Siracusa on the Square Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 11.5 x 19.5" 30 x 50 cm
Liberty Style Catania Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 31.5 x 23.5 80 x 60 cm
Framed by the Temple of Apollo Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 12″ 30 x 30cm
Siracusa Duomo Square Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 11.5 x 19.5" 30 x 50 cm
Our apartment in Siracusa Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 11.5 x 19.5" 30 x 50 cm
By the sea in Siracusa Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 12" 30 x 30cm
Temple of Apollo Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 12″ 30 x 30cm
We left Siracusa yesterday, not before a smattering of
difficulties. I wanted to see a place
with shore birds, and we took off in the car to look. I forget that I am not in Washington state,
where the beaches belong to everyone – and it is impossible to get to the sea
in Italy without passing through a gate (most of which are closed this time of
year). In our haste, we drove over a
very significant pot hole, and heard hissing air. Flat tire!
We haven’t changed a tire in more than 20-something years,
but it’s something you never forget. It
was the follow up which challenged us -- luckily, we stayed in a house with an
active “greeter/helper” and she was able to direct us to a garage to replace the
extra tire. Next morning, we arrived bright
and early. We were fully prepared to be
told we needed to buy at least two tires, and it would take days and hundreds
of euros to do; but NO, even though our snow tire was beyond repair, they had a
reasonable old tire we could use, and they put it on the rear passenger
side. Harika and I got to stay in the
car as they jacked it up.
There was an adventure to going to a Sicilian repair
shop. It made me think of my friend
Sal’s Volvo repair shop in Seattle. It
had that smell oil and rubber, and no intrigue other than what’s wrong with the
car. 10 bucks. Seriously, they charged us only 10 euros for
the whole job (Sal might have charged more).
So, we are “home” in Palermo. It is funny how we have formed an attachment
to this place. We went to the library of
our friend Pietro, and bought five new books.
We found a bronze Ibis at the
flea market. I got a package of buttons
to sew onto my shoes. The local dogs
recognize us and Harika.
We are ready to go back to Rocca Malatina, but will stay
this final week to avoid snow. Anything
could happen!
