It's been awhile

I know it's been awhile since I updated the photoblog. What can I say? I'm on vacation. :-) (John joins me tonight in Rome, and as you can imagine, I can't wait to see him! These three weeks have been the longest we've been apart in close to twenty years.)

And I wanted to wait until I left Assisi so I could do one entry for all of Calendimaggio, their May festival.

Shall we?

If you're a guy, you can get away with this basic outfit:
Big shirt, black tights and a pair of kicky boots. 

You might choose to accessorize with a belt.

Even the photographers have to be in costume.

Then you wait.

And wait.

You might start wondering why you chose such a heavy costume in this warm weather
instead of the shirt/tights/kicky boots option.

You might choose to smoke an anachronistic cigarette.

Hey, they're Italian. There's no way they're going to do without a smoke.

Sometimes you have move quickly.
(I wasn't sure about the exposure setting on this photo.)

And, hey, a girl's gotta eat, even if it is a Coke and a bag of chips.

And someone has to hold the baby. 

And of course you need horses.

And you have to stay hydrated.
(I love the Mona Lisa smile on this young woman. She was one of the young women in red earlier.) 

Then finally the parade begins.

Here are the Crips.

Here are the Bloods.

Here's one of my buddies from the pastry shop where I had breakfast each morning.
(He's usually smiling, but I caught him at a serious moment.)

I can hear Culture Club singing "Red, gold and green" over and over.

And here's the green.

These two were followed by the Holy Hand Grenade.

We have human-powered floats.
(These are each filled with about 12 young women in costume,
and the front opens and they pour out.
I thought I got a picture of it, but apparently not.)

And what's an event in Italy without a significant amount of danger?

Can you see what this is, attached to the side of this wagon full of dried sticks?
Looks like a witch to me.

Apparently it's a grand day for an auto-da-fe.
(Kudos if you caught that reference.)

And that's the end of Calendimaggio. So it's good-bye from Assisi.

Where the basilica looks beautiful during the day...

And at night...

And in that magical time in between.

Time to move on.

And in the immortal words of that hippy:
"We don't have Wi-fi... Talk to each other."

Off to Rome.