JUNE GARDEN, SICILY WRITING
Happy June and Happy Birthday to my daughter Jessica. I dont remember turning 23 years old, but I know I must have somewhere back then. Anyway, June has always been one of my favorite months of the year. The green is always fresh and the weather mild. As I tell Steve each year, the day Jess was born in 1982, the weather in the entire US was fabulous. I dont know what it was like in Sicily, but here it is not so mild, and we have already had a few scorchers. Today is almost too hot to go to the beach.
Besides, I have taken up my writing again, and have been working on a few short stories at a time to fill in my book, Sicilian Tales. Maybe someday I will feel like finishing it, but not too soon. I enjoy the writing process too much for that. Its the editing that has stymied me. My editor friend Claudia did a fabulous job last year making helpful suggestions for things that needed changing. And so I thought about them for awhile, and a few months later, about this time last year, I lost some parts of editing and one story when my computer crashed. It is only now that I think I can go back and work at it, and I already have had a fine time editing the last two that I wrote (well, not the lost one-I cannot reconstruct that one for the life of me!).
The stories are based on geography, characters, and situations that are found here in the Sciacca, Sicily area. The various cultural aspects of life here fascinate me, so different from the states, yet so universal. So I have tried to tell stories that could really happen to fictional characters. For flavor, there is a smattering of Italian in them, even some Sicilian.
But sometimes the garden calls me, and I love seeing how much the red peppers, tomatoes, and volunteer sunflowers have grown. The Canna bulbs that dad gave me (which I did not need to take out of the ground because it does not freeze here) came up again this year. The orange and yellow tree lantana and the red hibiscus and fuchsia bougainvillea are just in bloom, and the bare pommelo tree finally has started some leaves. The mussel soup we made today with the first of the fresh basil from the garden was excellent, and from the markets, the fresh melons and local tiny strawberries are tasty and satisfying. Happy June Everyone!
Besides, I have taken up my writing again, and have been working on a few short stories at a time to fill in my book, Sicilian Tales. Maybe someday I will feel like finishing it, but not too soon. I enjoy the writing process too much for that. Its the editing that has stymied me. My editor friend Claudia did a fabulous job last year making helpful suggestions for things that needed changing. And so I thought about them for awhile, and a few months later, about this time last year, I lost some parts of editing and one story when my computer crashed. It is only now that I think I can go back and work at it, and I already have had a fine time editing the last two that I wrote (well, not the lost one-I cannot reconstruct that one for the life of me!).
The stories are based on geography, characters, and situations that are found here in the Sciacca, Sicily area. The various cultural aspects of life here fascinate me, so different from the states, yet so universal. So I have tried to tell stories that could really happen to fictional characters. For flavor, there is a smattering of Italian in them, even some Sicilian.
But sometimes the garden calls me, and I love seeing how much the red peppers, tomatoes, and volunteer sunflowers have grown. The Canna bulbs that dad gave me (which I did not need to take out of the ground because it does not freeze here) came up again this year. The orange and yellow tree lantana and the red hibiscus and fuchsia bougainvillea are just in bloom, and the bare pommelo tree finally has started some leaves. The mussel soup we made today with the first of the fresh basil from the garden was excellent, and from the markets, the fresh melons and local tiny strawberries are tasty and satisfying. Happy June Everyone!
posted by Sicilian Mama at 1:05 PM
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