning coffee and nursing a food hangover, the door quietly opened and in walked a just-woke-up Matteo. He happily snuggled into our morning, asking for chocolate, as always. What a delightful way to start the day! We're 100% sure nobody knew he was up here. He knows Joe will find the chocolate hiding place for him Matteo wants to flip the recliner switch on the cast-iron behemoth of a sofa, and eject Joe from the chair. That face. Eventually, Elena arrived to claim him, telling us Ciro and Luisa will be here in one hour. Just enough time to shower and get dressed. They are a darling couple from Avellino, near Napoli. I like and enjoy them both, and Ciro especially warms my heart. He's elegant and expressive, all together. Every time I've seen him, he's in a jacket and tie. He had funeral parlors in Campania before retirement, and now he and Luisa have invested in a guest house (small hotel) in the center of Florence. The group of friends here are mak...

Of course I needed another trip for last-minute ingredients! We first stopped to have a caffè at Bar Cristal, conversing with Piera, the owner, and talking about Thanksgiving Day. She looked off into space for a second. Oh! So it's on the 27th of November? We explained the last-Thursday-of-the-month thing, which seems to befuddle everyone, Piera included. Here, saints get their own day, as do public holidays. This floating date seems nebulous. We walked past Aqua & Sapone, a store that has things Deco doesn't. I bought shoe deodorizer... we do a lot of walking. Those dogs are barking! Coming back from, once again, Deco, we stopped at the Fratelli Stissi ortofrutta. I normally interact with Francesco, always buoyant and friendly. He was helping another customer, so his brother helped me. I may have explained in a previous post that one doesn't go in and grab their produce. The shop owner will select them for you.  I needed 4 potatoes and 2 zucchine, so, for instance, he ...

Short post; it's late and I'm grumpy LOL. I made a fun solo trip to the Wednesday market, loving the barkers and the smell of caffè in one spot, roasted chicken in another. I bought fagiolini from the sweet vegetable vendor who remembers me. Pretty portal Messenger and delivery system  IFKYK Lupini! Find who's giving me the side eye Fish from a truck IFKYK Cigarette smoking while you wait for your cheese order Great prices! Lots of Christmas stuff at every other stall! I dropped off my things at home; Joe accompanied me to Lidl, the M & L (aka the Chinese store), and Deco, which pretty much covered our Thanksgiving Day shopping items. No evaporated milk to be found, however. Security cam shows what were missing in Minnesota  Of course, the Chinese store had this Etna, looking pretty today  Matteo came up and hung out with us. He's got an engineer's mind, looking at things and figuring out a better way for them to work. When he's good, he's very, very goo...

Again, I woke up tired; Mariella's first words to me today, were " Sei stanca ?" You are tired? So I guess it shows. I double-checked with her about taking the car to Catania today and got the all clear. My goodness; I love Catania. I love the beauty and the chaos. Yes, there's a bit of litter here and there, as with most big cities, but no piles of garbage. And though it's a big city, there are fruit cart vendors on the street, with hand-written prices on torn squares of cardboard, just blocks away from luxury brand stores. Catania sights: Baroque with flower boxes Does that say Botham or Gotham?  More importantly, is there a  Batmobile in this garage? Christmas decorations going up The saints flanking the Mother Church always greet us into Catania Driving there isn't hard, but finding a place to park? That's a different story. We finally wedged into a spot, which I noticed was next to a parrucchiere on the passenger side. I figured out how to drop a pin...