First Pick of Summer 2014

We have a peach tree growing just outside

our bedroom window.

The fruit are white fleshed, flat peaches -

very common around here, but we'd never 

seen them before the summer of 2011,

when our tree bore a lot of fruit

(which the cinghiale thoroughly enjoyed at

2 am one morning - I heard them munching

as I made a trip to the loo).

Summer 2012 saw it bear the most fruit ever,

and Leila invented a game of 'jump up & bite the peaches' -

putting a net over the whole tree to stop her

just made the game more fun!

Then last year the tree succumbed to leaf curl &

although the fruit formed, they didn't grow. Also 

probably down to not having the usual month of

rain the previous November.

We have this week picked our first couple

of peaches from the tree....

Sadly, they may be the only ones - our

equine visitors of 17th June managed to 

munch their way through most of them.

Summer Solstice Sunset

20:33:05 

As those of you who follow me on

Twitter, Facebook or Google+ will know,

I have a passion for photographing the sunset - 

maybe because no two are ever the same.

With today being the Summer Solstice, I thought

I'd take some shots as the sun began

to sink beyond Monte Licosa.

And as I clicked away, I noticed that 

the Sun wasn't the perfect orb it usually 

appears to be......

20:33:07 

20:33:57

20:34:11

The Unexpected Tweep Meet

At 11.54 am my Samsung Galaxy Note 3

whistled to let me know I had a DM.

It was from one of my Italian 'tweeps', Pino, 

who lives in Rome.

"Ciao Ali come stai?"

I was about to reply when another DM arrived....

and I let out a rather loud squeal

of delight.....Pino was working in Salerno

& wanted to know if hubby & I would like to 

meet for an afternoon coffee.

Silly question!

Pino is every bit as fab as I'd ever imagined

We always knew we'd hit it off when we eventually

got to meet....and we did.....and I'm still grinning

Pino & Hubby

Yours truly & Pino

Can't wait for our trip to Rome next month, 

and the chance to meet up again!

It Can't Be 33 Years Already........Can It?

As I said in my last blog post,

'Buona Festa della Repubblica' 

http://cilentofairytales.blogspot.it/2014/06/buona-festa-della-repubblica.html

2nd June has been a significant date for the past 33 years.

Today is the second date which has been significant

for just as long.....

5th June 1981 was the date we met

at a party.

It doesn't feel like 33 years ago......

I still remember quite clearly leaving the party the

following morning, bottle of Bacardi in hand

as only hubby (obviously, he wasn't hubby then & at the time

I don't think he had any intention of becoming hubby)

and I had been drinking rum & my bottle was still unopened.

We were unceremoniously pushed out of the front

door by Jayne, my section head, 

who (unknown to me)

had designs on hubby for herself & didn't speak to me

for 4 days when we were back in the office.

In fact, I'm sure neither of us is old enough 

to have been together for 33 years; after all,

I'm still only 25 on the inside.

Buona Festa della Repubblica

June 2nd has been a significant date

for me for the past 33 years - it's hubby's birthday.

But since we moved to Italy, it has also

become significant for a different reason:

it is 'Festa della Repubblica'.

So, in honour of our adoptive country,

I came up with my own 'Tricolore'.....

Not being an 'Essex Girl', I don't own a pair of white stilettos

Stormy Sunset

The sunset looked as though it would be

a bit of a non event yesterday evening - 

there was way too much cloud cover.

In fact, the clouds looked full of rain....

and they were....

Then the thunder began to rumble, just as the sun managed a 

dramatic burst of colour, trapped beneath the clouds.....

And the lightning began to flash....

I knew instantly that I'd captured this shot of a lightning bolt.....

But I was even more pleased when I checked my pics & discovered

I'd also captured one in an earlier shot......