Mt. Etna

The forested foothills of Mt. Etna

I enjoyed a quiet housekeeping day today in Aci Castello as we prepare for our season opener in Milan against the Rhinos.  We've seen a YouTube highlight video of their scrimmage against a team from Austria.  Their QB John Stocco was an excellent player at Wisconsin and threw very accurate short passes in the scrimmage.  They have a very strong TB from Holy Cross named Steve Silva who ran the ball impressively and plays SS on defense.  Their TE Manny DiGrande from Cal Poly SLO caught several passes and also rushes hard from his DE position.  Their last standout player from these very limited highlights was an Italian LB by the name of Daniele Pezza who ran all over the field and will be a big problem for our line.  They appear to play a very aggressive brand of football.

We only have two more practices before the game and we still have a lot of work to do! 

Snow still on the slopes of  the volcano

Before going to the Elephants' offices, I took a short drive up the Mt. Etna Sud route through Viagrande (sight of yesterday's BBQ), Pedara and Nicolosi.  The wind was really blowing hard and even though it was warm in Catania, it was quite cold on the mountain.  It goes quickly from the forests in the first picture above to the very stark black lava rocks covered with the snow you see here.

Mt. Etna as seen from it's wooded foothills

Mt. Etna completely dominates the view over all of northeastern Sicily.  She is a constant reminder of Mother Nature's power and potential anger but people just deal with it, move on and live their lives like it is all good.  That's not much different from my friends in Seattle and their friendly volcano Mt. Rainier.