Seminar in L'Aquila for Tesol- Italy Teachers: Effective Images for Powerful Activities

In front of my PowerPoint display

It was my great pleasure yesterday to present at the first TESOL seminar of this new school year for Tesol Italy in L'Aquila, Abruzzo. This meeting was organised by Annamaria, the co-ordinator of the Tesol L'Aquila group, and it was lovely to meet her in person. She welcomed me and K (who was my personal chauffeur for the day) very warmly, and then helped me to set up the computer in the designated room, which was in the newly born Resource Centre for Teachers of Foreign Languages, hosted by Scuola Media "Dante Alighieri" of L'Aquila. This fabulous resource centre has been equipped by Tesol Italy with all kinds of materials available for the teachers of L'Aquila.

The session lasted approximately 2 hours, and there were over 20 teachers who were able to attend. My presentation was entitled "Effective Images for Powerful Activities". I showed a combination of slides I have used before, and a few additional new slides. I have embedded a Slideshare below.

L'aquila Seminar: "Effective Images for Powerful Activities

View more presentations from Janet Bianchini.

Feedback and Analysis
It was an absolutely amazing and very moving experience for me to be with teachers, who have been through so much. I was very happy to see all the participants joining in the activities with such a lot of enthusiasm. It was a very interactive presentation, and I liked the fact that I was able to move around everyone and see how they were getting on with the tasks I set. I think we all had some fun and the time literally flew past!

The participants did the following activities amongst others:

• brainstorm adjectives beginning with "C" to describe qualities of an effective teacher
• discuss the qualities of an efffective teacher
• 20 questions "guess the famous couple" (Romeo and Juliet)
• retell the story of Romeo and Juliet in under 50 words in pairs / groups
• retell the story around the class with each participant using only one word (this was fun!)
• guess the story of how a couple met
  
• create a poem/short paragraph from a picture prompt
• read a poem out aloud with correct stress patterns
• complete half a text to recreate a full text
  
• guess a famous person (George Clooney) - relevance to Abruzzo being his latest film "The American"
• briefly touch upon the implications of "teaching unplugged" via a picture prompt

Some Web 2.0 Tools
I introduced and showed examples of the following tools (amongst others), which I had used to create special effects and or edit my own images:

create a newscast picture with tuxpi.com
create a film strip picture frame with tuxpi.com
create a magazine effect and motivational poster with bighugelabs.com (see the one above)
a mind map using www.bubbl.us

The mind map below is one I have just created highlighting the lovely qualities of the teachers I met yesterday. Please press on the image to make it bigger. This has been saved as a .jpeg file.


Below is the same mind map, but it has been saved as a moving file, which is quite fun. This was embedded very easily straight from bubbl.us to my blog. Which one do you prefer?



Teaching Unplugged
I discussed the fact that teaching "unplugged" is a topic which is very topical at the moment. To teach with a coursebook or not / to teach "Dogme" style lessons or not. I introduced this topic briefly by a tuxpi - edited image of myself teaching back in 1981 (!!) in the GDR. Of course, back in those long distant days, I did literally teach "unplugged". Eg I had no internet, no OHP, no modern gadgets. Just the plain old, but incredibly useful, blackboard you can see behind me. The excellent "Streamline Departures" was the coursebook I used with all my Beginner level groups of students for the whole year. That is why after 30 years I still know the book inside out. I have very fond memories of it indeed!

I also showed the following image to generate a short discussion topic on "guess what is Janet saying to her students in 1982?"

As an addendum to our brief discussion yesterday, I would like to add the following excellent blog posts, which are currently featuring the subject of "Teaching Unplugged" principles:

Dogme Blog Challenge by Karenne Sylvester.
Dogme for All? by I'd like to think that I help people to learn English blog.
Unplugged Teaching Journal entry #2: My week with Marilyn by Jason Renshaw.

You might also find the following blog post "Animating your Coursebook", by Marisa Constantinides, very interesting.

On the theme of Romeo and Juliet, have a look at this absolutely amazing "Interactive Romeo and Juliet" resource, mentioned on Richard Byrne's Free Technology for Teachers blog.

I was very touched when at the end of my presentation, Annamaria presented me with a beautiful book on the history of L'Aquila. I will treasure this book forever.

Many, many thanks Teachers of L'Aquila for your wonderful participation in my seminar. It was a huge pleasure to meet you all. Hope to see you at TESOL - Italy Rome National Convention next month!

1955: The Look of Love

It was instant, eternal love through a mirror.

Special effects of photo above generated by tuxpi.com


The young man immediately knew when he saw the beautiful young girl in the reflection of the mirror, that she would be his wife.

Joined up photos of Lucia and Emidio in 1955, with special effects from tuxpi.com

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the handsome face in the mirror in front of her.

In one timeless second, their love was sealed.

It was 1955, in Abruzzo Italy.

Within 5 days my father had proposed and then, he left her.

For England.

A few months later, my father married my mother.

He was in England, working on the farm on his special day.

My mother was in Italy.



She wore a beautiful wedding outfit.


A wedding ceremony was held in her village with family and friends.

My uncle stood in as a proxy for my father.
As a child I always wondered why my mother had a picture with everyone but my father on her wedding day on September 1st.

She joined my father in England on September 17th 1955.


They have lived in England ever since.

They always celebrate 17th September as their true anniversary.


Unchained Melody, this version sung by the Righteous Brothers, was their song in 1955.




"Come Prima" is a classic Italian love song. This English version here is sung by the famous American/Italian singer Mario Lanza. I would like to dedicate "Come Prima" to my parents, who I hope will read my blog post today and "feel like the first time" they met, 55 years ago.



Events in 1955
You Tube Time Machine (YTTM) is a cool site which shows you a selection of videos of what was happening in any given year that you choose. Click on the link to find out what was happening in 1955.

I have created a Wordle which contains a romantic quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Can you unjumble the words? You can find the answer to this quote at the bottom of the post.



A final message to my amazing parents. Have a wonderful celebration! I will be thinking of you from here in Abruzzo.

"Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking in the same direction."

Update Your English! Part -1

I enjoy teaching everyday English, or "natural" English. The reason for this is that students often arrive in England ill-prepared for the kind of spoken English that is heard in everyday situations."It's so different to what I've studied back home," students often complain. "It's like a different language!" The following examples below are the sort of phrases that puzzle students when they hear them in England for the first time.

What is this "innit" I hear everywhere?
Somebody stopped me in the street and asked me for a "ciggie".
Why do people say "Cheers, mate" all the time?
Why do young people say "I'm not bothered".
I heard someone say they were having bangers and mash for their dinner.
I often hear "Are you gonna watch the footie tonight?" What is" footie"?

The "Y" Factor
I would like to share one lesson I will be doing next week. The focus will be on groups of words which end in -y or -ie. These tend to crop up a lot in everyday conversation.

I introduce the topic by reading out the dialogue below at normal speed, without showing the words. It is a dialogue, which I actually heard a few years ago. I then ask my students to tell me what the dialogue was about. I am usually met with some bemused looks!

A Bickie, Polly?
B Cheers, mate!
A Choccy bickie?
B Oooh! Fab!
A Here you go.
B Cheers, mate.
A No probs!

I ask my students to "translate" this brief dialogue into more formal English:

A Would you like a biscuit, Polly?
B Thanks, my friend.
A Would you like a chocolate biscuit?
B Ooooh! Fabulous!
A Here you are.
B Thank you!
A My pleasure.

The next stage is to get students in groups to brainstorm words that the students may have come across, which feature these 2 particular endings. Groups then feedback to the whole class and words are written up on the board.

Using Authentic Materials
Next I ask students to stand up and look around the classroom walls, where I have stuck some articles from newspapers/magazines/the Internet, which show concrete examples of words or phrases ending in -y or -ie. In pairs, students jot them down in their noteboooks and they try to work out the meaning from the context. General open class feedback follows with definitions and explanations of the 20 or so words from the authentic materials.
I have copied some examples below, taken from the Internet:

A
David Cameron egged by a hoodie

B

Heatwave to end today with thunderstorms

Bring in the barbecue and get out the brolly - the heatwave will end today with thunderstorms. And temperatures will plummet to a chilly 13C (55F) in the North next week.

C

Gourmet tour of Britain: Nicholas Roe enjoys a foodie safari through the UK countryside.

A Cider Route Tour will let you roam through the sweet-smelling orchards of Herefordshire

Hastings has a reputation for serving up good-quality fish Photo: CORBIS

One of the most enjoyable ways of exploring the highways and byways of Britain is to follow a regional food trail - of which there is an ever increasing number. These involve touring restaurants, farm shops, delis, vineyards and cider producers in some of the most scenic areas of the country. Here's a selection to whet the appetite this summer.

Via the Telegraph

D

Taxman demands share of Oscars goodies

Lavish Oscar gifts are set to be taxed.

Those who hold a rose-tinted view of the entertainment industry may wish to look away now. It turns out that the eye-poppingly expensive gifts showered upon the film stars who present the Oscars are not given purely out of a spirit of generosity.

America's tax authorities are cracking down on the "goodie bags" handed out to awards presenters, which now frequently include luxury holidays, expensive hi-tech gadgets, designer clothing and even free laser eye surgery, and are valued at up to $100,000 (£53,000) each. The free items are a marketing tool and a de-facto payment for the stars' services, the internal revenue service insists, so do not count as gifts and are liable for tax.

Further Practice

I then have a few more activities to practise the new words. For example, a wordsearch created on www.puzzlemaker.com. Students have to find the 17 words in the puzzle. The answers are directly below.

H U T R T R K W G J X W Z H H
R U H C S Y C C O H C G I C Y
J W Z C R A T J H S X H U E G
R I B D Y B B J K W D I B W C
E P I B U E I N R A S E P B U
S E B B O M E P V H H C J I W
B U L A I R Y L L K M B Z E S
E U O F L L P E E K W G L M Q
Y I S D T E G Z K E P C O M L
C F T Y I C T J E Q B B R U U
L O H O I E F O Y R K I B Y U
Y F M G O O V L L L K C E N N
B W G F O F B O S I C K I E W
H T Y L V J F F C D Z Z Y C J
U O F L P K G R J V X L L Y Y

BROLLY
BICKIE
BUBBLY
CHOCCY
CIGGIE
COMFY
FOODIE
FOOTIE
FREEBIE
HOODIE
HUBBY
LAIRY
NEWBIE
SARNIE
SICKIE
TELLY
YUMMY

17 of 17 words were placed into the puzzle.

Solution

H + Y + + + F + + + + + Y + +
+ O + L + + + R + + + + L Y +
E + O + L + + + E + + + L M +
+ I + D + E + + + E + + O M +
C + T + I C T + + + B B R U +
+ O + O I E F + Y + + I B Y +
+ + M G O O + L + + + C E N +
+ + G F O F B + S I C K I E +
+ I + D Y B + + + + + I + W +
E + I B U E I N R A S E + B +
+ E B B + + + + + + + + + I +
+ U L A I R Y + + + + + + E +
H + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + Y C C O H C + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

(Over,Down,Direction)
BICKIE(12,5,S)
BROLLY(13,6,N)
BUBBLY(4,11,NE)
CHOCCY(11,14,W)
CIGGIE(6,5,SW)
COMFY(1,5,SE)
FOODIE(7,6,SW)
FOOTIE(6,8,NW)
FREEBIE(7,1,SE)
HOODIE(1,1,SE)
HUBBY(1,13,NE)
LAIRY(3,12,E)
NEWBIE(14,7,S)
SARNIE(11,10,W)
SICKIE(9,8,E)
TELLY(7,5,NW)
YUMMY(14,6,N)

I create a set of flashcards with the words above and the more formal equivalent eg

TELLY = TELEVISION
BROLLY = UMBRELLA
COMFY = COMFORTABLE etc

I hold up the informal words and students shout out the formal words. I then hold up the formal words and students shout out the informal words. I do this slowly the first time round, but much quicker the second time.

Memory games can be played by placing all the cards face down on the floor. In teams, students have to pick up 2 cards to make pairs. The team with the most pairs, is the winner.

Story building
Write each new word on a small bit of paper. Put them in a hat. Go round the class inviting a student to pick a card from the hat. The student has to begin a story using the word. A second student picks out a word and has to continue the same story incorporating their word and so on, until all the students have taken part in the group story building activity. Depending on the number of students, I sometimes get them to repeat the same story several times verbally and then ask them to write it up using the words as a visual prompt. For this activity, you may like the students to create their stories as a newspaper article. The Newspaper Generator from fodey.com is excellent for this purpose. See an example below:

Students could create a wordle of their stories and then exchange them with other pairs/groups of students who then have to guess the context of the story.

Students could also create short dialogues to practise the new phrases and read them out to the class.

I would love to hear how you would teach the group of words I have selected in this post.

Images4Education and Moodle for Gardening and Cooking: Course Update

My EVO Images4Education course is going very well and I am enjoying exploring all the new features and connecting with other participants. I now have a Flickr account and I have been learning a lot. I have also found out about all sorts of lovely sites to use to edit photos in a fun way. Big Huge Labs is an amazing tool just waiting to be played with and well, dear reader, I certainly have played to my heart's content! The following photos have been simply re-edited with different effects such as create a stamp, a magazine cover, a postcard, a film poster and so on.

How can this tool be used in class? Well, the students can create projects, promotional posters, visual prompts for poems, they can use their imagination (like I have!).

The following pictures show you some of the special effects you can create on Big Huge Labs.

The first picture below was taken yesterday by K. It shows me with one of the 5 new olive trees I bought with some birthday money from my family. It made me reflect. I don't have any children, but these 3-year-old olive trees should last for many centuries, so for me, they represent a very powerful symbol of what I will leave behind for future posterity and that is something which makes me happy. I just hope this young olive tree below will last the course! I will be writing up a blog post soon on the topic of "Olive Tree Cultivation."


I love the film poster effect and this is one I have created, starring the elusive and very mysterious film star Arabella Cascarino and her Creator. Rather cheekily, I have taken the liberty of nominating the film for 5 special and imaginary Bit's'n'Bobs, Show'n'Tell Oscar awards.
Oops! The film star is Isabella Cascarino (the sister).





Abruzzo poem
Part of week 2's imaginative and challenging tasks was to write a poem based on a photo depicting your origins. The photo of the mountains is one of my favourite and I have referred to it many times in my blog, for example here. I really enjoyed this activity and I let my imagination run freely and the poem came straight from the heart.


I am now from the wilds of Abruzzo
from central Italy
I was from the cosmopolitan hub
of a medieval university city
The two forever linked
by nonna Natalina's move
from rural village
to sophisticated Oxford
The mountain of adventure beckons
enticingly amidst the cool backdrop
of ancient olive groves, centuries old
learned trees, the fruits waiting
to be picked by my fair hand
Ice-capped peaks denoting a
majestic grandeur
The valley of adventure waiting
to be explored
Virgin territory as yet untrampled by
swarms of tourists
I am off the beaten track
No postman dares venture beyond
the old ruined farmhouse
perched precariously on the hilltop
Isabella and Sofia rule the roost
Nikita and Chikita as yet unborn
Soon to be united in a glorious
mingling of all creatures great and small
This is my destiny
This is my future
This is where I am now

Interesting Links to Explore
Natasa is also taking the Images4Education course and her writing and feedback is inspiring. The poem she has written is amazing.

Carla Arena is one of my brilliant facilitators on the course and her blog is very inspiring. Her knowledge and fantastic use of Flickr is incredible and her enthusiasm is infectious.

Ana Maria from Life Feast blog is also one of the excellent co-moderatators on my course and I am learning a lot about how to exploit images from her.

Here is an interesting blog post I found on the resource-packed Box of Tricks which focuses on Using Images in the MFL (Modern Foreign Languages) Classroom.

Larry Ferlazzo has a very interesting post on "How do you use Photos in the ELL Classroom".

Just seen and will add "10 Sites for Playing with Images of Students" from Graham Stanley's excellent Digital Play blog.

Moodle for Teachers-3 Gardening and Cooking Course


I am also busy on my Moodle course. There was a weekly live Wiziq session on Saturday and I presented a Power Point presentation on behalf of my team mates on the Gardening and Cooking Moodle course. It was the first time I had done such a thing "live" and I actually enjoyed myself. The slides were a collaborative project via Google Docs and we have been organising ourselves with daily emails and weekly meetings on Skype and Google-Wave. My Team members come from Canada, USA, Canary Islands and Japan. We also use Diigo to bookmark useful links for the course that we are developing. We are now busily working and collaborating to present and showcase our future course next weekend. No rest for the wicked!


As you can see, I have been able to combine some of the new things I am learning from my Images4Education course. I am delighted to share them with you here.

I hope writing this post will inspire you to experiment with a few new tools. Are there any other Web 2.0 tools for using images that you like and that you would like to share here? I'd love to hear about them!

TESOL-Italy 2009

I had the most amazing time in Rome this weekend. The 34th TESOL-Italy National Convention was everything I had hoped for and more. I learned about the following things:

(For some really useful tips on how to manipulate words on Wordle, have a look at Jamie Keddie's blog.)

From Virtual to Reality
I made friends with English teachers and educators from Italy and shared experiences with them. This gave me a fascinating insight into the status quo of English language teaching in Italy. I was also able to meet two of my Twitter contacts and this was a fantastic feeling. I spoke to Valentina Dodge, who gave an excellent talk on wikis. When we saw each other, we greeted each other very warmly. From virtual contact to real life contact was a very exciting experience for me. Valentina's talk on wikis was both entertaining and practical. I learned about a new tool which I will highlight later. I also met Lindsay Clandfield, of Six Things Blog fame, who gave a very interesting and informative workshop on meeting the challenge of mixed ability classes.

Use It or Lose It!!
One fascinating plenary talk was given by Dr. Janet Zadina. The title was "Multiple Pathways: using brain research to orchestrate language learning." I discovered new pathways to learning and I came out of the lecture theatre feeling re-energised and on a high. I treated myself to Dr Zadina's book "Six Weeks to a Brain-Compatible Classroom - a workbook for educators." I read it from cover to cover on the train on the way home from Rome and it is definitely money well spent. In fact, it has made me question some of my long-held pedagogical principles! I was utterly fascinated by the study of the multiple ways the brain can learn new things. We need to use what we learn and recycle new information, or else, we run the risk of losing the ability to retain the new information. Hence, "Use It or Lose It!!"

"DiWine Words"
The participants of this year's Convention were invited to a literary wine tasting event with music and poetry. It was hosted by TESOL-Italy and Boccadigabbia. It was a memorable evening and whilst listening to romantic poems and relaxing music, I tasted the following delectable fine wines:

• Boccadigabbia "Le Grane Colli Macerati, ribona DOC"
• Boccadigabbia "Rosso Piceno"
• Boccadigabbia "Saltapicchio"

At the end of the delightful evening I was given a bottle of "Le Grane Colli Macerati". It truly is a classy and divine wine!!

Magazine Covers
During Valentina Dodge's excellent presentation on wikis, she introduced a site which was new to me. You can find it at www.magmypic.com. I had great fun doing the magazine cover below. It took seconds to generate.

I reckon Joe is quite a well-known feline by now!

A Big Thank You
Thank you very much to all the organisers of TESOL-Italy Convention. A lot of dedicated work was involved. I had a fabulous time and I feel enriched as a result. Thanks to Patrizia for making me feel so welcome as a newbie Tesol-er and also thanks to Rosanna, who very kindly took the time to answer questions and give advice to newcomers. It was greatly appreciated!
Many thanks to Sister Serafina for looking after me so well at Casa Betania. I had a lovely time!

A big hello to Filomena, Luisa, Daniela, Esterina, Melanie, Jose and Laura. I enjoyed meeting you. Hope we will keep in contact.

WikiEducator Update

In answer to the above question, created on Wordle, I certainly have! If you read on, you will find out why I have been staying up quite late recently.


I finished my WikiEducator L4C29 online course last week and I am now reviewing my notes from the excellent tutorials. I started off a bit hesitantly and I had a few doubts whether I would be ok with something new, but with the help and expert guidance of my tutors and moral support from my co-participants, I was able to work through the schedule and learn a lot of new things such as the special syntax which is a part of a wiki and templates for worksheets. I found out about Liquid Threads. I participated in a live WizIQ workshop and saw and heard my tutors and I actually said something "live". I felt a bit shy about doing this, I don't know why! I took part in discussions, commented on other participants User pages, made friends, read lots of interesting things written by the participants and generally tried to collaborate and share the learning process. I still have lots to learn and practise but it has been great fun and the support has been excellent. I am interested in doing the next Learning4Content -30th Online Workshop starting here in order to brush up my existing skills. I highly recommend the course. It has opened up a new dimension of learning and sharing for me and one which I would like to investigate further.


I was able to master Apprentice Level 1 after 2-3 hours, then I progressed to Apprentice Level 2, and finally I was thrilled when I achieved the status of WikiBuddy in my last week. I have a lot of reviewing to do now as it was quite a lot of information to take in. As an exchange for the free workshop I had to sign a contract which promised to share a worksheet or lesson plan with WikiEducator. I thereby got down to creating some tips for teaching idioms using Web 2.0 tools and set about creating entirely new activities to add to the free open resources for WikiEducator.

As I will be adding this to my User Page as a feedback to the course, I would like to present what I came up with in order to create the new worksheet. It was a fantastic opportunity to use my imagination and I had to work under pressure as I wanted to have most of the worksheet prepared within the course parameters.

Again, I worked very hard during the 10 days but I really enjoyed the challenge of being with people who all shared the same aspirations and objectives as me. All the participants were committed educators from around the world. My eyes opened up to a whole new universe of experts in technology, wiki masters, professors at leading universities, e-tutors, Heads of IT departments, writers, Web 2.0 specialists from around the globe. The huge talent and resources that lies within the WikiEducator community is absolutely astounding. Everyone has a common goal: to share, remix and reuse some content freely within an open educational context.

I created the following examples of idioms using freely available Web 2.0 tools such as www.pimpampum.net, www.fodey.com, www.xtranormal.com and www.makebeliefscomix.com. These tools can all be used in a variety of ways to teach all kinds of subjects. Your imagination is your key to open up a whole world of exciting possibilities!

My Bookr Idioms


My Newspaper Idioms


My Xtranormal Idioms



My Comix Idioms



If you would like to learn more about WikiEducator and build up your wiki skills, please click here for a link to the information and registration page for the next workshop, which begins on September 21st for 10 days. I am sure you will enjoy it!

Appraisal of my first month of blogging and thanks

The above posting was generated thanks to link here. This site provides many different activities for creative text writing including fun short newspaper articles like my example.

Feedback of my first 30 days
It's been a rollercoaster journey of highs and lows and then highs again. My overall feeling is one of great satisfaction. I have achieved what I set out to do (create a blog) and the future of where my blog is going is in my hands now. One of the "highs" was the very first comment I received - this proved that at least someone was reading my blog! The lowest point for me was when I realised or thought that I was the only person reading my blog regularly and my posting "All Quiet on the Blogging Front" was written when I felt a bit down and was questioning the worth of what I was doing and why. The other "highs" have been the practical adaptation of all the new ideas in technology that I have come across in the past month. It's pushed me to new heights and opened up a whole new universe.

Personal thanks
As stated in "The Abruzzo Daily", I have come a long way since November 1st when I began my blogging adventure. I did a ten-day e-course on blogging with The consultants-e.com. It was money well spent and for a novice like me in the fast-changing world of technology, I needed more personal guidance and the course truly helped me to get to where I am today. Thank you so much Kristina! Personal thanks are also due to the blogs and bloggers that I am following and are listed in my sidebar. They have all been an inspiration to me. In particular, Nik Peachey was kind enough to give me personal encouragement at the beginning of my journey into the unknown and I owe my growing confidence in part to him and his amazing site. Thank you Nik! Steve Dembo's very informative 30-Day Blog Challenge for novices like me has been very practical and tremendously useful. I have left a comment on his latest posting Day 29 "Be a Rock Star". A special word of thanks also goes to Jane for all your support. Your Edublog is very interesting and full of fantastic ideas for teachers. Last but not least, my dear husband Karl has been a true "rock" during these 30 days. He has been inspired to set up his own blog recently and it's been great fun seeing how he is fast developing as a fellow blogger.

You have all helped me in my quest for achieving something that I thought was unattainable just a short time ago. Wow! This has turned out to be like a veritable "Oscar's Ceremony Thank You Speech"! but I suppose that's what " stars" do!!
The Future
Where do I go from here? Well, now I have started, I hope that it's going to be a case of "onwards and upwards!" I hope I will find "my voice" and have a lot of fun in the process. If I can inspire others to do the same, and help teachers and students in some way, I will be very happy and proud and it will be mission accomplished. At the end of the day, it's a learning curve for me, regardless of the result.

"Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway!
One last thought I would like to share with you is that I have just taken a huge step. I have finally summoned up the courage to hit the "allow Anyone to read" blog Permission button.......

I will leave you with an image of what I have been up to recently. It hasn't been just blogging!!




This lovely little bay tree was uprooted by the savage, tempestuous winds we're experiencing in the Abruzzo region at the moment. This tree has now been partly shredded for the compost bin, the trunk chopped for firewood, and the rest of it used as cuttings to recreate it for the future. So luckily, life for this particular tree will go on........The rest of the day has been spent re-tying up the olive trees we have to protect them from the gale force winds.