The Trooper

And the boat goes on ...

Milano, Naviglio Grande, one week ago. In a typical misty afternoon of this unusually dry winter half town seems to be converging here. The other half is crammed around Piazza Duomo and La Scala, where the lyrical season opening is in progress.

I can hardly walk inside this endless worm of people moving aimlessly along the channel banks. I think it's simply because they don't have anything else to do and anywhere else to go. What everyone cares is just to be out of home and walk with someone to talk to. So do I.

Looks like that people have less to spend this year. Crowded streets but empty shops. I'm just another one among them but I have other concerns: little time and no idea.

Then a boat takes its load of people and goes on and on, till it disappears in he mist.

Everything under control

(Made and sent from my mobile.)

The way up

The arrival of the winter seasons also means the opening of the indoor tournaments season and I, as a father of a young and sporting volley player, cannot refuse touring around the province of Varese and visiting new villages on almost every Sunday afternoon.
Between two matches, there's always time for a short walk to the local bar, where to sip a cup of - in better times - undrinkable coffee, under the glances of few elderly locals gathered to play cards while listening at the football matches commentary from the always on television in the next room.
Beside the bar on the main street, few of these villages have little more than a small church to be noted and tentatively visited. In the accidental visitor's support, the winter frock helps making them a little bit more interesting. People stay inside their homes or in the bar lounge and walking through the desert streets, where the sounds are dump and the kitchens flavors fall down from the chimneys melted with fog, is always pleasant. It feels like walking alone on a mountain track. And, sometimes, you even find sources of inspiration. Metaphors and epiphanies. Just like the narrow climb below.

I'm going to walk a tortuous path. Next months are going to bring a wealth of new experiences and events in my basket, as well as in those of my family.

(Made and sent from my mobile.)

December Morning

It's nearly a week since we saw the sun last time. Cycling in the countryside in the silence of the morning mist has a special taste. Reminds me the atmosphere of a famous Italian film: Novecento.

(Made and sent from my mobile.)

December is here

The latest news about the air pollution in the area surrounding Milan are somehow scaring. Considering the concentration of well known particulate matter (PM10) the north Italian Pianura Padana, where Milan sits, has recorded the highest values in Europe. And the results are under our eyes. Rime ice (in Italian "galaverna") is thicker and thicker every year. It is nice to see but very few of us know that this ice growth is favored by the air pollution.

(Made and sent from my mobile.)

Fungi Perfecti

Mother Nature's marvels ...

Alpine Beauty

Don't Stop

Sunday Ride

I think I've already mentioned about good and bad things with riding on a mountain bike in the countryside on a sunny Sunday morning. Good things come when you are wandering alone and concentrated on your "performance" and unexpectedly you spot treasures of your national heritage, without notice, that make you stop and stare with open mouth. The bad thing is that in most of these times you don't have anything better for snapping than your mobile camera.

The pictures below are from Cascina Mirabello and the nearby Villa Verri, in Lentate sul Seveso.