Kat Eye Studio

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By Candlelight

One of the things that I love about Italy is how restaurants look. It’s completely normal to have tablecloths, wine glasses, cloth napkins and candles on the table. It’s just the way things are done. Any self-respecting sit down restaurant will have a nice table presentation, like this one on a back street in Venice, inviting customers to stay.

It makes meals here in Italy feel special for me, since growing up the only time I saw these things on the table were either going out to a really fancy restaurant (where we were dressed up and had to be on our BEST behavior) or a very special dinner at home. Mom’s china, my grandmother’s silver, cloth napkins and candlelight. Those are the things that dress up a table to me.

When is the last time you ate by candlelight? Just that one little thing, a candle burning on the table, can make a normal meal a little bit magical. Try it out and see.

Today’s prompt for 9 Muses Musing is CANDLE. Tomorrow’s is SNOWFLAKE. Have you been playing along?

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Star Light, Star Bright

On Saturday night, after a wonderful, cozy day in the house, we got ourselves out to go into Monza – I wanted to capture the lights. I must be honest, I wasn’t feeling too inspired by them. I know, shocking, but even with me sometimes that happens. So I played around with creating some intentional bokeh by shooting out of focus. It wasn’t until I got home and saw the two images  side-by-side in the computer, out of focus and in focus, that I really got excited. Sometimes something new just hits you out of the blue – I wondered if I could combine them for an interesting effect. What you see above is the result, and I love it.

Here’s how I did it…I started with the “out of focus” bokeh photo in Photoshop Elements, this one:

Then I pulled the “in focus” one in, this one, as a layer above the “out of focus” photo:
I combined them by using a blending mode of soft light, at 75%. Finally, I stretched and tilted and adjusted the “in focus” photo until the stars closely overlayed the “out of focus” ones. These were taken handheld, so while they were taken from the same location and angle with the same zoom, they are slightly different compositions and needed to be matched up. If I had used a tripod (heaven forbid!), I would not have needed this last step.
I tried lots of different blending modes and opacities, they all came out slightly different – the one I’m sharing today is the one I liked best. Let me know what you think!

I interrupt my regularly scheduled participation in 9 Muses Musing because I wanted to share this photo for Sweet Shot Tuesday and Touch Up Tuesday. And, to be honest, I also didn’t have anything specific in mind for today’s prompt of FAMILY. 🙂 Be sure to stop by and see all the other shared stories on FAMILY  at Mortal Muses though! Tomorrow’s prompt is CANDLE.

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Sweet and Tangy, with a Kick

Ah, Limoncello. The wonderfully sweet and tangy after dinner drink found in Italy originated around Sorrento, where we stayed on our recent trip. All along the Amalfi Coast you find shops boasting their own Limoncello production, offering you a taste. Mmmmm… Be warned though, this drink is strong, 30 to 40% alcohol. You only need a tiny bit! I discovered this liqueur on my very first business trip to Italy in 2008, and fell in love with it.

Lemons and other citrus are grown in this region, and have two crops a year – around May-June and November-December. It was very neat to see the groves of trees with the fruit on them, even the trees along the streets in the towns are citrus. The lemon is the symbol of the region – everything had lemons on it! We enjoyed walking along, popping into the different stores for a sample. We also discovered Limoncello Crema – the white-ish Limoncello made with milk instead of water – and love that even more.

Limoncello is easy to make, you just need lemon peel, 100-190 proof alcohol, water, sugar, and time. I found a good, detailed description of the process here. I’ve never made it, but I want to try someday. It will be a sweet taste of Italy I can make wherevery I live.

Today’s 9 Muses Musing prompt is SWEETS. Tomorrow’s is FAMILY. Come on over and see what sweet treats are shared today!

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It Takes a Village

Welcome to Legano. Located in the north of Italy, in my son’s bedroom. Legano is a Lego town, the name inspired by our visit to the town of Lugano, Switzerland, right after Christmas last year. Brandon came home from that day trip and started building this village with his Christmas Legos.

He hasn’t stopped since. A year later, the town is thriving, if different. It changes every day. Some days, it’s only a small detail added. Other days, it’s a complete overhaul. Every day, it is part of him processing our adventure here in Italy, dealing with it from the perspective of a 9 year old.

It started early in the year as we built the different buildings that every town needs. A commune (town hall), gelateria, pizzeria, school, hospital, police station, fire station. Sometimes I would help him build the buildings (I like building the buildings – the police station is my proudest accomplishment), and sometimes he would work on his own. The town changes and grows as he does.

After we visited Rome in the spring, an entire section of Roman ruins cropped up. (Good thing for those Indiana Jones sets!)
As I was studying for my Italian driver’s license, street signs and signals began to appear all over town, in abundance.
Friends houses have appeared and disappeared, as his friendships grew and changed – old friends moving away and new friends moving in.
There have been piazzas with umbrella covered tables in the summer. Airports with security and international destinations. Trains and trams and funiculars and buses.
There’s even me, with a camera in my hand.

If I ever wondered about the value of play time for children, that wondering for me, is over. When I see piles of trash heaped up in the streets (a la Naples, our latest trip) or have my son explain that the little Lego statue he’s showing me is The Discus Thrower, I know that this play is not just childhood fancy. This is where he processes and integrates all of these new things he sees all of the time, things that used to be outside of his experience. Legano provides, for him, what my photography and my blog provide for me.

Have you heard the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child?” I think, for the child, it is the a village of their own creation, where they raise themself and grow up whole.

The prompt for 9 Muses Musing today is VILLAGE. Tomorrow is SWEETS. I hope you’ll come join us!

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Into the Unknown

There is a place on my normal walking route in Parco di Monza, were I sometimes find myself in the middle of nowhere. On foggy mornings, all I can see is the path I am on and the empty field around it. I am suspended in a place where nothing else seems to exist.

Our journey through life can be like this too. We can find ourselves on a path, where all we can see is just a little bit right in front of us. The rest is utterly, completely unknown. The only thing to do, is to take one step forward, and then another, on the path that we can see clearly. We have to trust that the path that opens up before us will lead us to good things. Take the steps in faith.

I’ve been revisiting part of my creative journey recently, as I prepare the material for my Find Your Eye course. It has been an enlightening exercise. By looking back at my journey, I can see that each little step into the unknown was leading me exactly to this place, where I am today. I can see every action, leap of faith, “aha” moment clearly in retrospect. It all fits together, what was unknown is now known. The fog has cleared.

Do you know what I’ve learned, more than anything else, by retracing my steps along this journey? That whenever I find myself in the unknown – that place where I can’t see the end of the path – I need to just take the steps. Put one foot in front of the other, along the stretch that I can see in front of me. I can trust that all will be revealed in time, and it will be good.

Today the 9 Muses Musing prompt is JOURNEY. Tomorrow’s prompt is VILLAGE. Come by and share your journey, or visit the links to see those that are shared today.

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Le Campane

Le campane, or bells, are an everyday part of Italian life. Every where you turn, you see the bell towers or campanile. You hear the bells tolling regularly throughout the day. Every day. I hear them on my walk in the park in the morning, I hear them as I drive to work, I hear them everywhere, as we travel around Italy. And, on special occasions like Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, you can hear them clanging joyously from every direction, all at the same time. 
It’s not really the sound of the bells that are unique in Italy, it’s what the campanile symbolize: Community, home town. Each little town, or even sections within a city, have a strong pride in their little slice of the world. This sense of community pride is called campanilismo, which has no direct translation in English. It’s a sense of belonging to this place in the world, that this place is theirs, and it is the best there is. It is stronger than any sort of regional or national identity here in Italy. I found a great little summary of what it means and where it comes from here.
I’ve personally observed it, in my time here. When we talk to Italians in our travels, you get the sense of pride and belonging. Italy is not a mobile society, like we are in the US. Most people grow up and then live their entire adult lives in the same town or region, and it’s hard for them to fathom moving as much as we do in the US, much less moving abroad. My Italian colleagues here are on the more mobile side, they are from all over Italy and some have lived abroad as well. But still, when you get to talking about places to visit, beautiful places in Italy, food, wine – the campanilismo shows up. Their town is the most beautiful place in the world. Their food is the best food that you could ever taste. The rivalries between them are joking and in fun, but underlying it is the same strong sense of community that has persisted for hundreds of years.
Yesterday morning I went out to capture the closest bell tower, in our town of Vedano al Lambro. Just before this the bells were ringing their little hearts out. It was hard to get a good pictures, since it’s tucked along a tiny street, probably originally from medieval times, and there was construction scaffolding right in front of it. At this angle though, I was struck by the contrast of the roof adornments. The simple crosses on the church as compared to the antennae on the roof next door. A commentary on how society has changed through the years. And through it all, the campanile have stood, as a symbol of place like no other. 
Today’s 9 Muses Musing prompt is BELLS. Tomorrow’s prompt is JOURNEY. I hope you will join in!