The Festa Religiosa

 Don and Chris working on the crossword/Suzuki, while we are "stuck" in the small town waiting for the 4.30pm procession to start.

To fill in time, we sat up at the old convent for a while, at the top of Percorso Turistico, the tourist trail.  Then coffee at our bar, where met another couple of walkers- there is some comfort in knowing we are not the only crazy ones. 

Right now, it is 2.00pm. Yet another couple have just trudged up the hill, but they were fully-laden with big backpacks.  Phew. Someone else is relocating our luggage for us.

Festa dello Spirito Santo 

We are lucky, though, this is the one day - Festa dello Spirito Santo, always the Monday after Pentecost Sunday.  This will be a Spettacolo. People come from miles around. There will be ten statues that are borne by teams of men.  The teams rush in and out of the church then process all the way down to the open-air church.  Lots of folks are in town.  Near that church  is a sideshow alley for the young ones.

Yikes! A thunderclap - wish us luck.

Walking, at last

 We are trekking through the centre of Sicily.  It is gorgeous. The flowers are out in full bloom.  There had been some late rain which has extended the greening of the fields.  It is a bit treacherous and muddy underfoot, so I'm watching my step.

Beyond those mountains in the background might just be Mt  Etna behind the clouds. It seems enormous and even though it's 100km away 

 

Yell More, Sell more - the markets

What fun it is to stroll through the food market!

In fact, we have two markets, Ballarò, the local nearby market -  fish and fruit and veg., where they wrap the food up with a thick sheet of paper and roll it into a cone.

While the Capo, we  found by accident on the way home.  It's more street food, less scary. 

  We've been to the Lidl  supermarket where, intending to buy a small  block of butter, we bought a small block of yeast. Whoops

At old Ballarò, I made mistakes, too, and annoyed people. I touched the tenemuri with my hand. Whoops. Then, I couldn't understand  the corner-shop guy, he got a bit cross. He was saying €3.20 - not hard to translate you'd think -  he had to write it down. gawd. I said that we are babies "siamo bambini".  

As well, I got ripped off, I think. We bought super-salty ricotta, yuck.. I bought a pomegranate for Don from a juice vendor for €1. Then saw then €2 per kg grrr.

Here's a trap, I  want just one thing, say, a ricotta, the vendor puts a second thing in the bag and says €10 the lot.  I can't complain though, the food everywhere is amazing.  We've had panelle, a kind of chickpea flour pancake. Delicious.  We've had the famous arancini - a rice ball stuffed with a yummy filling, the granite and canoli. From street market we got beautiful mixed food from a street deli, to add to pasta, carciofi, melazane and polpi-  We ate at home.  Our tiny kitchen , just a whisker smaller than ours at home, doesn't have an oven - but we don't want your sympathy. 

Opera Night -The View from OUR BOX

 

Extra Walking, but there are aspects of fitness that walking does not, necessarily, touch.

 Even though we have been walking many steps each day, I still want to do my class.  It straightens me up and relieves my aches and pains. 

Together in class, we work on our posture, our cardio-vascular fitness, our strength - particularly legs and hips, flexibility and core strength. 

It is the complete package of health-giving movement that we need for healthy ageing. 

 My best step-count day, lately, was 5th May - 17,624 steps.   It is raining here, now that means no more walking for the rest of the day

The Choir - I love it.

 

Recently I came back from a short break from choir.  While I was away, I was quite busy and happy with little grandchildren – truthfully, I didn’t miss the choir.

However, when I came back, even though I was a bit rusty, it was so much fun and the sound of the choir was truly beautiful, that I was thrilled and happy for the rest of the day

So, I realized what singing in the choir meant to me.  It is an outlet for my feelings, it is an artistic expression, too.  Singing together is magic, somehow……. the saying, “ the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts” applies here.

Kim, the maestro

Even though I am often in trouble, Kim is actually kind. (don’t tell him I said so). He makes the session entertaining, so much so that everyone leaves with a smile on their face and spring in their step. 

Not forgetting the joy meeting up with my singing buddies each week, even the altos.  There are many choir members who are away, sadly.  I hope lots of my former choir friends can come to the concert on 20^th May and be swept up in the magic – can come back to choir.  I miss you. 

Saturday 20th May, 3.00pm at the state school

6 sets for better sleep

6 sets per week

Fantastic news.  To sleep better? - Exercise, but not too much.  Here is a really short and helpful YouTube link:- 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpIg5V0QBWQ 

We can strengthen our five major muscle groups by repeating a set for each group a mere six times per week.  The groups are:-

·      Chest

·      Back

·      Abs/Core

·      Legs

·      Arms

Such a low number of sets requires a certain level of intensity, so start with weights that feel moderately heavy, even at first.

Before you start, make sure you warm up because a warm up is not included. Alternatively, go for a walk before you start.  Do jump in where you are and work at your own place.  You don’t need to be a champion, but be mindful of your own safety and feel free to stop at any time.

The session contains two to three sets for each muscle group and a stretch at the end.

This means that by repeating the “2nd half” session of the recordings two or three times week, you will have met the goal of keeping our strength up, as we age, by doing:-

 

6 sets per week.