Amalfi has two larger beaches on either end of the town, the long and pebbly Marina Grande beach and the rocky Le Sirene beach behind the port. If I'm looking for a lively beach atmosphere, I head to the popular Marina Grande. For a bit more seclusion and quiet sun bathing, I go to Le Sirene. In ...
Book Review | Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor
A few years back now, my mother read Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother- Daughter Story by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor. I don't recall now just how it happened--chance, a recommendation, a gift--but I do know it was a treasure. As she read the story and shared about it with me, it became an ...
Photo Friday: Creeping Cumulus
The last few weeks it seems like all I do is hurry from one place to another. One of the first ways I can tell that I'm too busy is by looking at my camera. Hardly a photo taken in the past three weeks, except the new flowers I spent an early morning planting in the garden recently. And then this ...
A Burst of Color for the September Garden
Life has been busy, a little too busy, the last few weeks. But I'm intent on not letting September and October slip away as they are my favorite months of the year on the Amalfi Coast. I love the close of summer, when the sun is still strong and the sky a brilliant blue. Yet, at night there is that ...
Old Man of the Mountain
One day I was having lunch on my own in Ravello, or at least I thought I was having lunch on my own. I looked up from the table to see along the top of the mountains the face of a man with a bulbous nose and prominent chin. I've heard locals point out several faces in the outline of the mountains ...
Lavender Harvest on the Amalfi Coast 2011
Two and a half years after planting, my three lavender plants in the garden have produced a bounty of wonderfully scented flowers this summer. I've been keeping a close eye on them for the past few weeks, waiting for the right moment to harvest them before the weather turns cool and windy. We've had ...
A Summer Night at the Festival of La Maddalena in Atrani
Every summer on July 22nd, the small town of Atrani celebrates Santa Maria Maddalena, or La Maddalena, with an evening of festivities that includes a religious procession, band concerts and a wonderful fireworks display over the sea after dark. Last year I followed the procession of the statue of La ...
Book Review | The French Gardener by Santa Montefiore
I've just finished reading a delicious book, with a story so good that it lingers in my thoughts and I don't want to let it go. I picked up The French Gardener by Santa Montefiore on a whim in the Omaha airport last March, when my carry on was already loaded down with too many books. I had heard ...
Photo Friday: Big Clouds
Even from high in Ravello, it's easy to spot that the beaches in Maiori and Minori are busy this time of the summer. I stopped the other day for a moment to watch the big clouds looming over the mountains, and I hoped they would get stuck there so as not to ruin the sunny afternoon for all the ...
The Broken Shoe
While I didn't buy them for their practicality or durability, I do like these fun and inexpensive shoes. The steps on the Amalfi Coast can be tough on shoes, even if you take them carefully. Anyone have any ideas or tips on how I might fix this little problem on the right toe? Grazie! ...
