Resurfacing...

For those of you who have been wondering if I am still alive, the answer is YES! I've spent most of the last month cooped up in my office studying like crazy. Yes, that means I'm back in school - I've started working on my MBA online through University of Phoenix. It has been a challenge, but I'm just a little over a week from being done with my first class!

In between reading, writing, and trying to get my online "team" to work together Les & I have managed to get out a couple of times and see some sights.

I need to go back a little more than a month to start. The day after Christmas we finally went up to the town of Mineo. We can see Mineo from our upstairs hallway window at home. It is a little town perched up on a hill, like a lot of other Sicilian towns. On this particular visit I left my 18-55 lens at home and took my new 75-300 lens out for a test drive. Yep, my parents ROCK! It was an awesome Christmas present. So, needless to say, all of my pictures are big on the zoom.




Just a random donkey in the streets of Mineo...actually, we later found out that they were doing a live Nativity Scene later that evening.


A Traditional Sicilian Pony Cart


Detail of the painting on the pony cart



Throughout the late part of December and January we got a lot of rain. When the clouds finally lifted this is how the beautiful Mt. Etna looked. These were taken on January 4, 2007.


The view of Mt. Etna from the road to Catania


Another of Mt. Etna with Orange Trees in the foreground. The oranges, especially the blood oranges are awesome!

On January 20, 2007 we took a tour to Agrigento, my new favorite place in Sicily. Agrigento is home to five Greek Doric temples that overlook the Mediterranean. It was truly breathtaking to see structures or pieces of them still standing that are over 2000 years old!


Tiempo di Giunone


Tiempo di Giunone


Tiempo di Giunone


Almond Blossom with Tiempo di Giunone in the background


Tempio della Concordia - undergoing restoration, can't wait to see it without the scaffolding


A bit of the Tempio della Concordia that wasn't shrouded with scaffolding

That pretty much covers anything exciting that we have done in the last month. Hopefully in February we'll get out more!