Etna Rocks!

After Saturday brunch at our place, we hopped in Steve's convertible and took a drive up the windy road to Mount Etna (10,000 ft), about 20 minutes from our home.

Steve needed a cornerstone to reinvent Fran's garden, which he plans to re-fashion from a flower and herb patch to a Zen xeri-scape.

I think he's asking Madame Pele's (Hawaiian goddess of fire) cousin Signore Salvatore if it's ok that he takes this rock home.

We were pleased he asked permission.

The Big Island post office in Hawaii receives shipments of rock and sand from tourists all the time. Local folklore says that anyone who removes rock and sand from the sacred island of the Big Island will suffer Pele's curse of misfortune.

And while I'm not one to be superstitious, we'd never take a rock off the Big Island any more than we'd take pork across Oahu's Pali Highway.



Mike and Rob stand their distance just in case the fire god has something to say to Steve.



Those hills are Monte Rosso in Nicolosi - vents created during the eruption of 1669, the year that our hometown Nicolosi's streets were paved in lava. That year the lava not only destroyed Nicolosi, it flowed right on to Catania and into the harbor.


Lava fields always remind me of a wonderful trip my parents took me on in celebration of my highschool graduation. We ventured to the Big Island to watch the lava flow and sizzle into the Pacific. It was amazing!