Perhaps it would have been more fitting start for a trip to Sicily to take Mr. Ruby to the airport on the back of a Vespa instead of a minivan but there are times when practicality trumps romance.  And so his adventure began.

An hour later I received a call: “My flight’s been cancelled”.  I wondered what that meant for the train he’s supposed to catch out of Rome to Messina where (I think) he’s renting a scooter to tour the island for a couple weeks.

Mr. Ruby is nothing if not always ready for an adventure.  He tells me he’s going to post to his blog about it all.

I suspect Mr. Ruby wants to experience the real cafe lifestyle in Italy rather than live only for Saint’s Cafe on Sunday mornings despite how pleasant the experience.  Steaming hot tea and a warm bagel is a far cry from a Mediterranean existence.

Paul arrived with his new Fuji Finepix X100 camera purchased specifically to undertake the digital version of a Cartier-Bresson life on the road.  It’s an impressive piece of technology and a damn fine camera too.  I actually want one of these, a digital replacement for my idle Leica M6…

I’m looking forward to living the adventure vicariously through Mr. Ruby’s pictures.

I picture days on the Vespa interrupted by conversations in cafes. Mr. Ruby will bring his own unique reflection of America to Sicily. In uncertain Italian mixed with English he’ll attempt to bring the unsuspecting inhabitants under his spell.

Mr. Ruby has the power to mesmerize, use slight of hand and misdirection to bend those of weak mind to his will.  The perfect combination for a man on a Vespa traveling through the rolling hills once haunted by Romans and Greeks in antiquity.

So his adventure continues tomorrow as he attempts departure in the snow…