There are some things that still ring true as we navigate this beautiful country. In no certain order . . .

🍦 Pasta is still the greatest food group known to mankind. And it only has four ingredients. WHAT? More on the recipe and how-to coming soon.

🍦 Italians may keep their spritz in their own country.

🍦 Italy can have their bidets. I don’t want to look at them. I close my eyes when I get out of the shower. I don’t want them in my bathroom. I am not nor will ever be a bidet fan.

🍦Cappuccino in the morning, sitting at a small table on a cobblestone street is almost as good as sitting on my screened-in porch with my kitties sipping Lavazza coffee.

🍦 There is no rule as to what time of day you start drinking wine in Sicily

🍦 We now have new friends from Tunisia and Morocco all because we struck up a conversation.

🍦 Pistachio, after pasta, is the second greatest food group. In fact, put a pistachio cream sauce on ravioli and you’ll be in culinary heaven. Just ask Michelangelo.

🍦 You can’t hide being Sicilian.

🍦 We are catching on to the rhythm of the day. Street sounds begin round 7 a.m. We know the shopkeepers, by 10 a.m., are opening, pulling up the security door and business begins. The woman across the street has shutters closed until mid-day. Some days she hangs her antenna out the window and you can hear the TV blaring. I’m guessing it’s her soaps. By 1:30 p.m., most every store is closed, not reopening until 6:30 p.m. at the earliest. Some remain open but only a few. It’s time to stop work and rest. The eight hour day is split into two shifts, morning and evening. The streets become quiet. Routinely by 7:00 p.m., everything is open and people fill the district. We are always the first ones at the restaurant when it opens, and they recognize us by sight by the end of the second week. We go to the same pizzeria and enjoy the same pizza with the same beer, brought to us by the same waiter. As we finish, we begin the people watching. Up and down the street. Just as it gets hectic, it’s time for us to return home - one block over, to close our shutters and go down for the night. It’s the daily rhythm in Sicily.

🍦 You can rent a boat - a fast one - for four hours for 70 euros and drive the Tyrennhian Sea. Yes, you heard that right. But if you want to rent one for four hours on Lake Chatuge in Hiawassse, Georgia, it will you a week’s paycheck or your Social Security payment for the month.

🍦 Sicilians are very social. In the middle of the historic district, kids are playing in the street while parents don’t give it a second thought. Men and women chat, often at an octave unknown to this Southerner, and by the sound of the laughter, they are having a good time. Shopkeepers welcome you. No one makes fun of you attempting to speak Italian - except the old woman in the grocery shop - and they accept you and try to help. you understand. Buona Vacanza!

🍦 The art of doing nothing is an art and does take practice. It doesn’t come easy for Americans. Dolce far niente.

🍦Sitting down to a meal with a Sicilian taught us the joy of dining. Being present. Enjoying each other’s company and the beauty of eating what someone has made for you. It took doing this to understand this culture.

🍦 I have not forgotten how to use clothes pins or that smell and crunch that comes from hanging freshly washed clothes on the line (or on balcony in this case).

🍦I have figured out the secret to luxury travel. I’ll tell you later. 🍦

Two weeks and a spritz later

The woman in the window