tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34620786634186535462024-03-12T09:43:59.451-07:00FromageMild, sharp, fresh, aged, creamy, pungent.Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.comBlogger384125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-26216343270938877112023-05-25T22:51:00.000-07:002023-05-26T08:48:53.170-07:00Trulli the endUnderground againAt this point, Sweetie and I were starting to feel poorly. Our first stop of the day was the Grotte di Castellana. I still felt well enough to explore the caves. Even if Sweetie had been well, she would not have wanted to do all the climbing and descending and keeping footing on wet rocks. It would have been Erice all over again. So Sweetie stayed with the bus and later went withVéro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-64880872161445039722023-05-25T08:29:00.003-07:002023-05-25T09:46:24.409-07:00City of stoneName that styleIt was day 13 of the tour (counting the travel day). We were getting a bit stretched. When I write about the free time we had and took, it seems like a lot, but most of the tour was full and briskly paced.We had a long drive ahead of us to get to our final stopping point. I wasn't up for bus games, so I put in the buds and listened to music on my phone. Lots of agricultural Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-18548804392935633902023-05-24T09:21:00.004-07:002023-05-24T09:52:44.460-07:00We reach the toeWe packed up, including some freshly cleaned clothes, whilst watching reruns of the coronation. We returned to Milazzo by ferry. From there, our esteemed driver brought us to Messina at the northeastern tip of Sicily.Click and enlarge!Messina looked like a city worth exploring. On the tour, we were there primarily to see the astronomical clock of Messina at noon.On our way walking from bus Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-71013038152881651412023-05-23T10:41:00.002-07:002023-05-24T09:33:07.902-07:00La vita dell'isoleMilazzo, whence we would depart for the Aeolian Islands, is on the north coast of Sicily. I thought we were driving straight there from Giardini-Naxos, but it seems there are no good roads across the interior of the island at that point. Our coach took us up the coast, past Messina, and back around to Milazzo.Fisher folk at workWe had time for a short walk along the lovely waterfront, and then weVéro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-17444529020280473222023-05-21T09:55:00.003-07:002023-05-21T14:18:06.359-07:00Adventures in White LotuslandThe bus sped us through seaside NaxosThe schedule for the day was a trip to Mount Etna in the morning and sightseeing in Taormina in the afternoon, mid-afternoon, really, because of the long drive to and from Mount Etna. In our tour booklet, the Etna trip had been billed as a drive through the lava field. But in reality it included outdoor lava field hiking time, and the predicted temperature up Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-52213452226909115422023-05-19T09:22:00.003-07:002023-05-24T09:56:27.247-07:00Classic ruins and modern gritLoquatsWe put the hotel in Siracusa behind us and headed to the nearby Neapolis Archaeological Park, which contains several sites associated with Greek and Roman occupation.The first section began on a path through the Latomia del Paradiso, a wild and lovely garden, with both flowers and various trees, including lemon, mandarin, and loquat, an import from China with fruit that resembles apricots Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-60655590666931733322023-05-18T08:10:00.001-07:002023-05-19T09:51:06.790-07:00If it ain't baroque...Our morning day trip out of Siracusa took us to Noto, less than an hour away by coach, reputed to be the gelato capital of Sicily, and one of the locations used in The White Lotus series 2 (Daphne and Harper's overnight trip). Our local guide was full of information about the architecture and history of the town. Our walk took us through the Porta Reale o Ferdinandea along the Corso Vittore Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-52848134277819839022023-05-17T08:56:00.001-07:002023-05-18T08:15:08.069-07:00Brought to you by UNESCOIn Boston, there is a band called Classic Ruins. Back in the day, we shared a practice space with them and later a record label. Hearing the phrase "classic ruins" twice whilst touring a Roman villa naturally caused us much amusement, because that's how we are.Temple of Concordia, straight throughWe loaded up the coach and left Agrigento for a place called Valle dei Templi, the Valley of the Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-36873056742411158922023-05-16T10:18:00.002-07:002023-05-16T11:03:16.399-07:00From wet hill town to dry MarsalaAfter another hotel breakfast buffet (all breakfasts were at least good, can't complain), we checked out and hit the road, safely driven by our half-man-half-coach-handsome-AND-great-personality Sicilian driver. I think it might already have been raining as we left Palermo, and it was certainly raining and becoming increasingly chilly as we climbed to the top of Mount Erice (750 m / 2,460 ft Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-8812453071370160572023-05-15T09:08:00.001-07:002023-05-15T09:13:07.679-07:00Byzantines and Saracens and Normans, oh myThe first tour day was an extension of the travel day, and nothing was scheduled. Our overnight flight came in too early for us to go straight to our rooms in a resort outside Palermo, so without any real rest we were whisked to a town called Castellammare del Golfo in Trapani province. And we were still too early for lunch!Castellammare del Golfo from a viewpointSweetie and I did a short Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-66065428354194177792023-05-14T15:54:00.020-07:002023-05-20T21:46:07.432-07:00Sicily and Italy Sud: an uncautionary taleIt was only Sweetie and my second group tour ever, the first having been a Plan International-sponsored trip to Guatemala in 1988. This time, it was a trip through Sicily and Southern Italy for "active seniors," which ostensibly included us. Ever since our Florence-Levanto-Rome trip in 2014, we had wanted to visit southern Italy.Molte chieseThings we read and heard, however, led us to believe theVéro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-12106676896220569672023-02-12T14:21:00.009-08:002023-04-07T22:32:55.803-07:00The emigrant/immigrant experienceMy paternal grandfather's arrival in New Hampshire, 14 years old and fresh from rural Québec, was only 123 years ago, 54 years before I was born. The older I get, the shorter that interval seems.In the late 19th century when French-Canadians went to the United States, it was primarily to work in the water-powered mills and factories of New England. Earlier immigrant groups (eg, Irish) were past Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-3138954800406515602023-02-07T20:20:00.000-08:002023-02-07T20:20:37.759-08:00Canadiens-françaisThe Treaty of Paris in 1763 following the military defeat of French troups and Canadien militiamen formalized what was already true: the Canadiens no longer controlled their own lives. The British left them to their farms and trades, and in 1774 even allowed them to practise Catholicism, unprecedented in the British colonial empire. But they were not in charge. Those who had not gone back to Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-50652927999126607912023-02-01T16:06:00.008-08:002023-02-02T09:54:44.724-08:00Canadiens, pas françaisWe generally think of the settlers of Canada and Acadia in New France as French. The colonies were French, and French was spoken there, as it still is in the current provinces of Québec and New Brunswick. Most of the settlers were indeed born in France, but it was not unusual for settlers to have come from other European countries, and among my ancestors are several who did.A man named Pierre Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-87707210991783856012023-01-24T13:43:00.004-08:002023-01-24T13:46:29.844-08:00I'm walkin', yes indeedWest End whirligigSome people prefer driving to do their normal business. Some prefer cycling, electric or "acoustic." These days, some probably prefer electric scooters or similar devices for getting around. My preferred modes of transportation are walking and taking transit.It was after I crashed our Subaru in 2016 that I learned how much I could accomplish with my own two feet, public transit,Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-49064655937342960812023-01-01T19:03:00.005-08:002023-01-02T10:12:47.846-08:00Birthday reality checkReflection in SkyTrain car partitionToday is the 69th anniversary of the day of my birth in my personal year zero. I am now in my 70th year of travel through space-time. I am billions of kilometres distant from the point in space where my mother was when she sent me forth into my own existence. My position in spacetime is always in motion.Lately, I've been thinking of my life as a streak through Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-52488158444894875752022-12-19T12:02:00.011-08:002022-12-19T20:05:37.287-08:00On the way homeI've been on a music memoir/biography kick lately. The most recent book I read was Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, a 2019 biography by Peter Doggett. It focuses on the years between 1969, when David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash formed the band and released their first album, and 1974, the year of the last tour that wasn't actually more like a reunion.In 1969, I was at the beginning Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-9547642705478323092022-12-12T10:32:00.002-08:002022-12-12T10:33:20.701-08:00Best buddyHis shelter name was Hornby, which we kept. Like all pets, more names became attached to him, including The Dude, Bodhi, and Willis (as in "whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" from Different Strokes). We also used things that weren't really names, like "funny boy," "puddin'," and especially "buddy" or "buddy boy."He was what cat behaviourist Jackson Galaxy calls a "beach dweller." He didn't Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-16865562566175774832022-12-02T14:09:00.001-08:002022-12-02T14:12:57.463-08:00Stone knives and bearskins remixWith social media fragmenting and in some cases imploding, I figure I might as well do an old-fashioned thing and blog. I haven't written here since May because I haven't felt moved to do so. Now, I feel more like writing. Not many people read what I write here, but that's not really the point. The point is that I went through the process of writing it. It's for me. Sometimes my private journal Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-33807483220960427832022-05-30T12:10:00.013-07:002022-05-31T08:49:14.444-07:00Cruel to be kindRed ginger flower at Diamond Falls Botanical GardenOur stay in Saint Lucia was sometimes challenging. We called it our "adventure holiday" (see Monty Python "Travel Agent" sketch). As our stay progressed, I started wondering if it might not be too adventurous for us anymore.On Monday, our first full day in Saint Lucia, we thought we'd check out the nearest beach, Anse Chastenet. The protected Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-68271936843405212842022-05-21T14:24:00.013-07:002022-05-21T16:21:43.836-07:00IrieDiamond Falls. Grey water from minerals.A funny thing happened following our week in Saint Lucia, though not right away. Having come in on a late Sunday flight and having hit the hay at about 4 am, on Monday we were both exhausted and stressed over our delayed luggage. I managed to go to the optician to get my glasses fixed (I had napped on them and bent them), but I couldn't make supper. Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-87396149306959744502022-05-19T08:54:00.029-07:002022-05-19T13:55:24.299-07:00Splash in the sea waterFreedom Monument, SoufrièreSweetie and I travelled by airplane for the first time since we went to France in October 2019, way back in the Before Time. We took our chances, wore masks, and endured flights to Toronto and Saint Lucia and back. I sweated getting the ArriveCAN app right for the way home, and hoped that we wouldn't be selected for random testing (we weren't). Our two checked suitcasesVéro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-69156417747093592262021-12-09T20:35:00.003-08:002021-12-09T20:37:21.232-08:00Acoustic mailA few weeks ago, I wrote a letter to my bestie from high school. Wrote as in wrote by hand. Then I put it into an envelope, sealed it, put a stamp on it, and walked to a nearby postal outlet to turn it over to Canada Post for delivery.All that is becoming pretty odd anymore, and sometimes disquieting.I've become so accustomed to writing emails that save a copy of what I wrote. There's no copy of Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-6552926200202426292021-06-30T09:30:00.019-07:002021-06-30T16:18:53.502-07:00Troublemaker 2.xIn 2017, I was asked to participate in the second round of Troublemakers, a program by community development group Reel Youth that matches young, queer filmmakers with queer community elders. It was the second year of the project, thus Troublemakers 2.0.Most people seem to think I'm much less introverted and neurodiverse than I am. I have tried hard to fit into the normal world, and I think I Véro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462078663418653546.post-6380264838181749982021-06-07T14:25:00.000-07:002021-06-07T14:25:03.793-07:00All things in moderationThat was my mother's motto. She was pretty extreme about her moderation.I had a glass of wine last night whilst watching TV, the end of a bottle that I've been using for cooking. It was a'ight. It mostly made me sleepy. I did not suffer for it. I'm glad for that. I'm still hoping that when real summer happens (we've had two pseudo-summers so far), I will be able to enjoy some beer. With company.IVéro Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02895169022031921712noreply@blogger.com0