KEEPING YOU ABREAST

The Sanremo Festival always makes good TV and I thought I'd keep you abreast of it tonight. I haven't decided on a favourite song yet but I have no doubt about my favourite moment so far: it happened last night when the underwiring in singer Giorgia's gorgeous dress failed her.

Hasn't it happened to every woman - that moment when your strapless bra refuses to behave, you're in the middle of the street and you just want to get somewhere where you can hitch it up?  Giorgia finished her song and then, when presenter Carlo Conti came to interview her, calmly handed him the mike and, with a style that brooked no nonsense from either the underwiring or her boobs, yanked the dress into position.  You can see the moment here.

"I'm not very well-endowed", joked the singer.  

Believe me, Giorgia, it happens even when you're more - err,... curvy.  Well done, though - you have freed women everywhere!

FIFTY SHADES OF FUCHSIA

I have a lasting affection for Modica's Bar Fucsia [pronounced "fook-see-ah"] as it is the place where Simi the dog and I arrived to be met by friends when we moved to the city all those years ago. I can never pass the bar without thinking of that evening. They also make extremely good ice cream.

The colour fuchsia, too, is one of my favourites but when it comes to lipstick I cannot find a true fuchsia shade that looks "fucsia fucsia" ["really fuchsia"] on my lips, though it may seem so when dabbed on my hand from the tester. I should add that there are some makes I just cannot use because of allergies and the brands of make-up available here in Sicily are broadly the same as those to be found in perfumeries all over the world.  

The nearest I have got to a true fuchsia shade that doesn't look as pale as death once on my lips is the YSL lippie at the front on the right but they don't make it any more. [Isn't it annoying when cosmetic companies withdraw our favourite shades, ladies?]  The Italian brand Karaja lippie at front left is not too bad on me but it doesn't come out a deep fuchsia colour as it does on Italian lips. So are you listening, cosmetic houses? I want a "fucsia fucsia" lippie the colour of that car on Bar Fucsia's roof and I want it to stay that colour!

When it comes to clothes, the most difficult colour to obtain here is emerald green and I've become convinced that this must be because for some reason it does not suit Italian skins.  Come on, all you designers up in Milan - get some emerald clothes out there for Christmas!

OK, that's my rant done and if you're wondering why it matters, gentlemen, here's the reason:

Peggy Lee - I Enjoy Being a Girl

MOUNTAINGIRL'S PHOTO CHALLENGE - "MATCH"

It's 11.58 pm on Friday which means I am on time this week for my friend mountaingirl's Friday Photo Challenge! This week's theme is "match".

Whenever I buy a new item of clothing, I get stressed out trying to find accessories and make-up to match. Finding the right lipstick often involves rummaging through my make-up drawers in a complete panic or taking the item to the perfumery to match it up. But today I was lucky as I found I had a lippy that is an exact match for this blouse:




Later Cathy snapped me wearing both in my classroom:




And now, just for fun, ladies - and gentlemen, if it takes your fancy - here is a cool quiz from blogthings:

You Should Wear Bright Red Lipstick

In Your Face: Sexy and Flirty Your look: Flawless Beauty Your signature lip gloss flavor: Cherry

What Shade of Lipstick Should You Wear?

Blogthings: Free Quizzes for Everyone

SILK SURPRISE

Two years ago I helped a neighbour's daughter with her university research on teacher evaluation in the UK. I was glad to help and refused to take the payment that she offered. Since then, she has brought me a little gift whenever she returns to Sicily from Torino.

Yesterday, just as I was feeling at my lowest, she presented me with this beautiful, pure silk, Italian wrap. [She had no idea of the significance of the date for me and I didn't tell her.] Isn't it lovely and wasn't it strange that, having been home since the beginning of July, she chose yesterday to bring this gift?

That's the second pleasant surprise during this period of the anniversary of Mum's passing: I'd mislaid a treasured photo of Mum [not the picture in yesterday's post] and, as I thought I'd searched everywhere and it had been missing for some time, I was beginning to fret about it and feel guilty. Then, quite by chance on Saturday, I happened to open my Great Aunt Mabel's Victorian keepsake box - and there it was! I must have put the photo there to keep it safe until I could find a suitable frame.

DAILY DOINGS - 24

Another Ferragosto has come and gone, and that means I have almost survived both the summer and the silly season! The summer takes some surviving because of the heat and, for women, it entails even more worrying about one's appearance than usual. As I reported on twitter earlier, the following has become my Sunday routine: shower, epilate, shower, exfoliate, apply moisturiser and then fake tan to legs. [I am pale and it's the only way!] Then wait at least an hour for it to dry and develop a bit [while I read, pluck my eyebrows, exfoliate my face and give myself a facepack]. The "Sicilian silly season" is definitely August, when many stores shut down for 2 whole weeks around Ferragosto and others do not reopen after siesta. It's a bit churlish to want to deny the Italians, who work so hard all year round, their August break, but I do find it absurd that a chemist's can close for a whole month! Even my beloved Altro Posto bar has been closed for the past two weeks but Raffaele the hairdresser is only closing for four days this year, instead of a whole week. This, I imagine, is due to increased competition from several new hairdressing salons which have sprung up in Modica this year. I can just about manage four days without a hairdo!

The Post Office, that embodiment of "abandon all hope", is again closed in the afternoons until the end of August. And, talking of that establishment, last week a post box appeared outside it. This may be normal in other parts of the world but it seems no one had suggested it as a logical place to put one in this part of Sicily!

The Edicolè bar is only closed until Monday afternoon, and they were feeling in generous mood when I popped in for an aperitivo and an ice cream on Friday: how about this for a complimentary snack?

When I bought a kilo of grapes for 80 centesimi from our local greengrocer, also on Friday, he didn't have 20 c in change to give me, so instead he plonked another kilo of grapes into the bag! OK, I know he had to get rid of them before the holiday, but I can't imagine that happening in the UK, can you? It seems that there are some advantages to the "silly season" after all!

Now, changing the subject completely, my friend M from Girl on the Run wanted to see what accessories I would buy to go with this outfit:

Well, I finally got them, in the end-of-season sales!

Meanwhile, Modica's young people have been having a busy time down on the beaches: I'm ashamed to relate that our lovely, clean beaches have been badly littered with cigarette ends and the Comune's machines don't pick them all up. Under the clever slogan, Filtriamo la spiaggia young people have been invited to clear the beaches of this mindless pollution and have been offered a free ice cream for every 50 cigarette ends they've been able to collect today. [I must say, I wouldn't like to be the person who had to count them!] A good initiative, encouraging the young to care about their environment and allowing local makers of traditional ice cream to sponsor an environmental event or the Comune evading its resposibilities and even potentially exposing the volunteers to a health risk? I've heard both arguments here and now would love to know what all of you think.

MOUNTAINGIRL'S PHOTO CHALLENGE - "TASTEFUL"

Once again it's time for my friend mountaingirl's Photo Challenge and this week's theme is "tasteful". I bet you all thought I'd do a food post, didn't you? I must admit I thought about it. But I am going to use the opportunity to bleat on about one of my favourite topics - the VBS - visible bra strap.

Straps, as all women know, are our enemy during summer. Tops are strappier than ever, but what are you supposed to wear under them? A strapless bra is tasteful and neat but won't push you up much; transparent straps are, I think, the second best solution, although those pieces of plastic are too light to give you a really flattering line [unless you have very little there in the first place, in which case, you can stop worrying!] What many women do these days is to go for the so-called "four strap solution", choosing a bra the same colour as the garment:

But is it elegant? Is it tasteful? Would you have seen that goddess famed for her taste, Jackie Kennedy, thus attired? Would the average Frenchwoman don this clothing? I don't think so. And surely the whole point of an open-backed top is just that - that your back is as free of encumbrance as possible. Of course, there was a time when the undergarment solution would have been incorporated into the top or dress but those days have long gone.

So what do you all think? And, while we're pondering the topic of what is tasteful and what is not, do have a look at this over at James's site.

À chacun son goût.

SILLY WEEK: IT'S MY OLD AGE AND I'LL WEAR WHAT THE HELL I LIKE!

These ethnic outfits are popular here this summer. Simi likes it, anyway!

SILLY WEEK: QUIZ - WOULD YOU LOOK SILLY IN SICILY?

WOULD YOU LOOK SILLY IN SICILY? » Free Online Quizzes

TO MARKET, TO MARKET - 3

If bargains are to be had in Modica's shops, they are certainly to be had in the market during this period. On Thursday I bought:

This dress. It's in cool cotton and I now have this style in purple and black as well.

These three-quarter-length trousers:



Three bras for 1 euro each and they all fit! [No, I'm not going to take a picture!]

A kitchen curtain for 10 euros [like the one on the right in the video, only green].

An enormous pot of my favourite, locally produced, orange-flower honey.

Here are 13 seconds of the atmosphere:



Finally, I just had to buy this, not in the market but in a shop:



I think I've finally restocked my summer wardrobe!

DAILY DOINGS - 23

The water service, I am pleased to relate, appears to be functioning after weeks of being sospeso and the delivery lorries have been darting up and down narrow streets and in and out of queues of cars like vespa scooters in their hurry to get around to some very long-suffering customers. Yesterday I witnessed a fine altercation as a water lorry driver was trying to reverse into this street and found himself blocked by a car whose occupants were waiting to use a nearby ATM. The car driver refused to budge and finally the lorry driver beeped at all the other traffic, turned back into the main road and tore along it at at breakneck speed. I thought, "Oh, no, now someone won't get their water because of the selfish car driver" but the lorry driver did a three-point turn in a very narrow space, sped back, entered our street from the other direction and drove like Enzo Ferrari himself to his delivery address. This time the car driver got out of the way!

Now here's an interesting snippet of information from Rosa, who hears the world's news from her companions on the no. 3 bus. [Forget twitter, the internet and Reuter's - word gets round quicker on Modica's no 3!] There is plenty of work in Italy for donne di servizio or colf [an acronym of collaboratrice familiare - cleaner or domestic helper] and badanti [carers] but it seems that very few of them are willing to work for the elderly, particularly the elderly with dementia-related illnesses. Rosa has heard that people in their forties and fifties are now taking on colf, in the hope that the person will become loyal to their employer and stay on during his or her old age.

There were thought to be about 1 million colf in Italy in June of this year and it is estimated that 500,000-600,000 of these have entered the country illegally. However, under new legislation, from September each family will be able to register 1 non-EU colf and 2 non-EU badanti [provided these are already in Italy and provided the employer meets the income requirement in the case of the former] thus regularising their presence in the country. This will solve the problems of many working women but it isn't going to help the ailing elderly.

On we go: this morning Lucia visited, bearing a jar of asparagi which her husband had picked from their garden and preserved. I'm dreaming of all the nice risotti I am going to make with these and trying not to think of possible after effects!





I would like to be able to show you a photo of Leapy, but he's too fast for me! Leapy is a baby lizard [well, he was a baby when I first encountered him but he's grown some] who lives on the balcony. He darts out from behind my plants when I water them. But at the weekend, when I opened the gas meter cupboard [on another balcony] something moved very fast and I just caught a glimpse of Leapy. I worried myself silly in case he had got trapped in there and it was ages before it occurred to me that he knew the way in [through a grille, presumably] and therefore must know a way out. He didn't appear yesterday and I thought he'd gone back behind the plants but this morning there he was, leaping round the cupboard again. I don't know the first thing about lizards, except that I prefer them to spiders [but then, I prefer King Kong to spiders] so if you do, please could you tell me: is he intelligent enough to get out when he wants to? Is he sleeping in there? Should I put some water in the cupboard for him and, most importantly, should I try to get him out of there?

Raffaele the hairdresser has been working on his publicity again and has come up with a little booklet telling you about your star sign and how you can improve your life [by visiting the salon!] I think it's a neat idea:



As for me, I have at last [thanks to Lancôme] achieved tanned legs! Four years in Sicily and I have not managed this feat previously. I do find it hellishly difficult, if not impossible, to tan, and I really have the sort of skin that you should keep out of the sun. However, dear reader, if you had such pale skin and lived among the bronzed lovelies of Italy, you would want to go out dressed in a bin bag in summer! So this year I braved the tanning booth for 10 x 15-minute sessions [I know it gives you wrinkles and worse!] and the result? A slight tan [a tan on me would be a normal colour on everyone else] everywhere except on my legs and my face [the latter intentionally protected by total sun block and a ton of make-up]. Finally I decided that "the only safe tan is a fake tan" and did the deed this morning, after bathing, exfoliating, moisturising and all the other preparation. I'm quite pleased with the result and can face the world! By the way, in the July edition of Good Housekeeping [to which I have a subscription] a woman has written to the beauty editor to say that her husband hates the smell of fake tan. The editor replies that this "must be a male thing" so do tell me, gentlemen readers, is this true? My theory is that they put something chocolatey in it because I like the smell!



Some of you will know that, after water and the Sicilian post office, the bane of my life is the VBS [visible bra strap] and after that, any kind of inelegant garment strap. So why, oh why, are clothes designers putting straps on every top or sleeveless dress I see, sometimes up to 4 of the things? I could understand it if there was some semblance of a bra within the garment, as the straps would be needed to hold it up, but of course, there isn't and the straps are too flimsy to hold the garment itself up. Most of us will need to wear a strapless bra under these tops or dresses so what is the point of adding any straps at all to them?

Lastly, here is the ice cream of the week - croccantino all'amarena [crunchy stuff with black cherries] at Modica's Gipsy Bar:

MOUNTAINGIRL'S PHOTO CHALLENGE - FINERY

It's Friday already and that means it's time for my friend mountaingirl's Photo Challenge. This week's theme is "finery".

Finery to me means your best clothes and here's my paternal grandmother in hers:

Well, they may not have been her best to tell the truth, for right up to and including most of the 1950s, no woman would go out without donning a hat. The fur around her neck is something that, I am glad to say, a woman could not get away with wearing today - not in the UK, at any rate, and probably not of that type anywhere. Those dead things were worn as collars through the 50s too and I remember being scared half to death by them as a child.

And that neatly brings me to photo number 2. When I was a little girl, wearing your finery meant accessorising with a bonnet:

Finally, no apology for posting this photo again, as Simi demanded to be seen in her finery too!

"TO MARKET, TO MARKET...."

But I didn't "buy a fat pig" or a "plum bun" at Modica Sorda's fortnightly market this morning because Rosa and I were in search of clothing bargains.

"Cui voli vinniri caru

guadagna poco dinaru."

= "If you want to sell at high prices

you won't earn much money."

Thus goes a Sicilian proverb and indeed, this could have been the motto of the market traders we encountered. Had there been any room in my freezer, I could have stocked it up for a very reasonable price. But so determined was I to get at the clothing that I even walked past a stall full of fridge magnets!

On a very hot morning, the atmosphere was jovial, with the traders calling out their wares and their prices, customers waving to people they knew or shouting to them to come and see what they had just purchased and absolutely everybody exclaiming, "Mamma mia, che caldo!" ["Goodness, it's hot!"]

There was not a single stall that was not crowded but the biggest throng by far was around one selling what Italian women refer to as "house" dresses - simple, cool, sleeveless, usually patterned dresses, quite pretty in their way, which the women wear in summer when they are cooking or doing housework. They wouldn't be seen dead in these garments outside, partly because everyone would know they were from the market - "vergogna" ["shame"] - and partly because they would not deem them sufficiently elegant attire for walking down the street to deposit their rubbish bags in the communal bins. Now I wouldn't have minded snapping up one of these dresses myself, but I could only find medium, large or extra-large sizes [no small at all], which was quite maddening as when I was a larger lady I couldn't find large sizes for love nor money. I probably was a bit half-hearted about grabbing as many of the dresses as I could in one go and scrutinising them for size, quality and then resistance to tugging by giving them a good yank, [you expect all that for your 6 euros? - yes, siree, in Italy!] which was what all the other women were doing, and I got so hot that I gave up the fight after a mere half an hour, reader.

But then, oh then, reader, a few stalls further on, I found them; these Italian silk trousers and a fine top to go with them [I seem to be going boho]:

I don't know where I think I'm going in them and they probably won't turn out to have been quite such a bargain by the time I've bought the right bra and accessorised them [I know exactly where to go for the shoes!] but I was one happy lady by the time I left the market for a drink and an ice cream in the pleasant garden of a nearby bar:

"Li ricchi comu vonnu e li poviri come ponnu" = "The rich live in the way they want and the poor in the way they can."

- Another Sicilian proverb.

DAILY DOINGS - 21

Recently I nearly came to blows with a friend over the matter of perfume. I was both surprised and upset by what this person said, which was, basically, that he liked people's "natural" smell and preferred women to wear no perfume at all. I was surprised because it had never occurred to me that any woman would go out - or stay in, for that matter - without putting perfume on, and upset because I drown myself in YSL Paris every day and it's as much a part of me as my make-up and clothes. I've always regarded perfume as essential and have been proud of wearing a scent that has become my "signature" one. My friend pointed out that some people may not like it, to which my response was that they could stay away from me, then, though I did take his point about allergies. But heavens above, as an asthmatic I suffer from enough allergies myself and I don't think a good perfume can be classed with something positively harmful, like the odour of tobacco smoke. Anyway, I'd be grateful, dear readers, if you would take a minute to do the poll in the sidebar, as I'll be interested to learn what you think.

Now to a different sort of odour and not a pleasant one. This is what the area around all the communal rubbish containers in our otherwise lovely, Baroque city looks like at the moment and the smell pervades the whole town:

Yes, the Comune has run out of money again, so the refuse collectors have not been paid! The Comune has also once more had all its phones cut off for non-payment of the bills. I therefore deduce that the next time I try to order water for the condominio I will be told that the service is sospeso. All this always seems to happen in summer; a nice welcome for the tourists, don't you think?

When I'm not avoiding the stink of piled-up rubbish bags I am attempting to restock my summer wardrobe. Regular readers will remember that, since becoming ill in October, I have lost a lot of weight and have had to chuck most of my clothes out. Even the things I had altered don't fit now. Something like a summer wardrobe is beginning to come together: yesterday I went out to buy a pair of jeans but came back with the kaftan you see on the bed and today I was spurred on by the offer of a beach chair if I spent 80 euros in the same shop, a task which I accomplished with no difficulty! [I'll show you the chair when I figure out how to put it together.] Now I need some shoes to go with this lot!

Talking of fashion, I wonder what you all think about jewellery? I am of the opinion that the right piece of costume jewellery can "make" an outfit and have been known to buy a brooch or necklace first and then get an outfit to set it off! But I also believe you can wear too much of the stuff, a view not shared by the majority of Italian women, who pile it on. Chanel famously advised,

"Look in the mirror before you leave the house - and take one thing off!"

That's fine with me as long as that one thing isn't my pefume!

REGOLATO!

The recession may not be doing the exchange rate any good but it is certainly helping me in my effort to refurbish my wardrobe. [I have lost so much weight that nothing fits and some things just can't be successfully altered.]

Having picked this up for 21 euros on Thursday,

I went back to the shop today to get a similar black one. ["If you hum and haw, it will be gone" - that's my motto.]

"Regolato, signora, regolato" [="Given away"], said the shopkeeper as I took my leave.

Italian shopkeepers, it must be said, have never been afraid to genuinely slash prices, particularly when it comes to fashion, for no Italian wants last season's designs, however attractive the price. So I've seen 70% reductions here before, but never have I seen sales continue for so long. Carpe diem.

"LA REGINA" LOSES IT

It's not often that I read a news item from Britain that actually cheers me up these days but today's story of the Queen, who may or may not have stormed out of a photo shoot after being asked to remove her tiara, is being reported here with amusement and some puzzlement. The BBC, of course, looks stupid, first saying that HM "stormed in" not out, and then having to apologise for showing the footage at all in a trailer for a documentary.

Now, I'm not normally one to defend the Windsors and have often thought that HM would do well to follow Coco Chanel's fashion advice to "look in the mirror and take one thing off" , in particular with regard to accessories. But hey, so the lady had a clothes tantrum! What woman doesn't and who among us does not know the feeling? You spend hours trying to look just right [admittedly with a lot of professional help in the case of Elisabetta ] decide, finally, that you will pass muster and then, when you do make an entrance, you don't need someone putting you down - particularly another woman! So welcome to the girls' club, Lizzie Windsor!

The Italian expression perdere le staffe for losing one's temper, literally "to lose one's stirrups" is rather appropriately used in this case, don't you think?!

WELL, YOU DID ASK!

This is for Sally, pinkacorn, Liz and Ruthie, who have asked for photos of the clothes bargains I bought on Thursday. They don't look much there on the hangers, I admit, and do bear in mind that linen creases as soon as you look at it, but believe me when I say that the neck detail on the white dress is really pretty and there is lace detail at the neck and hem of the turquoise number, which has quite a swingy shape. I'll need something to relieve the pure white and the blue earrings are a favourite pair which I bought for about 20p on the Charles Bridge in Prague four years ago. [I also have a dark green pair like this and wish I'd gone back and purchased all the other colours the vendor had, too!] I'm thinking if I wear these with the white plus another item that matches them [perhaps a bracelet] then that will clinch the look. Now there's the matter of the correct biancheria intima to wear under each of these, especially with the effect of the sun! [And that could cost more than the clothes, here!]