i trulli ....

rain rain rain ..... so a post about " trulli"
here are some I shot earlier ... (Julia Childs voice)

"i trulli" are ancient beehive shaped houses built a very long time ago ...

They believe the trulli were first built in Puglia in the neolithic age and continued being built from then on .... however the first written and documented evidence of them is from the 15th century

now they are used as places to store farm equipment and pesticides (not so romantic ) but alot of them have been converted into sweet little holiday houses dotted around the countryside ...
The trulli are built in the "dry stone" technique ...no mortar ... like the old walls around the countryside here ...they seem like mini castles with crenellations on the tops and little spiral steps to the roof which often has a grass cap...
inside there are niches for altars and small fireplace alcoves...





my found trulli

sunset in the ancient olive groves .....

so ......now I know how to work my dynamo light on my bike I am not so worried about riding on the provincial highway at night .... 

well ...

its not ideal considering Italian 

" just be ingenious and make a new 3rd  lane into oncoming traffic on a 2 lane highway ..., driving " 

but.....

eeeeeeeeeeeehhhhh   cosi! ......

so I caught the most incredible peachy sunset through ancient olives with grass fields around their roots

so amazing !

colour today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and the tricksy smartypants face .....

isnt he so beautiful  ?!!!!!

ancient faces ... day 15 olive tree project

mosquito bites

creaky bike butt

constant photographer dirt knee 

basket full of fresh herbs and flowers collected in the fields

the bike and me looking a bit rough having fallen off a couple of times with the weight of all my equipment and old stone rubble cobble roads
not to mention climbing over drystone walls that collapse under your weight and throw you into a patch of thistles ..... I hope no one saw that fall...  :(

but so happy with the research so far...

collecting hearts ....

once upon a time 
many many years ago

in an enchanted forest
in the Schwartzwald in Germany....

fast forward 

through centuries untold and family history lost in the European winds of time

franz ...franzisca...franz...fran... frances...franchee...francesca and finally it is frances

......................who takes a quick jump to the East coast of Puglia...  

in between squally rain showers....and finding my first Nonna ( la Nonna Ana) picking wild ciccory on the sea coast and telling me the first recipe.....

"la grotta della poesia" ...... a huge and beautiful natural swimming pool with caves from out to sea and internal caves with words carved everywhere...

 old houses cut into the limestone seafront at San Foca

 "amore"... Italia....

 love is all around

at this moment i would like to thank my next 3 backers who have got me up to 54% of the project target !!! thank you so much !!!!

thank you to

Jana Trupovniece a very talented jewellery designer from Kotka Finland who works under the title Helmitarha ... thank you Jana!!!!

Pamela Angus whose work I adore ... Pamela breaks glass in the French Alps and creates beautiful hand blown stained glass garlands for your windows ... they are to die for !!!!

Mark Bannerman a total creative genius-slash-guru who is a master of 3D imagery and brilliant sillyness, not to mention a really good painter , and he quite frankly has the funniest sense of humour in the land ...!  

thank you !!!!

day 11 .... the most incredible discovery

the days are flying by ....

today I am "customising" my bike so I can carry my mono rail camera and tripod around ... :D

at the end of the day just as it started raining (again) , Uccio the Geometra from the village and his wife Antonella, came over to take me to a secret olive grove... 

we went on a merry-go-round tour to find the owner ...who would then direct us to the actual property ...

wowowowoow brilliant!!!!

an Olive so enormous 4 people can fit inside it ....

another that has a kind of natural armchair inside !!!

these are the absolutely best trees I have ever seen and as soon as my film arrives...I will be a permanent fixture at this secret grove !!!
(I bought the last 2 boxes of 5x4" TMAX film in the USA and it is in transit now ...still searching for more, maybe in Germany I can find some...)

I seem to be continually dodging torrential downpours of rain .... 

and they say it never rains in the south ...

hmmmmm...

a taste of Napoli ....

13th October rushed off to Napoli to friends, to get my tooth fixed after a filling fell out while eating a piece of ... mmmmmm my favourite bread ...pane pugliese

the only way to see Napoli is with a true blue Napolitano on a motorbike ...or you will sit in stinky traffic shouting at each other for hours

Driving Napoli is not for the faint hearted ... get ready its like a kind of dance,

always expect the unexpected !!!... 

you cannot drive in the sort of autodaydream most of us go around in....

Vesuvius... trying to look innocent
here is a whirlwind fast tour of what I have seen ....

Pompeii under alot of rain ....

 

photographing this crazy eye statue was accompanied by huge thunder claps and lightning ... it was very theatrical...

um.....             "Romans go home" ....?

poverini " i fuggati" ... those caught in the Vesuvius eruption

while I was photographing here all the church bells in Pompeii all rang and rang...

 sad so sad

half way there !!!!!!

and I want to say thank you to my first 14 backers who have so generously brought my project target to half way !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a huge huge thank you to 

Megan E ... a very dear friend

Ingermaaike ... who is a total legend in my book and makes a wonderous felted world

Jetty Kolobaric ... who makes beautiful haunting photography 

Rita Juse-Cirkse ... who finds beautiful treasures in Latvia for jewellery crafting

Sherry ... a new friend crafting amazing knitwear

Ira Grant ...who makes seriously beautiful eco friendly bags in Switzerland with beautiful Japanese fabric linings ...I adore them (I have 2 of her pieces !!!)

Paula E... a very lovely friend

Lisa F... who needs a smack :D

Petitplat who makes the most utterly incredible miniature food jewellery..I just want to eat it all !

Alessandro B ...a most excellent friend and brilliant music critic

Keith Archer ... who makes magic hair for shoots ....at his salon Strobe in Sydney

Peggy Hartzell ..who is a new friend and I thank her very much

Joanne Zammit ..who makes wonderful jewellery under the name Gr8jewellery

and the mystery backer called DLDL a complete unknown ...but who has super generously given me a huge jump ahead in the kickstarter project race for the target ....

I thank all of you so very much !!!!!

this is the latest tree found .... little faces looking out ...