Dove Vai

 As is very well-documented, I'm dreadful at learning new languages. The only bit of slack that I'll allow myself in this particular situation is that we need to learn Italian for when/if Janet gets her citizenship (or even more when/if I get my citizenship), but we're living in Sicily where folks speak Sicilian. It's tough, because we want to more fully immerse ourselves into the local community, but we have to put our effort into Italian at the beginning because the citizenship test will not be given in Sicilian. Our hope is that someday we'll come to Sicilian by way of Italian (it's two separate languages, obviously, but I still think that Sicilian will naturally make more sense coming by way of Italian than by way of English). It's frustrating, but it's not the Sicilians fault. Some day, inshallah. I do have my little victories, although they come by way of my brutish Italian and not any Sicilian so far. I had a small one the other day. I was leaving the apartment for my morning walk, and just as I reached the end of Via Giuseppe Verdi I saw two women pushing a baby carriage. I opened with "Buongiorno," which more people are greeting me with as we're here longer and it's becoming clear to them that we're not just quickly passing through. They didn't respond, but then I didn't really expect them to (why would anyone willingly respond to the strange, lurking old man with the cane?). Anyway, a couple blocks up the road they were looking at their phone, and clearly were a little turned around. One of the women backtracked and started talking to me, but I couldn't only respond, "So un po' di Italiano." Essentially, I was apologizing by saying that I only know a little Italian. The woman said, "Spanish?", and I could only respond, "English." I held my hand up as a plea to wait, and then, after pausing to think, said, "Dove vai? Supermercato?" It was close enough to "Where are you going? The supermarket?" She replied, "Cafe." "Ah," I said with a smile, "vamos." I figured she'd appreciate the Spanish. We walked up a block and I directed them to walk towards the Deco and then veer right. We were all reasonably happy, and the day was already proving to be a success.

Cryptozoology Bowl 2026

 One of the high points of the Twin Peaks Football League (and, really, the entire social season) is the annual Cryptozoology Bowl between the Shackleton Shockers (coached by the excellent Andy Burkhardt) and the woebegone Springfield Buffalo (coached by a very old and foolish man, could be anyone). Last weekend the SB took a fearful beating at the hands of the undefeated Shockers, and this meant that it was time to pay off the winner. As we've discussed previously here, that means that the loser gifts the winner some sort of cryptozoological merchandise. I was so certain of my impending doom that I handed Andy's gift in my Amazon queue before the game was ever played.

He's clearly loving the Scylla and Charybdis t-shirt, and who wouldn't? It's a challenge to find a t-shirt that celebrates both cryptozoology AND Sicily, so I had better win next year.

Assettati

 One of the things that I was hoping would happen when we got settled was finding great little restaurants, away from the main tourist thoroughfare. We tend to not eat in the Piazza Duomo very often, although the vibe up there is pretty cool. One night we stumbled into a little place around the corner from our apartment, and about a hundred feet from La Sirenella. It's called Assettati (which is sort of Italian/Sicilian for "you sit"). As it turned it, it had just been purchased by a guy name Salvatore, who grew up here in Terrasini, but then twenty years working in and running restaurants in Philadelphia of all places. It may not have been our intention, but Assettati quickly has become our go-to place (and we'd eat there more if Janet was playing the responsible party and directing us to other restaurants or eating at home - which is clearly crazy talk). Anyway, it's absolutely wonderful, and I think we've eaten there six times (it will be seven in a couple hours) in the six weeks we've been here. Highly recommended.

Too Many Sunset Pictures

 Yeah, I need to stop posting so many sunset pictures, but, seriously, one of the advantages of living in this sleepy little beach town is amazing sunsets every night. We're moving into our new apartment tomorrow, and even though we won't be right on the water any more, we'll at least have a balcony to sit, enjoy a homemade Aperol Spritz, and revel in this beautiful world.

Those two jagged rocks, which I've carefully and clumsily centered to capture the sun, are an iconic image of Terrasini.

Movies in 2026 246

 

La tete d'un homme (Julien Duvivier, 1935)

At least I was able to finish out on a good movie, Julien Duvivier's 1935 film Un tete d'un homme. 

Movies in 2026 245

 

Cemetery Man (Michele Saovi, 1994)

Sadly, this experiment is coming to an end. The Criterion Channel, acting oddly corporate, has decided that since I'm travelling overseas I can no longer access the website. The lockdown is so complete I couldn't even get into my account to check my status or to send an email asking for assistance, which led to me searching for an email address where I could send them a note - and cancel my subscription. This pains me because I've been a member of the Criterion Channel for years, and I'd hate to think how many thousands of dollars I've spent at the Criterion Collection, but it's hard to justify paying for a subscription that is blocked. I guess the Criterion Channel was to good to be true in a grossly corporatized America. I guess I've have to start conveying my DVDs over on my next trip home.

Another Path

 Here's a picture of my lovely wifey. I don't need any other reason that that to post it, but it's also a nice shot of the path that runs from the area around La Sirenetta up to our Via Trento, the street of our current apartment. We almost always take the more direct trek along the road, but then we remember that if you go around the other way you get a lovely view of the ocean.

And, yes, we're definitely taking a different trek.