Very Funny, Mother Nature

I suppose, in a way, it's cute that Mother Nature wants to play along on April Fool's Day. On the other hand, some of us are losing our sense of humor at her antics by now. Go Phillies!

Snow, Round 12

Or thereabouts.

Shine On

Last night's lunar eclipse coincided with the winter solstice and the longest day of the year to create such an incredible din in my head that I had no choice but to stay up and see it for myself. After all, as everyone on every news show that talked about it reminded me, this is my last chance since another such event will not occur until 2090 and I, if not all of us, will be long gone by then. Anyway, since I could see the whole thing out my dining room window, I didn't even have to go outside in the freezing night. It was quite lovely though. I started checking about 1:00 am when the moon was in full silvery light so bright that it almost seemed like daylight outside. By 2:00 you could see the shadow of the earth starting to move across its face and the light from the moon itself was visibly dimmed, but still bright. By 3:30, the moon seemed to be covered by a coppery scrim that gently glowed around the edges.

I finally went to bed and slept til about 8:00 am which is late for me, but I'm glad I got to see it.

(Image by EPA/THOMAS RENSINGHOFF)

Happy Thanksgiving

The Shore in the Fall

I love the Shore anytime, any season, but it's especially nice in the late Fall. The header picture was taken at the end of Madeline's street looking out to the bay. I think the golden color the marsh grass turns in the Fall is striking. The last photo was the Saturday-night sunset taken from her deck. If I'd known it was going to be so spectacular, I'd have headed down to the bay again, but it caught me by surprise.


We took a walk on the beach, of course. So peaceful and serene. No people but us, just seagulls.

Siena

Siena streets exhibit the flags of the contrada or wards, the divisions of the city still in effect from medieval times. Each contrada has its own flag, mascot, animal and these districts are fiercely competitive especially during Palio (horserace) times. The flags make for a colorful street scene.

Now We're Talking!

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It won't be long now...heading to Florence and Tuscany, and the first thing I want to do is have a gelato. So, I'm studying up. I've been learning how to decipher the flavors (I'm going to try cioccolato con peperoncini paired with maybe a caffe or maybe a fior di latte. Yes that sounds just right.