Enjoy your Saturday

Have a beautiful weekend

Palermo. la cattedrale

Palermo's cathedral was built by Frederick II who was both Holy Roman Emperor and sovran of the Kingdom of Sicily. He was known as stupor mundi or wonder of the world for his intellect, broad mindedness and great culture. The birth of the Renaissance can be traced to Sicily. His court gave birth to the scuola siciliana, the Sicilian school that was the first literary movement in Italy. The sonnet BTW, was first developed by  Jacopo Lentini an early Italian poet who along with Cielo D'Alcamo and others established this prolific school that was the true beginning of the Italian language. A century before Dante who called Sicilians the true fathers of Italian and the first. But Frederick had a great foe, the Papacy. Because of geography, the papal states were now surrounded both north and south so the Pope felt trapped. His answer was to have Frederick poisoned while he was hunting in Puglia. What can I say. Nevertheless this splendid church is where our greatest leader is buried. He loved Palermo and made it a truly cosmopolitan city of learning and culture. Sicily was the only place where Christians of the Eastern and western churches, Jews and Arabs all lived together and got along splendidly. This is something that we Sicilians still have in our culture. At any rate, this church should be visited if one is ever in Palermo.

Hudson , NY

Located on the East Bank of the Hudson River and not too distant from NYC, Hudson is marking a rebirth of sorts. Main street is very well cared for and there are many restaurants and trendy shops. I photographed late in the day when the light is magical.

Hard to believe

The images posted below were taken with an auxiliary clip on L\lens that I picked up at my local Dollar General for one dollar. Cheap is not the word for it but what it lacks in performance it makes up for fun. And if it's not fun why bother taking pictures. After all photography is a game and if you make it enjoyable the better it is. I do take myself or my photography seriously but not that seriously. After all it's not something you can eat. So although this lens has obvious faults; what do you want for a dollar? Highly recommended.

The reader

 Being a bibliophile of sorts, I always peruse book stores whose diminishing numbers I find quite alarming. This man was totally immersed in his reading in front of the book store at Olana State Historical Site. More on this place on a later post.

Country fences

While in Williamstown, MA, I became fascinated by these fences that were behind the motel's property. Perhaps the late time of day added to my interest.

Have a wonderful week

Take in a movie Sunday

In small towns there are still old movie palaces. This is the Mohawk movie house in North Adams, MA. A throwback to the days before the insipid look alike multiplexes. The the movie house itself was part of the whole make believe experience that is after all, the cinema,