Rocco Galatioto, nice photos and good food

Pasta alle vongole verace. Che delizia, che sapore.

The centro storico, the area within the old walls of the town makes for great night photos, especially since it's streets are so narrow that motor traffic is prohibited. This makes for pleasant walks that are safe and also very quiet. Italy is a very loud country. Everyone talks loud and the scooters with their noisy mufflers are everywhere. It is of anthropological interest that there's no word in Italian for privacy so the English one is used. There's no Italian word for stress either, for obvious reasons, so once again the English word is used and conjugated into the myriad of Italian verb tenses. An Italian would say: ho bisogno d'un poco di privacy , I need some privacy. for the verb stressare  here goes: sono molto stressato [present perfect] or ieri ero molto stressato [past perfect] . or non sapevo che questa faccenda mi stressasi cosi". [imperfect subjuntive ] or ah, se non mi fossi stressato [past perfect subjunctive] or mi  sarei astressato molto [ p

Getty's 20 Gigapixel Olympic Image Doesn't Meet Standards of Quality Photographs are an incredible way to experience an event that you can't attend and the 20 gigapixel image that Getty was planning to take during the Olympic opening ceremonies would have been just that. Unfortunately, we're not going to get to see that picture. "Due to unforeseen technical difficulties around crowd movement, Getty Images were unable to capture a suitable Gigapixel shot of the Opening Ceremony that met our high quality standards," said Getty in a statement. That's disappointing for sure, but it's not the end. "Plans have been put in place to capture four other Gigapixel images throughout the duration of the London 2012 Olympic Games," says Getty. Just what those opportunities are wasn't revealed, but we're guessing that the closing ceremonies are in there as a contender. As if it really makes any difference once it;s seen on a screen. Ridiculou

An interesting wat to use a camera is to photograph emphasize shapes and forms. A perfectly prosaic shot can be made into a rather interesting one. It's all in the way photographs are cropped and visualized. The top photo was shot in Salemi last August while the two buildings were shot recently in Castellammare. while the crane was shot this past January near the town's rail road station. 

Lovely Scopello.

On summer afternoons, the streets get sort of quiet in Castellammare. People rest up for the evening meal. Also in the summer people do not go out until very late at night,

Never mind it's ability to be used down to 200 feet, this appears to be the ideal camera to use on wet, rainy ans stormy days, snow storms included. This is the way I used to used My Nikonos. It is also very useful on a beach. having just shot the sea castles at the local beach, I can attest to the need of a water proof camera. I was worried that salt water would hit my E PL-2 has there was a constant spraying of sea water on the sand structures to keep them mopist. I had to be very careful about any of it hitting the camera. The ReefMaster Mini is a Dive Camera Waterproof to 200 Feet The folks at SeaLife have announced a new camera for all your underwater photography needs; the ReefMaster Mini. It's an inexpensive 9-megapixel, 'lifeproof' camera that handles depths of up to 200 feet; and does plenty to improve your underwater pictures as well. It sports automatic settings for diving and snorkeling, color correction software to remove blue hues, and a quick detach

I picked up these traditional Sicilian cookies at one of my two favorite bread bakeries. These were really only made during the Christmas season and have very little sugar. They are usually less dark as these were somewhat over baked. They are actually very good.

Shot with the Sigma 12-24 F 3.6-5.6. This is the famous piazza where the palio di Siena is run each year. It is a horse race in full renaissance costumes. Very interesting as different neighborhoods represented by different color flags compete.

Please bear with me as I post a few more photos from the Castelli di sabbia event. Have a pleasant Wednesday / Abbiate un mercoledi' piacevole

While at the Playa beach, I was able to photograph the second annual Castelli di sabbia event. This is an open contest to make sand castles ans other sand sculptures. Some were rather nice. Actually the castle like sculptures were in the minority. Some were very complex and showed great skills and creativity. They ranged from an old Fiat 500 to the Costa Concordia that great example of Italy's uncanny ability to appear ridiculous in the eyes of the world. It was a fun event and a change from the usual beach activities. Have a wonderful Tuesday / Vi auguriamo un meraviglioso martedi'

Curiosity Lands Safely on Mars! The world watched anxiously in anticipation of the Curiosity landing on Mars this morning, staying up long past their bed times last night, hopeful, yet cautious that we could actually pull of the most difficult landing attempt in the history of space travel. Curiosity represents a 2.5 Billion Dollar effort to put a new roving laboratory on Mars, with the best technology that money can buy, in order to learn more about our closest planetary neighbor and uncover it's secrets; starting with exploration of a crater that scientists think may have evidence of the building blocks needed to have once supported life. Launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on November 26 (2012), Curiosity (which is a rover designed to be roving laboratory with an incredibly sophisticated array of sensors, cameras and much more) had to travel over 352 Million Miles before finally entering the Atmosphere of Mars this morning; traveling at over 17 times the speed of sound.

Yes have a week as delicious as these small pears I just purchased at my local super marker here. I did not go down the farmer's marked because of the scirocco that just hit and the weather is very hot andt it's accompanied by a very hot wind. What can I do.

For most of my life, I've been torn by a dual  love of country: a love for my Sicily and a love for my adopted country, America. At times it causes great pain because of the cross pressure becomes hard to take. I love both of my countries dearly but I love Sicily a little more. For example I absolute love New York, it is my city and yet the only place where I really feel truly at home is Castellammare del Golfo. Never mind the ridiculously taxing bureaucracy, the totally socialized system that has turned many into clients of the paternal state, and never mind the self imposed sense of inferiority imparted by those from the north who despoiled the entire South with a special emphasis on Sicily. At the time of the so called unification of Italy,  the Kingdom of the two Sicilies was richer and even more industrialized that the north. What transpired was was a rape of Sicily, one of the richest  Italian regions and the imposition  of Piedmontese laws and customs by a royal house mad