Buffalo Gals

Lunchtime

On Friday, our friend Kim posted a photo on IG of a rather 

yummy looking hamburger stuffed with mozzarella. 

She'd had lunch with friends at Caseificio Barlotti in Paestum.

Said photo got hubby almost drooling, so he booked a table

for us to eat there on Saturday.

And, whilst the food was delicious (and some), it was the

getting up close to the buffalo gals
who give us that delicious mozzarella 

which was the highlight for me......

Are you looking at me?

Giant Haystacks

Mud, mud, glorious mud

Shot of the Day

British & Proud? Not Right Now

Oh Britain, what have you done?
(Or, more specifically, England, as both Scotland & Northern Ireland voted to remain)

It's not quite 24 hours since the

final results of the EU referendum 

were declared, and I am still numb.....

reeling at the enormity of what 

'Leave' means.

Saddened for my children & grandchildren,

who have had their futures decided by people who "didn't think my 'Leave' vote

would count".

As hubby posted on FB yesterday,

"Go on, ask me if I'm proud to be British,

I dare you"

The answer, sadly, has to be "No"

Alberobello: Not Your Usual Tourist Pics

As I mentioned in my last blog post,

I got sidetracked quite easily in Alberobello,

by virtue of it being market day the morning after we arrived.

Not that I did any shopping (I am not a shopaholic - but I could be, given chance).

But those 'won't happen again' moments

were too good to miss......

Four guys and a 1922 Silver Ghost 

Kerbside appeal

Cherry ripe

Show me the way to go home

Girlfriends got nothing to wear 

Alberobello: Trulli Belli

Picture postcard perfect 

                      A couple of weeks back,
       we went on a roadtrip - a sort of 'early
            birthday celebration' for hubby,
          whose birthday happens to fall on
Festa della Repubblica (meaning that prices
   for any type of accommodation are sky    
            high & everywhere is 'silly busy').

   Our first stop was Alberobello, where we
      managed to tick another one off the
Bucket List by spending the night in a trullo.

Via Bovio, 22 - home for a night 

 It was tiny, it was quaint & it was tucked away from the main tourist drag; in fact, we had real next door but one neighbours, ranging from old 'Nonno'
down to a 3-year old who didn't want to
go to school on Thursday morning.
And, although we were tourists, it was nice
to feel that we weren't really tourists at all.

We did, of course, wander round taking lots of photos, but Thursday was market day
 so I sort of got sidetracked taking 'not your usual tourist pic' shots (more of those later).  But I did take the one shot that surely everyone who comes to Alberobello must take....

I found my heart in Alberobello 

        

31 Shades of Grey

            Monochrome May is over and done;

          the task of seeing which photographs

       translated well to black & white ended.

                    If it taught me anything,

        it was that this world should always

         be viewed in glorious technicolour.

            I won't bore you with all 31 shots, 

         but here are some of my favourites.... 

Aperitivo time

Girlfriends got nothing to wear 

My Man & the Sea

Still Life with Landscape 

Last Tango in Lecce 

                 

Monochrome May

I have decided that May will be

'Monochrome May' on Instagram.

Whilst I love the vibrant, colourful

world in which we live,

there are times when 

50 Shades of Grey (or should that
be 31?) work better.

So I'll be reworking old photographs

or seeing if anything I snap

on the day works best in black & white.

This is my first offering - a reworked

pic from March 2013....

And here's the link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BE3Gv8GHjVz/

I do hope you'll join me in viewing the world slightly differently  

Losing My Mojo

I appear to have lost my mojo

- not just for blogging, but for all social media

(in fact, I think it should be renamed 'antisocial media' on occasion).

I guess I'll find it again, eventually

 (maybe after our trip to Rome for Valentine's weekend).

But if anyone else finds it first, could they please return it.

Don't Look Back

The cards have been cleared from the mantelpiece.

The Christmas tree has been packed away

& stored back in the loft for another 11 months or so.

We have eaten, drunk & been merry
(well I have - hubby doesn't drink).

And that's another year consigned to history.

Once again, as last year, I won't look back,
but continue to look forward
to each brand new day on Leila's Mountain
and the promise it brings.

Buon Anno, tutti!

Mangia Bene Il 1° Gennaio

We were invited to the Russo's 

for New Year's Day lunch.

Maria kept repeating the saying

'Mangia bene il primo gennaio e

si mangia bene tutto l'anno' - 

'Eat well on the 1st January 

& you will eat well all year'.

And we did...... 

45 Litres of 'Cilento Gold'

It's that time of year again, when the air hangs heavy

with the scent of olives & voices can be heard

all over the hillsides as the harvest gets 

under way.

I have tromped around our olive grove 

in my flowery Wellibobs, separating

olives from foliage in readiness 

for sacking up.

This year we had help from

our adoptive family, the Russos -

Angelo & his mum, Maria,
came up & put the new nets out with hubby
whilst I was back in the UK for half term week & then they came with sister Raffaela
to start the harvest last week;
Angelo has invested in a battery-driven
harvester, which whacks the olives out
of the trees in a fraction of the time
it takes to do the job manually (yes, I know
'whacks' isn't the technical term, but
the guys do technical, I'm just a girl &
as far as I can see, it whacks them).

By Friday lunchtime we had 5 sacks filled &
ready to take to the oleificio in the afternoon,
which is the minimum number they'll accept
to do an individual pressing.
They weighed in at 'due quintale' exactly
(two hundredweight to you & me);
after 30 minutes wait, we were finally allowed to offload them into the hopper ready for washing prior to pressing.

And, a couple of hours later, we finally had the satisfaction of seeing 45 litres of our very own
'Cilento Gold' running out of the pipe

Goodbye September, Hello October

September has come and gone, and with it

have gone the hot days, sometimes peaking at 37 degrees -

unseasonably hot.

The month brought us some spectacular storms,

and afforded me a couple of

lightning shots I was pleased with, of which 

this was the best.....

And this morning, after waiting over an hour for the 

first dawn of October to break,  

I was rewarded with this sight above Leila's Mountain

Whilst in the opposite direction, the rumble of distant thunder
could be heard beyond Monte Licosa

and, although the storm produced no lightning, 

it did produce a partial rainbow

I wonder what the rest of the month will bring?

Packing Up Our Old Life

As the Pickfords lorry turned the corner, 

my first thought was,

'There's no way our house is going to fit in that'

(whether that is grammatically correct or not,

I don't know, but that was my exact thought). 

I'd been up since silly o'clock, thoughts of the

enormity of what we were about to do

having raced through my mind for most of the night.

And now the moment was here - the one where

you pack up your home & memories in a

removal lorry, not knowing when you're going 

to see them again.

It rained most of the day - Sod's Law that

it was the only day that week to rain - this did

not enhance the removal crew's mood.

And yes, I was right, the contents of our

4 bed detached did not want to fit into

the lorry. But after several phone calls to

the office & some cursing of Terry, the estimator,

plus more than one attempt at rearranging 

everything, by the end of the afternoon,  

the lorry set off for the storage depot and we were left watching our 12 month old granddaughter

toddling circuits through the hall, dining room

& lounge, much as our daughter used to 

in our previous house when she was that age.

Her giggles are the most precious memory
from that day - there are no photos,
but the picture is

etched in my memory forever.

Missed it!

Social media was full of talk about the impending Supermoon
& lunar eclipse,

set to produce a spectacular Blood Moon.

Although the atmosphere has been a bit hazy of late,
meaning clarity on my moon shots was somewhat lacking,  

yesterday morning seemed much clearer 

and those Italian blue skies held the promise 

of some better captures overnight.

But, as we drove back home after lunch,

hubby commented on the clouds that

now floated above Leila's Mountain. 

And I knew they weren't going to 

disappear anywhere fast.

So I had to settle for some shots of

an over bright moon between the few breaks

 in the cloud, of which this one - taken at 23:05:56 -

is my favourite......

    I'm hoping for clearer skies in 2033

That'll Be A €60 Fine, Then

We were sitting outside Meeting Bar in Acciaroli

this morning, enjoying a pre-lunch drink.

The sun was shining in an almost cloudless sky

and there were lots of comings & goings

of various locals and holidaymakers alike,

 pulling up in cars &

offloading passengers to shoot in to

pick up dolce for post-lunch. 

At the particular moment that the Polizia Locale car

pulled up outside the church,

there were a couple of cars & a Vespa 

or two parked up.

As both female officers got out of the vehicle,

one of them gave 3 sharp trills on her whistle;

this warning to illegally parked motorists that 

the Polizia are about and ready  to start handing out

parking tickets always makes us chuckle - 

no way would you get such a warning in the UK.

(I should point out that, around here,

motorists MUST park in a marked 

parking space, otherwise they're parked illegally).

There was an ice cream coloured VW Beetle with its

roof down parked a few metres along from the bar. The officer blew her whistle again as she walked towards it; the owners of the other cars all scooted out & drove off.  

Another 3 whistle blasts, and that was it - final warning had been given - pen was put to paper.

Too late, the owner & his two passengers 

came back to the car, to find a 

Penalty Notice attached to the windscreen. 

He argued half heartedly, but he knew it 

was too late - once the ticket is written, 

it can't be cancelled.

And so, his Sunday morning bar bill suddenly jumped by a further €60. 

    

We Have Nectarines!

OK, it's probably not very exciting in the grand scheme of things,

but for us - who are complete novices when it comes to 'growing your own' - 

the harvesting of our 

first ever decent crop of nectarines

is a pretty major event.

In previous years the fruits have either shrivelled 

and died at an early stage, been attacked by

wasps or been gobbled by the wild boar.

So, to have three dozen fruit for the first time

is one of those '365 Days of Happy' moments.

Falling For Rome - Literally

It was Thursday, our third morning in Rome,

and we were due to have an 'Instagram meet' with Diana in Piazza Navona at lunchtime.

We'd taken the Metro to Colosseo & walked up to

Piazza Venezia (after a slight detour into

the Basilica di Ss Cosmo & Damiano - well worth

seeing). 

Taking the lift to the top of Vittoriano was on my 'Bucket List' & today I hoped to tick it off. 

I was in luck - there was no queue & it didn't take much to persuade hubby it was going to be

worth it for the views - it is not called 'Roma al Cielo' 

for nothing.

We stood and 'oohed & aahed', took the 

obligatory panoramic photos, then headed back down and slipped into the church tucked in behind the monument.

By now it was almost 11.30 am - time to pop into 

a bar & grab a coffee, before heading to Piazza Navona. 

We waited for the pedestrian lights to turn to green

and made our way across the road. Two thirds of the way across I could feel myself falling forwards,

in what seemed like slow motion. I put my left hand out to stop myself from landing on my face

and, as soon as it hit the cobbles, I knew it was broken. The fact that my ring finger was also jutting 

at an odd angle should have indicated that it was dislocated.  

A trip to Umberto I Policlinico confirmed that I'd managed to fracture both my middle finger & ring finger. A few tears when they said they'd have to

cut off my wedding and engagement rings 

soon had them agreeing to persevere with easing them off. 

I am now sporting a rather attractive splint, (hint of sarcasm there)

and face the prospect of an operation on my ring finger when the fracture is healed, as they can't manipulate it to cure the dislocation.

Needless to say, we didn't manage to meet up with 

Diana - we'll just have to return again in the not 

too distant future. 

Freedom Is A State Of Mind

We go for a walk by the sea most afternoons,

and I tend to take a few photographs

on my Smartphone, in case

one of them turns out to be my

'365 Days of Happy' moment.

The trouble is, the sun is usually so bright,

it proves difficult to actually see what 

I'm capturing.

Yesterday was no exception, and,

although I knew there was a bird 

flying past as I was clicking away,

I had no idea that it had just flown into 

shot as I hit the button.

But it had......

Freedom is a state of mind

And I thought the quote fitted it perfectly.

Il Veliero

Il Veliero

Hubby announced last Friday that we wouldn't be

going to La Torretta for lunch on Saturday, 

but would go out for Sunday lunch instead,

although he hadn't decided where we'd

be dining.

Come Sunday morning, we both decided we'd

like to head to Acciaroli & try Il Veliero

- The Dawn Treader - overlooking the port;

it's rated the best place to eat in Acciaroli on TripAdvisor & came recommended by our butcher.

We booked a table for 1 pm, which gave us an hour 

to wander around the port, sit & enjoy a coffee and

take a few photographs before eating. 

We were, as ever, first to arrive and were given 

the choice of any of half a dozen tables. Duly seated & handed the menu, we discussed which starter

we'd like to share (not because we're trying to 'eat on the cheap', but simply because we still can't manage to eat Italian style).

We settled on Parmigiana alla Spada,  

and when it arrived, we were glad we'd chosen to 

share it - it was a good size & rather filling,
and very flavoursome too.

For 'il primo' hubby chose Spaghetti con Vongole

& I opted for Nero - Black Spaghetti with Shark -

we decided on a side order of Zucchine, but, as is 'the norm' here, this wasn't brought to the table

until our primi piatti had been cleared.

My 'Nero' - the flavours were just awesome

Unfortunately, when they brought our dishes, they'd got hubby's order wrong & tried to tell him he'd ordered Spaghetti con Gamberetti,

but they were quite apologetic when they realised 

that they were wrong. 

When it eventually arrived, it looked

absolutely delicious. 

Freshly caught vongole are just so tasty

And the wine to accompany such a 'mouthgasmic' meal? 

An excellent Trentenare 2013 Fiano di Paestum - 

 I love how we have so many local wines

on offer

Capturing The Moment

As we went for our afternoon walk yesterday, 

there was a wedding party hanging out at Bar L'Ancora, 

and movement on the rooftop terrace

of Torre Perrotti. 

So we speeded up our walk along the lungomare

and headed back, just in time to see the guests

heading towards the tower.

I love nothing better than seeing the bride

going through the doorway on the

way to making her vows, and 

capturing that moment that no-one else does......

Il Menu di Mare Pasqua

Not a bad view for Sunday lunch

As with most restaurants at Easter, Lo Sparviero was offering 2 set menus - 

'Il Menu di Mare' and 'Il Menu di Terra'.

We'd already decided when we booked a table yesterday that we'd both go for the 'Menu di Mare'; after all, Lo Sparviero is renowned as a fish restaurant, so it seemed the obvious choice.

Welcomed with huge smiles and lots of calls of 'Tanti auguri', we were shown to our table

on the first floor - as usual, we were the first diners

to arrive. 

Asked whether we wanted acqua liscia or

gassata, a bottle of the fizzy variety promptly

appeared, along with a bottle 

of Falanghina di Beneventano - the perfect

accompaniment to a fish menu.

The waiter ran through the menu for us
& we confirmed that we both wanted the
Menu di Mare Pasqua. The wine was poured
for my approval and a few minutes later the entree of Vellatuta di ceci con calamarelle in intingolo al rosmarino appeared...the aroma was
mouthwatering

This was followed by antipasto of
Mattonella di Alicia di menaica con impanatura
saporita, provola e pomodorini confit -
a total contrast to the entree

Then came the Primo Piatto,
a beautifully creamy yet still 'al dente'
Risotto con seppie e carciofi.
Hubby found it difficult to finish this,
but I managed to clear my dish, eventually.

And then came the 'Secondo' -
Filetto di orata al cartoccio con
vongole, cozze e gamberetti
(that's sea bream with mussels, clams & prawns
to you & me). And that was by far the best
course, as one would expect.

The Falanghina was gradually going down, but as hubby is teetotal, it was going down rather slowly, so I decided that I'd bring the bottle home with me,
although I did feel a little self-conscious
walking along the Lungomare with
a wine bottle sticking out of my handbag.

'But what about dolce?' I hear you ask,
because, of course, the Italians excel at dolce.
Well yes, there was Dolce di casa,
which was their take on Pastiera,
and very yummy it was too!