Not Ready For Halloween Yet

 It takes a lot longer than you might anticipate to set up a really elaborate holiday display. The zombies have taken their position by the stairs but the gravestones are waiting to be set up. One more evil clown is waiting to join the twenty or so who lurk in the yard. How big of a storage unit do you need to safely store all this creepy chaos? A return trip before Halloween is a must. I want to see where the glittery silver skeleton goes.

Werewolf

 We have a new resident in the neighborhood. He is about six feet tall, with a furry face and tail that catch the late afternoon sunlight as he waits at the end of a driveway. He is rather...disconcerting. I am more of a jack-o-lantern and wispy ghost type of person. Tortured prisoners in cages and bloody limbs hanging from trees for Halloween are not my thing but I guess it is still a way to be creative. If you see this guy with a Chinese menu in his hand, you know he is now heading for Lee Hoo Fooks to get a big dish of beef chow mein.

Three Guys In the Sky

 Milan’s cathedral took 600 years to complete. Every surface, inside and out, is embellished in some way with paint, gilding or statuary, all of it the absolute opposite of modern, stripped down architecture. A small elevator and sets of outdoor stairs take you up to the massive roof where visitors can gaze out over central Milan, just as Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde did.  We enjoy the sun and marvel at the stone details that could never be seen from the ground. Of the 135 spires on the cathedral, three men grouped together  rise up high above the visitors on the roof. There they stand, always with the best view, whatever the wind and weather.

View From La Foce

 The gardens of La Foce spread themselves out over the hills of Tuscany. Planned out a hundred years ago, parts of it feel much older. By early autumn, the roses are fading and the wisteria blossoms are long gone. Autumn is when it's easy to appreciate the beauty of sunlight filtered through the greenery—so many shades of green and gold! Lichens creep over the stonework in dots, speckles and feathery dustings, doing their best to integrate these manmade structures into the growing, breathing surroundings.