Weightless
May 21, 2013
well, not really but looks like.
A day at the country house
May 19, 2013
The day started in total grayness, but during lunch time a strong wind blew away that kind of huge cloud that embraced Catania and whole mt. Etna (at least the side facing Catania).
It almost cleared the whole sky letting us to spend at least a lovely afternoon.
Well, all this reminded me what kind of tiring fun is to take pictures of ladybugs (or butterflies) when it’s windy.
NYC Jan 2013: like children
April 14, 2013
One of the sweetest memories?
People of any age (from 2-3 to over 70 yo) being happy each time a butterfly landed somewhere on them and how people around were happy for the “lucky guy”.
I hope the nice lady who allowed me to take this picture won’t mind I am going to publish it
I loved how she was happy of the fact a butterfly landed on her finger.
She had been extremely kind with me allowing me to even take this shot.
I loved how she did her best to take the picture with just one hand (the dark rectangle in the upper left corner of the image is her camera).
One thing is sure, after that awful night spent throwing up my soul, coughing and fighting against high fever,
what I needed was exactly those moments spent in that warm room surrounded by colorful butterflies and nice people enjoying these creatures beauty.Like an USA winter version of my spring day of 7years ago spent at my country house.The funny thing is that I had no idea I was going to see all this until I entered the room.
Taking pictures, sometimes it’s a “dirty” job
April 13, 2013
Today, a couple of friends from USA have made me recalling one of the happiest moments in my life.
The afternoon of Sunday 23rd April 2006.
I was at my senior year in high school.
I spent a good part of that afternoon taking pictures to butterflies in the backyard of family country house.
I had bought (for my 18th birthday) my first DSLR (Olympus E300) 11 months earlier but I was a student with very few (no) friends and I rarely was able to find time to leave home to take pictures.
As a consequence that afternoon was one of those rare occasions during which I was able to play with my camera.
I still have a clear image (in my mind) of my uncle walking toward to where I was,
and I still remember my yell “stand back or butterflies will fly away”.
Butterfly don’t mind if you yell, but they fly away if you get too close too quickly.
I can’t remember if uncle came closer or just waited for me at home.
but I remember quite well how we enjoyed looking at the pictures I have taken.
I don’t know the reason, but he stopped at this picture.
He said “we should name it “Stella”…”.
I have no idea of why he said it. He wasn’t exactly the sweetest man on the earth.
It didn’t matter, I added the word Stella (Star) to that picture file name.
I knew, even if I didn’t know why, it was something I wanted to remember.
He would have died few months later and, trust me, I had no idea (on that day in April 2006) of what was going to happen in the following months.
That day, for a few hours
I have been sitting on dry rabbit excrement but I was happy.
Behind me: Catania and its gulf
In front of me: Mt. Etna
Family at my side
Butterflies one step away from me
one trusted me enough to rest for a while on my hand
a simple joy I have re-discovered only 7 years later in NYC
That was Home.
50x70cm to overcome homesickness
April 8, 2013
The size of the poster that the webmaster will hang to his bedroom wall in a few days (hopefully).
His only request was “Just things from Sicily”.
Attempt to overcome homesickness a little
What does it shows?
From upper left cornerMt Etna, a sunflower after a rain of July.
A rose of last May. Water of Pantalica. Java, you know her.
A detail of a Catania fountain, a blackbird, a sunset seen from Catania port. Soap bubble
Ponte dei Saraceni, a garofano,
webmaster’s favorite cat living close to my bro’s house, this cat has just one long tooth and an incredible acting ability, despite it’s clearly properly feed he always asks you for something.
And, of course, a picture of the shadow of his girlfriend taken during our trip to Pantalica.
New breakfast friend?
March 7, 2013
Every day we leave a bit of food for sparrows.
We leave food for birds since winter 2008, actually it all started when I have started taking pictures to sparrows.
With the passing of time I have taken a couple of pictures to, what i think is, a Capinera and other small birds
In the last 2 years we had to keep pigeons away from that food.
A new visitor, I think a blackbird,
after showing up very rarely and quickly for the past 3 years,
came to eat some food and drink some water while I was having breakfast
It was a nice way to start the day
(if you consider I live in a area of Catania with almost no green around it’s an event)