Archive | hiking

blackberry picking in Sicily!

August 5, 2013 at 1:12 pm

So this happened yesterday: buckets of blackberries, all harvested by our little family… and all from the side of the road!

I’ve been wanting to go berry picking with Lena for a long time, but I never got my act together while we were in the States. Back here in Sicily, I have never seen a pick-your-own berry farm.. and somehow I doubt that they exist here.

But who needs a berry farm? Elliott spotted brambles laden with blackberries when he was out on a bike ride with his soldiers this week. On Sunday afternoon he suggested we go back to glean and gather. We’ve enjoyed scavenging for blackberries on walks and hikes every summer we’ve been here, and the prospect of unlimited berries sounded too good to be true for Lena and me. We found a couple of buckets, loaded up the car, and drove through the sleepy summer afternoon to a quiet back road in the valley.

Note: we dressed completely inappropriately! Blackberry bushes are covered in thorns (“brambles”) and we got scratched up badly, especially poor Gil’s defenseless toes. (My bad.) Next time… pants and close-toed shoes for everyone!

We quoted one of our favorite books — Blueberries for Sal — over and over while picking. “Now Sal, run along and pick your own berries.” Kuplink, kuplunk, kuplank! “Sal picked three more berries… and then ate all of them.” (So did Lena.)

^ Determination!

… and fortification.

Our buckets are full!

I think she ate almost an entire bucket’s worth of blackberries…

What were you up to this weekend? Did you have fruit-picking adventures of any kind?

8 :: in family, hiking, Sicily

Enchanted April in Sicily

April 17, 2013 at 1:33 pm

Have you ever seen “Enchanted April“? It has become one of my favorite movies over the years for the sweetness and depth of the story. Four worn-down English women (housewives, socialites, misfits) decide to rent a villa in Italy during the month of April. Lulled by the beauty and peace of their location, they are able to heal and bloom. As a reviewer said, “It is impossible not to be swayed by the promise of restoration for these burdened characters — or for anyone alive.”

That line is also an apt way to describe my feelings this April as Sicily has burst into bloom. The island’s winters are not long or particularly dreary, but oh! a Sicilian spring! The air is perfumed with orange blooms, the wisteria covers stone walls, the poppies sway in the breeze, the bees hum from flower to flower.

This past Saturday we packed a picnic lunch and took a hike down into the valley below our house. (In the photo above, our home is the yellow one below the castle on the far right side of the cliff.) We wandered through the green grasses slowly before choosing the perfect spot for our picnic blanket.

^^^ Love bugs.

That’s Mt Etna, the largest volcano in Europe, behind us.

^^^ Pears, proscuitto, crackers, and local cheese.

I love this photo of Gil on the right!

^^^ Right before we got home, Elliott found one of the biggest grasshoppers we’d ever seen. I tried to get a picture of Lena holding it, but he bounded away in a flash!

Are you enjoying spring in your corner of the world? What’s your favorite part about it?

19 :: in family, hiking, Sicily, weekend

Scala dei Turchi

April 2, 2013 at 2:51 pm

Here at last are some pictures from our beautiful sunset walk to the Scala dei Turchi! It’s harder to write a blog post these days with two little kiddos needing lots of TLC. I think they’re both asleep for a little bit now…

While my parents-in-law were visiting last week, we took a trip to the southern coast of Sicily with them for a couple of days. We wanted to show them a beautiful rock formation and also visit the Valley of the Temples outside the city of Agrigento. We hadn’t been to either of these places since last February (here is a post about that trip), and so we were looking forward to enjoying this beautiful part of Sicily again ourselves.

We drove to Agrigento last Wednesday, checked into our agriturismo (more photos from there soon!), had naps all around, and then drove on to the Turkish Steps (or Scala dei Turchi) around 5pm. The walk along the beach toward the giant white rock formation was peaceful and beautiful. Lena loved walking along the ocean; Gil loved sleeping in our beloved Moby wrap.

Finally we reached the white rock and began to climb…

My father-in-law took this photo just as we got to the top of the Turkish Steps. The view behind us was stunning with the ocean stretching off forever into the setting sun! We spent a long time on the rocks, climbing and resting and taking photos.

Quite a picturesque spot for a diaper change, right??

If you’re like Lena, you also enjoy looking at whatever photo was just taken of you!

I love the photo above but am bummed that I was smiling for the camera and not looking at Elliott. Our matching silhouetted faces smiling at each other would have been so cool!

Below, my parents-in-law pause for final iPhone shots…

And the sun has set. Isn’t it such a magical place? In the setting sun this could almost be Antarctica. But instead it’s warm and sunny… and before too long the beaches will be covered with Sicilian sunbathers. I’d like to go back then!

9 :: in family, hiking, Italy, pretty places, Sicily, travel, visitors

searching for bugs

January 18, 2013 at 3:45 pm

Elliott has a four-day weekend starting today (hip hip hooray!), and so we decided to kick it off with a hike down into the valley below our house. Lena is lately obsessed with bugs, which you might remember from a recent post about our walk to the orange groves. Here’s a little video that I took of her searching for bugs while Elliott and I relax on the picnic blanket with our books.

And yes, it’s chilly here! Clear and cold, a perfect day for blogging by the fire with some hot chocolate after a beautiful hike. Of course I also have a huge pre-baby to-do list, so it won’t be all relaxing around here this weekend!

What are your plans for the weekend?

3 :: in hiking, Lena, Sicily, video

New Year’s Day in the orange groves

January 9, 2013 at 5:36 pm

On New Year’s Day we took a long hike down in the valley below our home. We were tired when we started out, discouraged from an argument, wearily determined to turn the tide for 2013. I hoped the blue-sky day and the outdoors would refresh our souls.

And, amazingly, that happened. I guess sometimes you don’t know how soothing an afternoon will be to your soul. How quiet hours can reset you when you spend them lying in the grass and eating oranges… and talking or not talking… and just being still.

^ Lena has become especially attached to these shiny black beetles lately.

^ more bugs

^ 36 weeks pregnant, Lena’s first orange of the day, and our town in the background on the cliff’s edge

^ picking olives and clutching her prize

I love these photos because they capture a moment in our lives, a moment that will soon be past when our little boy arrives in just a few weeks. They also capture so much of what we enjoy right now, from the Sicilian oranges hanging from the branches to Lena’s complete fascination with bugs to the hugeness of my belly to Lena’s love to snuggle on top of us whenever we lie down.

They also capture my husband in so many ways as a father: the way he is completely at home in the outdoors, his playfulness with Lena, and the quiet way he encourages her to explore creation: to hold bugs, touch amazing plants, pick olives straight from the trees, and sit peacefully in the grass watching bees buzz from flower to flower.

Our lives are so complex. Yes, there is eager anticipation. Yes, there is crippling sorrow. And always there is deep, abiding joy.