Festa

I'm a sucker for festivals. When AAA's Westways Magazine lands in my mailbox, I immediately circle all of the upcoming festivities and plot my course. A couple of weeks ago mi madre y yo went to the Sicilian Festa in San Diego so's I could be with my people. I never knew that heaps of Sicilians settled along the shores of San Diego and made their living as tuna fishermen. They established a Little Italy, which was eventually bifurcated by the 5 freeway, but part of it remains and every year they organize a good-sized Sicilian celebration. They had performers, craft booths, and all manner of Italian wares (I managed to walk away without a "Proud to be Italian and Irish" license plate frame or the t-shirt with "Fuggedaboudit!" stretched along the front.) The real star, of course, is the food. Ahhhh. A slice of pizza, a sausage sandwich, and an Italian ice wedged tightly in our guts, we settled down to watch the pasta eating contest.

As for Memorial Day Weekend, I spent the better part of it at the beach. T-Bomb and I ventured to Redondo Beach for the first time and rollerbladed for a good 12-15 miles along the strand. A perfect day weather-wise and fun to explore a new place (yes - I've lived here for one gazillion years and have never seen Redondo Beach. Nor Hermosa. Nor Manhattan Beach. Need I continue?) On the holiday itself a bunch of double x chromosomes and I planted ourselves on Laguna Beach for the entire day. I had a chance to try out the new bathing suit. It was slightly chillier than I hoped, so it was mostly buried beneath layers, but I slipped out of the cover-ups for a few minutes to prove that I was brave enough to do it. Better pictures later, Gator...