Bettona

Laaaaaaaazy Sunday in Bettona. After a gelato, I can barely raise my head above the pillow. Such is life in Italy.

Sharry and Kirsty on early evening walk.

Here is a lilikoi flower for Manono in Hawaii!

 Chinese lantern flower.

 We have grapes in our garden. Delizioso!

Peace my friends!

Bevagna

Our friend Giorgio (owner of the house we are staying in) was very kind in taking us to Bevagna and surrounding areas (to get the best cheese and wine). Bevagna has been around since about 80 BC, and still has the Etruscan walls surrounding the town. It puts on a medieval history festival where the locals dress up in period costume and decorate the town even to the point of hiding the metal downspouts so it looks more medieval! Here are some random pics:

Must get to Bastardo one of these days!

 Ceiling of a church. There are many, many churches in the villages. Bevagna has about 7, built in the 12th and 13th centuries.

 The entire old part of the town has these cobblestones. Must be millions of them!

Viccolo baciodonna (kiss the woman). Passageway so narrow one has to turn sideways to pass, and maybe sneak a kiss with a woman when passing.

 Some frescos still around after all these years.

Went to a paper making shop where they make paper in the old way by soaking cloth in hydrated lime then pulping it and reconstituting it into pieces of paper which are dried on felt sheets. Or something like that.

Hydrated lime vat.

 Paper press.

 River next to old water mill, which unfortunately was covered and under renovation.

 A place to tie one's horse up.

 Tower outside the wall.

Ciao, ciao, ciao my friends!

It's Not 55 Degrees and Cloudy...

So we must not be in Ireland! Kirsty, Sharry, and I went holo holo to Italy for a couple of weeks. We flew into Ciampino airport in Rome, then drove up to Bettona in Umbria. Temperatures in the 80s and not many clouds!
We are staying in a house that was built in the 14th century. Bettona is a walled, medieval city, with large portions of the original Etruscan wall still standing. There is one way in and one way out! Here is a bit of eye candy:

 Sharry's bedroom.

 Our bedroom.

 View of house from reflections in bottles in the garden.

 We are living below ground level, in rooms most likely used for storage of olive oil and wine back in the day.

Sun room.

 Early morning walk.

 Our street.

 Exit from the walled town.

 Interesting chimney tops here!

More to come as we travel about Umbria!

Peace my friends.

Ashford Castle

As we seem to celebrate our anniversary in a different place each year, we thought, well why not (since we are in Ireland), have lunch at Ashford Castle to commemorate the day. Dahlings.

So we did. View from Lough Corrib.

Nice digs.

 View of Lough Corrib from our table in the drawing room.

The gentleman will be having seafood and lobster chowder, smoked, organic Connemara salmon,  lime jam, and cream cheese on soda bread.

Madam will be having the Plate of the West, consisting of smoked Connemara salmon, oyster on half shell, goat's cheese, and assorted dried meats.

Darjeeling Gold tea was served afterwards, with a variety of cakes. Simply amazing! Dahlings.

Peace my friends, especially you, Francis!

4th of July

Nothing says 4th of July like a pint of Guinness and home-made pizza in Ireland!

 Yummy! Best pizza in Westport.

America's newest citizen celebrating the 4th!

Peace my friends!

Downpatrick Head

We went on a little holo holo, er, wait, wrong country; a little jolly to Downpatrick Head, where my namesake, St. Patrick, founded a church many moons ago. Beautiful country indeed!

 Yikes! Unfortunately the winds and seas were not howling today, so no blowhole action.

The remains of St. Patrick's church and a WWII lookout building in the background.

His nibs.

 Looking south.

 Looking east.

 No barriers here!

Kirsty looking out towards the lone sea stack here, called Dun Briste (broken fort). Legend has it that a local chieftain refused to convert to Christianity, so St. Patrick thrust his staff into the ground and the land broke away: with the chieftain still on it.

Kirsty standing in the "R" of "EIRE 64," which was one of approximately 82 signs put in place along the coast of Ireland during WWII to let pilots know where they were flying. Most of the signs are long gone, but this one has been restored.

Peace my friends!