The Diver

A good sight

I haven't had much time to walk around and shoot alone and without restrictions during the two weeks I've recently spent on Ischia. Kids and relatives have had the master's voice: they decided and planned for me and my wife. I'm not saying that I regret the way time passed. I just let the things happen and waited for the events to fall upon me. That's in some extent the real vacation. Besides, since I had been away from the island for nine years, the list of things to be done and shown to my kids before leaving was so long that time for shooting was inevitably put on a second, if not third, layer. Shooting demands for time. Time demands for all the other tasks to be done and distracting thoughts swept away.

We will certainly go back in Ischia again (at least before I get too old to complete the list of things to be done). I'll find (or reserve) the right amount of time to walk around the island and take good shots.

Surf and Turf

Ischia is more than an simple island. It's a whole world, with every kind of natural environment one could ever image to find on a stretch of less than 50 Kmq. More than for the surrounding sea, it is well known for the thermal springs that the underlying volcano heats up and the abundant products of its soil: wine above all. The ancient Romans called it Aenaria (the island of wine), whereas the Greeks used to call it Pithaecusa (the island of the apes). Both aspects are still reflected today by the modern inhabitants: at the same time skillful growers and winemakers (not to mention drinkers) and ... great talkers, men and women always keen to discussions and quarrels. My DNA is 50% from there: I do recognize some "hints" of these features in myself too.

The beast sleeping under its surface, the volcano has given its inhabitants one of the most fertile lands, provided there's enough rain in late springtime. After our arrival, beginning of this month, we had the pleasure to spend some time, every day, in the orchards of our relatives where they grow every kind of fruits and vegetables. We left our children going around and pick sample of almost everything. This is the time of the year when you get the most. Our kids were not used to pick fruits form the plant. I strive to think they have ever done it before. Books and Internet don't teach these things. It's the bitter wage of living in a large town.

Ischia - IV

Some more frames from the ferry trip to our summer destination.

Ischia - III

Approaching the final destination.

Ischia - II

First stop to Procida, the Island of Arturo.

Ischia - I

The sea crossing to the island.

The pool

Co-produced by my apprentice son and me.

Of course, I managed to find a way to connect to the World and post a picture. :-) 

Spleen

As it already happened several times, I've been more optimistic than I reasonably should have been. Once discovered the way to grab a thin thread of wireless connection for free, I thought I could have spent some minutes per day at reporting my vacations, my rediscovery of the colors, the sounds, the words, the smells and flavors of Ischia island, witnessing my reconnection to this old place of my youth with some meaningful, though low fidelity, pictures.
With plenty of regret I have to admit that, once asgain, I saw the glass half full, instead of half empty. The cam featured by this tablet is really bad, just good for watching each other with Skype. The post-processing tool looks smart and flexible but blemishes the image after each file save. Worst of all, I took a picture of my arm and cut it to the size of my blog. Needless to say that I lost the candidate picture. It is there, somewhere into my tablet memory but I'm not able to retrieve it and upload it.
So I'll have to give up my mind and be happy of being able to write some words. There will be time, later, to extract some shots from my memory cards and update the World about my visual experience.
 

The Medusa bite

Vacation means (or should mean) emptyness, removing things to make space for others, even if for a limited time: in a larger extent, it means diverting from the traditional routine of our office time. To me this term has recently also taken a different meaning: that is, doing whatever I haven't been able to do in the last months that I was previously able to take care. So, having discovered a free wifi access point in the small fishermen village where I recovered for a couple of weeks, I'll try to make my blog a bit more kicking than in recent time. I'm not able to move pictures from my cam to the tablet I'm using but I still can take pictures with its low-fidelity eye. Additionally, I can rely on a semi-automatic retouch program. Let's see how far I will be able to go.

Today I had my first season bath and ... The first jellyfish bite in my life. It was about time! The pattern it left on my arm looks like a grim full of sarcasm. I've been far from this island for nine years. Looks like it's saying: at last you came back and I got you!

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Flowers Power

Lay down on the grass and listen with your eyes closed.

Summer Time

Time to dedicate ourselves to something different and rest our bones. I'll watch the airplanes flying over my head, high above and won't feel envy about those people sitting at their window and looking down at the alpine villages or at the small harbours along the coast. Expect some flowers pictures to flood again these pages. Back soon.