Steve and I went over to Bloomfield Saturday night to see what was happening at Little Italy Days. We saw fire consumption as we did in June by @PghFireGirl
The recycled glass Aurora Lamps were eye-catching. And there were a ton of food vendors and food trucks.
We met Lenny and James and admired the BBQ trophies. James gave us a sample to take home and will be competing down at Heinz Field next week. The Wool Sports Logo Banners would look great at school in the counselor’s office.
Three years ago I photographed men playing Bocce under the Bloomfield Bridge on a regular Bocce Court.
And again at Little Italy Days last year.
Today after school, I was in Groceria Italiana picking up some ingredients for dinner and I saw the street closed off again and the men playing Bocce. The big tournament of matches is this weekend, teams competing against one another, the final matches on Sunday.
The gentlemen I photographed today said to get their picture today cause they wouldn’t be playing too long before being eliminated. One of the men was in a photograph I put on the blog three years ago. They were very gracious and remembered my photographing before. Looked it up right there on my phone and found the post with his photo.
This afternoon turned into a photographic study for me, anticipating the release of the ball, I forgot to go right home and make dinner I got so engrossed in watching.
The balls reacted differently depending on the direction they were thrown, due to the grain of the astroturf which is NOT the usual surface played upon.
Farther back to give the feel for the length of the court.
Alternating sides.
Trying to get as close as possible to the little white ball at the other end.
And the photograph from three years ago on the Bocce Courts under the Bloomfield Bridge. Moonrise over the Bocce Courts. The gentleman in the photo above is third from the left.
Sunday afternoon my friend Steve and I drove downtown to look for the Toynbee tiles.
He’d seen a documentary about them but that ‘s another whole post for tomorrow. I want to read more about them and view the documentary myself before I write about seeing them. We found three. Stay tuned……
We decided to check out the baseball game and considered getting a last minute ticket. (Note how full the stands are these days!)
Here is the view of PNC Park from the Roberto Clemente Bridge above the Allegheny River.
Later in the evening we met some neighbors at the Saint Rocco Festival in Morningside at St. Rafael. There was singing and dancing the Tarantella. We ate a meatball sandwich and looked at the beautiful handmade cookies in the baskets. I asked the name of the cookies and the woman said Taralli. I went to my favorite authentic Italian recipe blogger, Chicago John and searched for a recipe for these particular cookies and didn’t find one but I am hopeful he’ll have one. Here’s a recipe I was able to find for now.
The evening ended in fireworks and lots of smoke.
Some of you may have seem my post of the Festival last year when there was a full moon. Just clouds this year.
If you want to read about Saint Rocco’s story it’s here
Saturday night, Steve and I’d eaten dinner and I was working on some photo project and he said, Do you want to go to the Italian Festival? So we did. The neighborhood of Bloomfield hosts Little Italy Days (the 9th year according to the banner behind the band) Wish I had the playlist to post.Let’s just say I knew them all. “I Saw Her Standing There.” (’60’s music as well) . The band played straight with not even a breath between numbers and they closed the evening with Donna Summer’s “Last Dance”. Finesse Band website for more info. Turns out they have opened for Earth Wind and Fire and Chicago. Anyway, after a few numbers the young dancers made there way to the space up by the main stage but they started out behind the barricade down the street. Their energy and enthusiasm added a lot to the crowd’s enjoyment.
