August, sun,wedding, feste, market and coffee.

I will start with the coffee, because after all my adventures this month I was tired and it both surprised me, delighted me and reminded me why I love being here.

I was at a market in martina franca and wishing I had stayed home. So I decided to go get a coffee to wake me up. After wandering around for a while and discounting all the cafe/bars with too many men in them I went in the GOLD CAFE, in the piazza umberto 1. I asked for a cappucino and decided to have an appley pastry as well.(sunday treat).

I was so impressed by the cappucino that I asked if I could take a photo before I drank it. It seemed a shame to spoil a work of art. What a lovely gesture to decorate my coffee for no particular reason , just a little gift which is still making me smile now. The pastry was great too.

I wont forget it.

There was a good reason for being tired this month as I had a fantastic time in scotland at my son's wedding but it involved 2 journeys of 15 hours and a 3am start. It has been great fun showing photos of it to friends as I think weddings where guys wear kilts are normal but obviously not in Italy.

I was back for two days and then had a 2 day market in Pisticci where I didnt finish before midnight both days, but it was great fun and I sold 12 paintings and lots of prints , as well as getting enough commissions to keep me going for the next two months. It was so nice to be meeting people and just being in my adopted home town. Great social event!

Following that was the feste. (I missed the film festival again due to doing the market.)

This year I stayed in the studio and felt much more part of things. There seemed to be a brass band permanently marching round the streets, every morning fireworks went off at 6am, there were hundreds of people about and a general holiday feeling. And in the evenings there were processions, with saints and horses and carriages and decorations, and amazing street lights, and concerts, and street markets and then more concerts starting about midnight and then every night the most wonderful fireworks.

I realise you might be reading this and thinking I may be exagerating slightly but, you should really come and experience it for yourself. (15th ,16th and 17th of august every year.)

So that was why I was tired and I needed a coffee and I got so much more.