Sunday morning

Breakfast. Pancakes. Coffee is already gone - without this drug no pancakes can be cooked.
Instead plenty of good vibes for the day.

Piú letti

Saying goodbye to St Andrews, family photo session on East Sands

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I've had several shoots lately with families who are moving from St Andrews and who wanted to have family photos in their favourite places around the town. It's always bittersweet to say goodbye to the town you grew to love, while looking forward to the new beginnings and adventures. This is what we did one summer evening in July, we met on East Sands to take some photos on the beach, the pier and around the Cathedral ruins. We timed it for the low tide - East Sands gets really small during high tide so there is not much space to run and play.  We took photos outside of the Cathedral - to avoid crowded and very touristic looking shots. It's surrounded with lovely green grass, grown quite high in that time, high grass always makes beautiful backdrop with its colour and texture. Kids loved to play and goof around in it, as well as on the ruins close to the Cathedral walls. We also took some photos of the parents on their favourite bench overlooking the pier and the sea - such...
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Visiting St Andrews

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Published on 27th of September 2022       The final weeks of school holidays we spent in Scotland - summer break is very long in Sicily, kids go back to school around mid-September. It was great to escape from the heat and mosquitoes, see our friends in St Andrews and visit all our favourite places. West Sands, East Sands, Tentsmuir, Botanic Gardens, Coastal path, Lade Braes, and of course Carnie fruit farm!  We came with quite a bucket list of things we wanted to do during our time in St Andrews, and we planned some of our walks and outings so that we were back by the time school is over and they could see their friends at Canongate. This was one of the downsides, different school schedules and limited time they could be with their school friends, so we tried to squeeze in as many play dates as possible. I think being back showed just how much has changed for us in this year - new country, big city, new language, new schools for everyone, different climate, differe...
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Photo a day - January

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Published on 13th of February 2024 This January has been... different. It should've been great, we had a trip planned for New Year, my brother was expected to visit with his family, Mara and Matteo have their birthdays in January too. It turned out not quite what we planned and expected. The trip to Sila had to be cut short because everyone got ill, which turned out to be Covid, which as a consequence affected also Mara's birthday and made the time with my brother and his family a bit less fun too. On the other hand, it felt like my body and my mind needed this slow time after busy and stressful December, there was a lot to reflect about, a lot of rest and quiet. It's ironic that Covid became the answer to this, oh well. The January photos reflect this slow time too - we stayed at home or visited grandma's garden to collect oranges and to play, we baked and built pillow forts, planted bulbs for spring, read books and baked some more. Cookies and muffins are usually what...
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Summer

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This week-end we were discussing, what to do with my summer project, #100momentsofsummer . Calendar was rolling to inevitable end of August, while many of our summer adventures remained unpublished. We also bought a sun dress, stumbling upon it accidentally. And we thought, it cannot be over, if we are not ready. If we still feel like summer, with all its flowers, berries, bugs, fresh Scottish winds and sand between your toes. So we went for a walk, and made a crown. We crowned a queen and a king. Thus, the Queen of Summer declares it is not over, who cares about calendar. It goes on, at least till September equinox. The Forest King in his turn orders to go on with ice-creams, sand castles, barbecues, bike rides and all the boyish summer joys and shenanigans.
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3 reasons to have your family photos in Villa Giulia park

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Villa Giulia is a park in historic center of Palermo. It has its origins in 18th century and is remarkable for its perfect square shape with diagonal alleys dividing the park in different sections. Marble statues and fountains, a sundial, shady alleys and open spaces, and wide variety of trees and shrubbery make it a popular spot both with locals and tourists.  If you'd like your family photos to have lush green background with a touch of special Sicilian atmosphere, this park definitely should be considered. It ticks all the boxes - plenty of space, nice surroundings, easy access, lots of options for things to do during your photo shoot to get natural and emotional images (anyway we don't do posed photos on the benches or next to flowering shrubs!).  Here are my top 3 reasons why villa Giulia is a great location for family photo sessions. Reason 1  Lots of space and diversity. The park has an alley with Ficus trees, a little bamboo forest, a hill with cacti and succulen...
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Sand castles on East Sands

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First barefoot beach day (we do not really count those short runs on the sand in February, right :-) Really and seriously, with feet dipping and running on the water - this one is the first. First sand castle of the season. First sand fight of the season and first hand full of sand - this, and sand in the pockets, will stay with us well till November. And I truly do not mind, I love my barefoot beach days as much as these two. Matteo is building a bunker - tunnel covered with sticks and sea-weed, then with sand. Good camouflage, it was hardly different from the rest of the surface around the castle. He tested it after completing the construction - the structure resisted his weight and survived. One very proud engineer. We tried to build the moat too - it did not really work, water was too far. So it was abandoned after a short while. Maya was collecting small rocks and shells to decorate the walls and the big tower. They both carried big rocks to reinforce the wall...
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