March 22, 2013
Happy primavera*!
Do you want to feel oh-so-Italian?
Then go strip your bed and throw those quilts and blankies on a line.
You’ve been hibernating in their depths far too long. (Haven’t you?) Let the stale things inhale the blueish air.
***
*Ah, Primavera. Here’s Botticelli’s version. And to my southern hemisphere amici, happy (belated) autumn!
Jann, this photo is the best way to welcome spring! The good Lord knows how much my entire house needs airing. Between the Son’s bronchitis and my pneumonia, I feel like we’re living in a petri dish! hee hee! 🙂
Dear Bella, I trust you and Son are doing better??? Hard winter for you, I know. xxxxxx
Fantastic Jann, we arrived to stay in a friends place used for holidays (last used two years ago) and as it was literally freezing didn’t get to air anything just dove straight into hibernation mode with mountains of blankets. Airing them out will be a pleasure as soon as the weather allows. Love your pic and the way it sums up the coming of a new season. ciao lisa x
Jann,
The ricotta festival is in Vizzini just north of Ragusa; April 23 – 25 every year. My wife loves ricotta and we are going for the feast and to visit friends and relatives.
Gregory, thank you SOOOO much for this information. Have a wonderful time! I cannot make it this year, but I’m putting it on my calendar for next year. I love the Wednesday morning market in Vizzini–such a sweet town in a stunning location. By the way, is the ricotta there sheep or cow? Or both?
The best ricotta is from sheep milk; and the spring milk makes it taste better. That is why the festival is at this time of year. Vizzini is noted for it’s ricotta. Not many cows in Sicily. I will confirm it when we get there.
Yes, I love sheep ricotta! Ragusa Province has lots of cows (of the Modica “race”), so most of the cheese around here –south of Vizzini–is from cows. Sheep ricotta is what you get in most other parts of Sicily.
My Sicilian mom loves to air the bedding outside. In fact, when we kids were little, she had us drag entire mattresses out and drape them across lawn furniture so the sun and breezes could reach them. To this day, she dries sheets on a clothesline. Me? No, because it messes with my allergies!
Debbie–that’s great image of you kids dragging mattresses into the breeze. 🙂
You love the smell of fresh air, but you pray the birds don’t fly over. I
love to do the same. You want to cradle yourself in them and feel the
breathe of clean.
Oh, well, yes Vicki. There are the sweet pooping pigeons to worry about. Doesn’t happen often, but once I forgot about some things on the line–they were out for about 3 days, and I had to put them right back into the wash machine. Ugh.
I like this photo a lot – great composition!
Hey Sam–grazie!
We will be there in 3 weeks to breath that fresh air, and enjoy the festival of ricotta in a nearby town
I was in Ragusa many years ago
Ciao
Hi Gregory–welcome to the blog. So glad you left a comment. Can I ask you where the ricotta festival is?? Have a great time!
Happy Primavera, Jann, and all in the Northern Hemisphere! Superb photo.
Mille grazie Narelle.
ahhh what a great thought + photos. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
Ciao Peggy 🙂
Oh so true…and the clothes come out of moth balls. I not only remember the packing and unpacking of seasonal clothes, but I can smell that naphthalene !
Oh, Marisa–that smell is unforgettable (and not in a good way)! Hope they’ve outlawed it!
The lady looks so happy to have such an amazing blue sky. What a joyful photo of an everyday activity. Happy Primavera to you , too!
After so much rain a pure blue sky is reason to leap about.
Let the stale things inhale the blueish air.**
I LIKE!
But I Love, Uuuu. Xxx Happy Saturday, Dear.
You’re too sweet, Kim. Loooooove back to Uuuuuu.
Jann! What an image. Timeless. The shadows and the colours are so beautiful!!!! That sky though. Did you paint it? To breath it in would surely make you live 100 years….. Pure nostalgia and yet with all the hope and light of the bella stagione just around the corner. Buona Primavera amica mia! And thank you for the nod to those of us on the other side. I do love the autumn just as much. Bacioni! xx
Thank you for this sweet comment, Janine. I did not re-touch the color of the sky, though there was a TV antenna sticking up into that blue space, so I got out the little brush and blotted out that eyesore :).
Our clothesline is presently strung up in the basement, next to the woodstove, as the backyard is still buried under at least a foot of snow. I am looking forward to the day when we can again air our freshly laundered dirty linen, if not in public, at least in the great outdoors. Thank you for this inspirational little promise of fresh-air scented bedding to come.
Ay yi yi, Lynne. A basement is no place for a clothesline…. Don’t worry. Spring will eventually find you all the way up there in Canada.