More Christmasy

I have a tree like I mentioned so how could things get more Christmasy. Well it would take a little help from Mother Nature and we got it. For the first time I saw snow in Brindisi.This photo below is from Friday night.

It only lasted about 10 minutes but Maurizio at the pizzeria said he hadn't seen anything like this in at least 6 years so this appears to be our "once in a decade snow". I heard about this thing when I first moved here and now I've ived through it. I walked into the center of town with my camera ready. I was hoping the snow would start falling again. I sat down and took the first picture in this post. This Christmas tree in the center of town and I thought it woud be great to have a photo of it with snow in air but it didn't happen. It was frickin' cold and not many people were out (as you can see). I gave up and went home to get something warm to eat. We had on and off flurries all night so I went to bed dreaming of a white blanket of fresh snow greeting me in the morning. I didn't get a blanket of snow but I did see this Saturday morning at 9:30 AM



I was lucky to get this because if I would have slept to 11 or 11:30 the snow would have been completely gone. It never did "stick". I saw a few kids making snowballs from the snow on cars. It was hilarious because it seemed like good fun but most of cars were filthy so the snowballs were dirty brown and they quickly realized this wasn't a good mix with their nice jackets.

Do you feel it?

The cooler weather has been here all week and I’m feeling it and so are the kids (cats). Last night I started my non-summer routine. I was going to call it “my winter routine” but that’s a strong word and I can’t really use it in a place where it doesn’t snow. So the routine is something like this:
After work I go to the gym (on Mon-Wed-Fri). Oh man, let me tell you, last night it was the first time in over two months, so I’m feeling it today.
Then on the way home I stop at “Il Salu…Mino” and then the fruit and vegetable store to get food for dinner. Remember if Mino can explain something without writing it down then it usually is a good simple recipe for me. Usually his recipes require a stop at the fruit and veggie place too, which is fine because that's on the way home anyway.
Then I cook it all up and watch a little TV before heading out to a pub around 11:30PM, if I feel like it. With the cooler weather I suddenly feel like cooking again and it’s a good thing too. After playing calcetto Tuesday night and going to the gym last night my appetite is twice what it was in the summer. In August I just didn’t feel like cooking or eating much. A cold panino and salad sounds good when it’s near 100F. Now it’s real pasta weather! It’s ok to boil up a big ol’pot of water.
The cats are feeling it too. While I was watching the game (Italy vs Poland in basketball) and cooking I had to keep checking on what they had gotten into or knocked over. I guess when both animals have “cat-like” reflects they tend to forget the laws of physics. Why do they ignore the fact that they are running on tile floors? They CANNOT turn and STOP like they want to! It’s like watching Tom and Jerry or actually Tom and Tom. Their little legs moving twice as fast as their body and then they try to hide behind a chair leg. Their antics can make me laugh out loud sometimes. In July and August they would wait until about 11:00 PM before going on a rampage and even then it wouldn’t last very long.
I guess it’s just fun to be in a different routine even if it is a routine. I remember last spring I was really sick of going to the gym. I wasn’t going to join again this fall but I’m glad I did. There really isn’t anything to do between after work and say 7:30 PM when you start to think about dinner.
Also this cooler weather is getting me ready for a little trip I’m taking this weekend. I’ll tell you all about Tuesday.

Too much to not blog...

I want to be in ferie so bad but there is too much to talk about right now. The most important news is that on Saturday we finally got rain! Almost 2 months without a single drop of rain. If you check out the photo you’ll see dots on my railing that I swear are from raindrops. It’s a good thing I took that photo when I did because it didn’t last long. It was barely enough to get the ground wet but I’m hoping other areas around here got more. I haven’t seen any fires along the roads so it seems to have done the trick for now. The only reason I’m blogging today is that there's another big dark cloud outside my window right now that may bring us a little more rain, if we’re lucky. It’s not a good day for the beach so I figured I could write a little.
Speaking of the beach. I set new records by coming across two octopi in one trip around the rocks. I can’t believe it but now I know what to look for they seem to be everywhere. Also I saw for the first time in the wild a cuttlefish. I took some lousy photos of it and even tried a video but you can’t see it because they are THE masters of camouflage. The only reason I saw it was because it happened to be right next to fish I was trying to photograph. I’m sure there are tons of them out there too I just need to look harder. The only thing I haven’t seen that I would really like to see (and have a chance of seeing) is a sea turtle. I know they’re around because occasionally they find an injured one and nurse it back to health. Also I would like to see a shark but that’s very, very unlikely.
Around town: As Marco mentioned they returned the statues to the top of the cathedral. In fact it was only days after I took that photo. So my photo of the statue less church is rarity or oddity. Maybe it’s a collector’s item? Of course there is a bunch of controversy over if the statues are the originals or copies. And we know they are from left to right. Pope Pios X, San Teodoro, San Lorenzo da Brindisi, and San Giustino de Jacobis. I also saw a sign that Brindisi will be celebrating San Teodoro from August 25th until September 3!! Wahoo, it’s always the BIGGEST PARTY in Brindisi.
Let’s see, I’ll just be getting back from whirlwind trip to the States by then. I should fill you in case I’m not blogging for a while and you won’t need to ask why. I leave Brindisi on August 17th for Cincinnati. After a weekend with family I’ll head up to Winnipeg, Canada where I’ll be working for a few days. Then my trip gets even crazier. From Winnipeg I’m going to Denver because some friends of mine are getting married in Keystone, Colorado. From there I fly back to Cincinnati and back to Brindisi in time for work Monday morning (August 27th) if it all works out. I mentioned before that “the stars were coming into alignment” because that was when the travel agent for my company had going through Cincinnati as the cheapest option to get to Winnipeg. Then when I found a direct flight from Winnipeg to Denver. I said, “Why not go to the wedding?” All I have to pay for is the flight from Winnipeg and the hotel in Colorado to be at another wedding in the month of August.

July

Good riddance to July. Let’s put it into perspective because it wasn’t all bad.
Weather wise (the bad part):
We didn’t have a single drop of rain the entire month and we managed to hit a new record high of 49C (that’s 120F to you Americans) in Brindisi. This is the month that I officially gave up on most of the plants on my balcony. It seems that every time I turned around they were wilting away. So all I have left are plants that are “very hardy” and toothpicks. Hey, I’m on the 4th floor so nobody can really see my plants away. I’ll just get some plastic ones! The good thing about this weather is that I was at the beach more than any other July. You already know this because I’ve been posting those underwater photos all month. Now I won’t feel bad if I go someplace else in August because I’m already getting a little burned out on the beach.

Guest wise (the good part):
It was a great month. At the start of the month my sister was here with my brother in law (Lori and Kent). They always have a good time hanging out in Brindisi. Then the following week I had Juli and Sabine as guests. They had found my place through Couchsurfing.com and they needed a place at the end of their crazy whirlwind tour through Puglia. I say crazy because I really didn’t know when they would be here, until they were here. In the end they arrived on a Sunday afternoon and then they were gone by the very next night. But in that short time I had fun showing them around Brindisi, Ostuni, Polignano a Mare, and Bari. See what I mean about whirlwind. Crazy kids!

Other wise:
Work had some interesting moments for me. Naturally some things are slowing down and getting ready for the August shutdown of the plant but that’s when something unexpected usually happens. And it did, but we got through it. Enough said.
At home my downstairs neighbor started destroying their apartment in July. At 7:00 AM last Monday I woke up to a light banging sound that I found annoying to say the least. Then at 8:00 AM they got out the sledgehammers and really went to town. Then they added to this commotion with a third person shoveling up broken ceramic tiles and dumping them down a plastic slide on their balcony. The good news is that I think the “destruction phase” of redecorating is over as so far this week everything has been quiet.

So today starts August and things look better already. The most important event is that the plant in Brindisi is closing for 3 weeks starting Monday. So I have 3 weeks of vacation right, not exactly. Stay tuned…


Mia sorella throwing some parmigiano on spaghetti e cozze. A good action shot by Kent

Juli and Sabine, the Couchsurfers in Ostuni

Nello and I reading a book this month. Nello is such a showoff because he's reading it upside down.

Havin' a heat wave!

Well Mother Nature has turned up the heat this week and just in time (well maybe we sweated and whined through a few days) the air conditioning came on at work. Meanwhile at home I haven't turned on the AC YET but I think tonight I may give in.
The heat means you don't feel like cooking so the picture is what I did the other night instead. It's all the ingredients for a piadina. Piada (flour tortilla), cheese, and prosciutto crudo (di Parma-of course). You just spread on some cheese and lay on the crudo and then toast slightly. I guess really I could go out for something like this, because they are made at several little stands by the sea.
Only Friday to go then... The beaches aren't usually crowded in June but I imagine this weekend they will be.
Look! Mara sat still and allowed me to photograph her! I thought I would share it.

Weather for the .....!!

It’s raining today, again. I don’t know what’s going on. I think we have had at least a little rain every day for a week maybe a week and half. I have it on good authority that we have all the water we need to get through the summer so Mother Nature can turn off the tap!!!! I checked my Brindisi weather stats and amount of rain per month does take a nosedive after March. It bottoms out in July when Brindisi gets on average 0.55 inches of rain (compare that to 3.9 inches in Indianapolis). The picture is my cyclamens on my balcony. They seem to like the weather.
Last night I went to a concert in Lecce (it rained on the way home). It was free for the students of the university and it was also free for other people who were bold or sneaky enough to enter through the back door. The location was a little strange, which is what provided us with a back door. It was in a huge circus tent in a gravel lot. We snuck (sneaked? had sneaked, whatever) around by the port-o-lets and trailers then act like you are coming back into the concert from using the bathroom. It worked like a charm. The concert was worth it too. The band,“The Hormonauts” were pure rockabilly (like Brian Setzer or maybe more like the Reverend Horton Heat ), just a stand up bass, drums, and sizzling guitar. I think I impressed my friends because I knew all the words to Folsom Prison Blues, Johnny Cash would be proud. The best part of the show was when they came out with cowboy hats on and did a very country rock version of “Staying Alive”. The lead singer must be American because there is no way an Italian could sing in English and with a country drawl…. is there? I had to get a t-shirt as I loved the design with a big 50s style car on it and “The Hormonauts with Fast Hormone Billy”.