Hark! The Rondini are Here!

I never noticed the little buggers before, but it seems to be all that anyone is talking about this year. The sweet darling RONDINI are back. I had to look them up for a word in English, and I got this spectacularly boring name: Barn Swallows. They are these tiny little birds that look like bats when they are in flight. If they make a nest on your house you have been CHOSEN and you should feel honored. They come back year after year and nest in the same place so don't be all filling up that hole in your outside wall anytime soon!

We have a nest in a hole in my house that we haven't moved into yet because we are renovating. It is a man- made hole that goes all the way through the external wall that I am guessing was for inserting a metal tube and extending it to the roof for expelling smoke from a pellet heater. In the early evening there are three little babies in there. They peek their heads out to say hello.

Beware, once you notice the Rondini, you cannot stop noticing them. Now I see them everywhere, after years of not even knowing they existed. When did I start looking up?

They are pretty little things. Their legs are short so they stay up high and fly off their perches and glide from there.

World Championships for Offshore Sailing in Trieste this Week!

I don't know if you've heard the buzz, but ORC Worlds Trieste 2017 is taking place in Porto San Rocco all this week until July 8. There are 118 boats participating with crews from 19 countries. The Long regatta is underway now. It started yesterday at 2pm from Piazza Unità in Trieste, went towards Sistiana, then turned back around and down the coast of Istria. The biggest boats have a whopping 120 miles to complete. The first finishers should be coming back this afternoon, for the others it's going to be a long night...

The regattas continue until July 8 and  there is something special going on every day. Check out the website here.  You can also follow them on Facebook, sometimes there is livestreaming if you want to watch from afar!