Island Bay Festival 2012

What a weekend!   The famiglia and I had an absolute blast at the Island Bay Festival.  Luckily the weather was lovely and sunny, so we watched the parade, enjoyed the variety show and wandered through the markets eating very naughty (but super yummy!) things like freshly caught and cooked calamari, followed by little donuts covered in cinnamon and sugar (divine!). 

I think one of my favourite things was the highland pipe band – there is nothing like the sound of one coming down the street – very moving!  My son delighted me, by telling me that the thing he loved best were the 'moving clowns' (not sure of the correct name) but they are a very vintage fairground attraction - the idea is to put a ping pong ball in their mouths so that it shoots out and lands on a certain number, which will hopefully equate to a prize!  Little son won a pink bunny rabbit, which he is going to give to the the little red-head girl next door for valentines day.

I will keep this short and sweet today.  I am off to do some baking for my boys to celebrate valentine’s day…we always make it a special family day in our house.

The fishing boats (above) all came into the harbour in the afternoon for the "Blessing of the Boats".  This is a tradition that originated in Italy, where many of the Island Bay fisherman orginally came from.  The blessing is performed by the local priest in the hope that this bestows the grace of God upon the fisherman and protects them from the often wild sea.  The boats are decorated in flags and bunting, and as I simply adore bunting, I had to get a snapshot of the gorgeous fishing boats. 

Have a great valentine's day!


A presto!  xxx