#Etna Real Estate | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fedtothenight · 3 years

Text

this competition asked to write a short story in the dystopian genre and my entry's below - don't rb!

the sweetest fruit

The boy gasped, straining against the padded frame of the jeep just as the vehicle slowly came to a halt. ‘Look!’ he shouted, pointing at a spot about a hundred feet from the group. ‘Look, Mum! That’s so cool!’

Half-instinctively, his mother had already grabbed a fistful of his tank-top, ready to yank him back. She had spent the entirety of the trip sitting as still as possible, facing forward, eyes stubbornly fixed on the self-cooling top of the car in a pointless effort to fight her motion sickness: her patience was already wearing very thin without her eight-year-old personal safety hazard trying to get himself killed.

‘Ethan, for the love of God,’ she snapped. ‘I already told you to stop leaning over the frame! Do you realise how dangerous that is?’

‘No, Mum, you’ve got to look!’

‘Emma, darling,’ her husband whispered, a gentle hand on her shoulder. ‘You should really look at this. It’s magnificent.’

Whatever it was, even her fifteen-year-old daughter - who had spent the last thirty minutes texting her friends back home without so much as a glance at the scenery - was jaw-slacked, so she slowly got up on her wobbly knees and peered over her shoulders.

In the shadow of a tree, protected from the sweltering heat, two lions were feasting on a zebra. Perhaps belatedly, as it’d taken her a second to drink the sight in, she realised that the poor thing was still alive: writhing as blood, red and hot and pulsing, gushed out from where the bigger lion - the male - had bitten into its back.

The smaller one, the female, soundlessly sank its teeth into the dying animal’s neck, and the latter gave one last weak kick, finally falling limp. When the lioness stood again, it was almost impossible, from this distance, to see her eyes amidst the bloodied mess on her face.

‘Oh, my God, Matt,’ Emma said. ‘This is beautiful. Nature truly is beautiful.’

‘You don’t really get to see this kind of show anywhere else today,’ their guide said from the driver’s seat. He sounded proud, as if he’d hunted and fed the zebra to the lions himself.

Alberto wasn’t wrong, Emma reasoned. Given that they were parked in the middle of the privately-owned biggest North American savanna, he - or rather, his employer - was the one effectively feeding the lions. Like feeding mice to cats. She glanced at her children, glad they could have a window on a reality that was long gone. To think it would have taken a trip around the world to watch this spectacle - imagine the motion sickness then! If only, she considered wistfully, there could be a way of replicating glaciers just as accurately.

‘Honestly, it seems a bit unfair that they get to eat real meat,’ Ethan said at the dinner table a few hours later. He was picking at his plate, moving the fried grasshoppers they’d been served for dinner around, but not really eating any. ‘While we are stuck with insects and microprotein or whatever.’

Emma pinched the bridge of her nose. She was tired and sunburnt, her sensitive pale skin suffering under the blistering sun of the region, so different from the temperate weather back home North. She had a splitting headache, too. She was, yet again, at the so-called end of her tether. ‘Ethan…’

‘You should be glad you get to eat at all,’ her daughter said at the same time. ‘There’s a reason it’s illegal to eat meat. These animals are here for show, anyway. They were originally from Africa.’

‘Shut up, Becca,’ Ethan mumbled. ‘Everybody knows there are no animals in Africa. There’s nothing there.’

Becca’s cheeks were tinted pink, eyebrows furrowed. ‘Of course there were animals. There were animals everywhere before the Climate Crunch.’

‘Both of you, stop it,’ Matt interjected. ‘Ethan, your sister is right. You should be grateful that we are here in the first place. That said…’ He leant forward, voice down to a whisper: ‘I have a surprise for you. Or, well, Richard has a surprise for us. When he arrives tomorrow, he’ll bring us real meat. Bovine meat.’

‘But it’s illegal,’ said Becca.

‘It’s technically illegal,’ Matt acknowledged. ‘It’s not if you know how to get some and no one from Animal Conservation finds out. Do you think our president only eats insects? Please, Becca. Use that big brain of yours.’

‘Yes,’ Ethan snickered. ‘Use your brain, Becca.’

‘That is too generous,’ Emma said. ‘Inviting us here in the first place was, when even he hasn’t gotten here yet. Now this. I wouldn’t know how to repay him.’

Truly, all she felt was jealousy. Her guts twisted with the sheer force of it. Yes, she had known that Richard was comfortable. The gated, heavily guarded estate spanned for thousands of acres, comprised the 5000sqt villa they were staying at (five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a cinema, marble floors and solar panels on the rooftop), an indoor swimming pool inspired by vintage photos of Amalfi, two indoor tennis courts, and the savanna they’d explored earlier in the day. ‘The biggest conservation area in North America since they repurposed the Midwest,’ he’d bragged in a video call, two weeks before. ‘You will love it. The holiday you deserve. Make yourselves at home.’

But meat? He could get meat?

Matt’s family had designed DeNuketify, which was basically the only effective way of purifying ocean water from whatever nuclear waste Japan kept spewing so that it could be used and, most importantly, drunk. They had managed to flee the continent with the last handful of greencards about the time her family did, too, taking their precious Queen’s accent with them to found Nova London. She was the governor of Nova London now, for God’s sake. The bloody queen herself was long dead but she was alive, and yet, yet - they had never had meat.

‘We don’t have to, Emma,’ Matt said. ‘We just need to remember how lucky we are to enjoy this meal, this house, this holiday. Look at that,’ and he nodded towards the TV screen again. ‘Actually, Alexa!, volume up!, I think the Italians have finally surrendered.’

The war correspondent’s voice grew louder. She - they, Emma reminded herself: Becca always told her not to assume anyone’s gender - was wearing a dust mask and reading from a bundle of documents. ‘The last military hospital in the island of Palermo was destroyed four days ago by a Canadian airstrike,’ they were saying. ‘The rebels surrendered soon after, followed by the group of extremists in the Nebrodi island. Etna had already surrendered last year.’

‘It’s important to remember that these actions were necessary to finally put a rest on the instability of the region,’ they added. ‘Canada will fund a complete restoration of the Southern archipelago. The remaining civilians will be provided with a shelter and then, when the time comes, a suitable job. Nova Italia will be the sixteenth Canadian state, the fourth offshore. There are also hopes to extract petroleum from the seabed of the sunken city of Gela.’

‘Watch them make it into a holiday hotspot,’ Matt commented. ‘The weather is still nice there.’

‘Ooh, I heard about this.’ Becca picked her phone back up and started furiously typing away. ‘There’s this journal entry soldiers found over there, under the rubble, that’s gone viral. It was translated into English. Wait, I’ll pull it up. Alexa, volume down.’

‘I’m not sure I want to hear it,’ Emma said, uneasy. ‘We’re on holiday. Should we not watch a movie? Something funny?’

Becca waved her away, as if she was an annoying fly. ‘It’ll be good practice for my drama class.’

Matt didn’t help—he simply shrugged, half-apologetic, as if to say: Let her do her thing.

Becca made a show of clearing her throat, too, before she started reading from her phone—her high voice now grave, studied, as if she were speaking to a larger audience: ‘I wonder what peas taste like.’

Right then, the scene on screen changed to footage of what looked like a destroyed village, something out of an apocalyptic movie. Emma found herself unable to look away.

‘Nonna used to say that her own great-grandmother grew them in her garden. Figs, too,’ Becca read. ‘They say they were the sweetest fruit.’

Emma wondered if this journal was actually written by a child or a teenager. It didn’t sound like an adult at all. She couldn’t help but picture a girl, a brunette, not much older than Becca, perhaps a rebel, or a trainee nurse on the sweet cusp of adulthood, holding this journal of hers, or perhaps a gun. It violently reminded her that her own daughter, too, would have to serve her time in the Forces in three years.

On screen, the Canadian soldiers walked among the ruins, zigzagging between torn up clothes and discarded weapons, surely looking for surviving rebels under the rubbles.

‘Isn’t it silly that we can hear the fighters overhead and that all I can do is think about food?’ said Becca. ‘I wish we could also eat figs and be happy.’

On screen, the camera zoomed in on a long-forgotten man's shoe, some crumpled photographs, on a pile of bodies in black bin bags.

‘Grandma - I miss her - left me a poetry book, too, from T.S. Eliot. I hope the book is with me when I die, so I can give it back to her when we meet again, afterwards. So I can tell her that T.S. Eliot was wrong.’

On screen, one of the soldiers approached and showed a little trinket to the camera: a bloody, heart-shaped locket that must’ve once been golden, hiding the miniature pictures of two brunette children that would never have a name.

‘That’s enough,’ Emma said. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. ‘Stop reading.’

‘The world may have not ended with a bang, but it didn’t end with a whimper, either: the world didn’t end at all. Sometimes,’ Becca finished reading, ‘I wish it had.’

‘What a load of rubbish,’ Matt scoffed. ‘Everyone should feel lucky to be alive. I bet this journal is a fake. Alexa, turn the TV off.’

As the screen faded to black, Ethan finally popped a grasshopper in his mouth. ‘I can’t wait to have meat tomorrow.’

#my writing #honestly dystopia is not a genre i'm interested in #lol #this was lazy and i wrote it in one morning while i was hungover on negroni

7 notes · View notes

gardenofkore · 4 years

Photo

Florence Trevelyan Cacciola (née Florence Trevelyan Trevelyan) was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumblerand, on February 7th 1852. She was the daughter and only surviving child (her older sister Edith had died in 1850 at just one year old) of Edward Spencer Trevelyan of Hallington Hall (cadet son of Sir John Trevelyan, 5th Baronet Trevelyan of Nettlecombe, Somerset, and of Wallington Hall, Northumberland), and of Catherine Ann Forster.

She was baptised in St. Andrew Church in Hartburn, Northumberland, with her family name serving also as a middle name, so that she would have been able to keep it even after married.

On August 23rd 1854 Edward Spencer Trevelyan committed suicide, leaving his wife and his two years old daughter living alone in Hallington Hall.

Over the years, Florence and her mother developed a great interest in gardening and in establishing "pleasure gardens", such as gardens open to the public. Perhaps the fact that Florence's uncle, Sir Walter Carverley Trevelyan, 6th Baronet, was a renowned naturalist and geologist, might have provided some sort of influence.

In 1877 Catherine Forster died and her daughter inherited Hallington Hall. The year after the childless Sir Walter died too. Following the wishes of the late baronet, his inheritance was surprisingly split: his title was inherited by his nephew Alfred Wilson Trevelyan (son of Alfred Wilson Trevelyan senior), while Wallington Hall was left to his cousin Charles Edward Trevelyan. Despite being senior to her cousin Alfred (Florence's father was older than Alfred's one), and a closer relative than Charles Trevelyan, Florence, as a female, was passed over in the succession of the family titles and estates. In 1879, Miss Trevelyan, already mistress of herself, set off for a two years tour across Europe and North Africa, accompanied by her cousin, Louisa Harriet Spencer (daughter of Beatrice Trevelyan and Ernest Augustus, youngest child of Spencer Perceval, the only British prime minister to have been murdered). During a stop in Alassio, the two girls visited Parco Fuor del Vento and the villa Molino di Sopra as guests of General William Montagu Scott McMurdo, owner and designer of the park. Florence could thus admire the terraced hill, planted with olive, orange and palm trees and cypresses, and adorned with four pagoda style buildings. From there she could also see Gallinara island, shelter for herring gulls and protected plant species.

In 1881 Miss Trevelyan visited Taormina for the first time. The Sicilian city at that time was still recovering from the turmoil that had followed the Unification of Italy in 1861. Economical backwardness had also forced many to emigrate and so depopulate the territory. Taormina impressed very much Florence, because it reminded her of Alassio. In particular, she thought the islet of Santo Stefano (donated in 1806 by King Ferdinando I to the city) resembled a lot to Gallinara. Together with her cousin, she stayed in Taormina from January 28th to February 14th 1881. On August of the same year, the two girls were back in Northumberland. It's during this time that Florence became somehow close to Queen Victoria, to the point of being invited to Balmoral Castle (fun fact, in Taormina Florence is still popularly regarded a Queen Victoria's niece. Perhaps everything started after people saw a photo of Florence with her mother, Catherine Ann Trevelyan. Certainly the majority of people didn't actually know the actual appearance of Queen Victoria, so Mrs Trevelyan was easily mistaken with her illustrious sovereign, after all they were only 4 years apart) . In fact, despite the fact that the Trevelyan were mere landed aristocracy (and Florence, as the daughter of a cadet son, wasn't even entitled to be called lady), they were well-connected with the higher society. It was rumoured that at some point Florence had attracted the attention of the womanizer Prince of Wales, future Edward VII. Also, according to this version of the story, once Queen Victoria was made aware of this dalliance, she wasn't amused in the least. To ensure the end of it, she supposedly kindly offered Miss Trevelyan a generous annuity to keep her away from her son. Handsomely rewarded for her renunciation, Florence left Great Britain to never come back again. The main supporter of this rumour is Dino Papale, lawyer and journalist, distantly related to Florence's future husband. In his book Taormina Segreta - La Belle Epoque 1876-1914, published in 1995, he claimed Florence had been basically exiled from the court and high society because of a supposed fling with Prince Albert Edward.

Whatever the real reason was, Florence left once again the country with her cousin Louisa. In 1885, they were back in Taormina, lodging at Timeo Inn, adjacent the Greek Theatre and owned by La Floresta family. The two women had brought with them their five dogs, and to avoid inconveniencing the other guests with the animals' yapping, in 1889 Florence funded at her own expenses the building of an upper level. When one of her dogs, Sole, fell ill, Florence was desperate since she couldn't find in all Taormina a veterinarian to tend to the animal. Desperate and in tears, she asked her neighbour Salvatore Cacciola for help. Mr. Cacciola, who lived in a mansion also adjacent to the Greek Theatre (the then Palazzo Cacciola, now Palazzo Acrosso Papale), had been Professor of Anatomy and Histology at Padua University. He tended to the dog and managed to heal it, earning the woman's appreciation. Florence and Salvatore soon got closer, especially since Cacciola had studied in Malta and was thus fluent in English. He came from a wealthy family, in the future he would even be Taormina’s mayor for almost a decade, and being a Freemason leader (he would found the Rinascimento lodge), he shared with Florence an interest in esotericism. The two quickly fell in love and married on July 5th 1890.

Once settled in Palazzo Cacciola, Florence decided to expand the already vast garden by buying one plot of land after another, until the whole slopy countryside that linked the villa to the sea was annexed to the Cacciola's property. Apparently, this decision earned her in 1894 a reproach from English archaeologist Arthur Evans. While completing the 4th and last volume of The History of Sicily from the Earliest Times, which he had written together with his (by then deceased) father-in-law, Edward Augustus Freeman, Evans criticised Mrs Cacciola's mass purchasing as it would have prevented future archaeological digs in a place so near to the Greek Theatre, and with sure archaeological and historical relevancy. ("This, with others of the most interesting and beautiful sites of Taormina, has passed into the possession of an English proprietress, who has barred the access and warned off the civilized portion of mankind in four languages", p. 110-111) Previously, on June 1890, Florence had bought the former islet of Santo Stefano (which German baron and photographer Wilhelm von Gloeden baptized as Isola Bella, beautiful island, as it is globally known). There she had a house built, and rare and expensive exotic flora planted. These plants soon merged with the islet's local vegetation creating a unique natural environment, enriched by the presence of many (and sometimes rare) species of migratory birds, insects and reptiles, like the red-bellied lizard (Podarci Sicula Medemi) which only lives there.

In 1891, Florence gave birth to a stillborn son. She decided to leave her husband and moved away from Villa Cacciola, going on to live alone even further in the countryside, in a small cottage on mt. Venere. Nearby the house, she had a mausoleum built, and a roadside that connected mt. Venere to Taormina. She became particularly involved in the charity works, like establishing a fund that would have provided the daughters of fishermen with a dowry. Furthermore, she immersed herself in the creation of an English-style garden (or landscape garden) which she will name the Hallington Siculo, after her English childhood home. Like she had done with Isola Bella, Florence mixed exotic with native plants to create a peculiar habitat. In order to make the place even more special, she had the garden scattered with many small follies (Mrs Cacciola called them "beehives"). These picturesque buildings were made of local materials: bricks, wood, and various types of stones, and even capitals and other from the Greek-Roman period and XV-XVIth century decorative elements. The hives served as a bird observatory and places where she could relax while reading or having tea alone or with friends. Taking inspiration from her esoteric interests, she added a small megalithic construction (a cromlech) made of limestone, with the ulterior intention to re-use the advanced materials. As an animal lover, she also had some cages installed to house peacocks, parrots, canaries and pigeons. These renovations plus the amazing panorama seen from the garden (ranges from mt. Etna, the Ionian sea and the surrounding countryside), makes the Hallington Siculo a true heaven on earth.

Florence and her husband had become incredibly well-known in Sicily and abroad. In 1896 (and again in 1904 and 1906) they were visited by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia during his stays in Taormina, while in 1906 it was the time of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (Florence's supposed former flirt) and his wife Queen Alexandra. Other personalities included Gabriele D’Annunzio, Edmondo De Amicis, Oscar Wilde (she would finance after he got released following the charges of omosexuality), Otto Geleng, D.H. Lawrence, Ignazio and Franca Florio, Joseph and Tina Withaker.

Following her son's death, she had developed diabetes. To cure her, her brother-in-law Carlo, the only pharmacist in Taormina, injected her with strychnine (at that time considered a cure for many illnesses). In September 1907 her conditions worsened, so that she had to go back to Villa Cacciola. There she died a couple of days later, on October 4th. Respecting her wishes, she was buried in the mausoleum on mt. Venere.

Dying childless, she had named as her heirs two of her father's cousins, Robert Calverley Trevelyan (her long-time penfriend and confidante) and his brother George Macaulay Trevelyan. Her husband obtained only the usufruct of Isola Bella, the Hallington Siculo, and the plots on mt. Venere, which after his death, would have gone to his wife's English relations. Florence's heirs had to follow strict rules, all devoted to the preservation of the flora and fauna which inhabited those places. And so, the peacocks, goats, doves, canaries, and so on, which had been a great company for her in those past years, had to live in health and comfort, tended with cure and love. As for the vegetation, nobody was allowed to work the land, cut any tree, or build houses. Salvatore soon remarried with his maid Ida Mosca, and adopted his young nephew Cesare Acrosso, who will later become a lawyer and the last fascist mayor of Taormina. Taking care of his first wife's properties soon became for Mr Cacciola a real hassle. In order to get free from this, in 1923 he asked for his nephew's aid and got in touch with his political enemy Giovanni Colonna, Duke of Cesarò (Acrosso was his secretary). In exchange for his political retirement, Cacciola obtained that the Hallington Siculo was expropriated for "public interest". The garden became then property of the town of Taormina, was dismembered, reduced to a quarter of its original size, and renamed "Parco Giovanni Colonna Duca di Cesarò". On February 19th 2019, thanks to a municipal decision, it changed again its name, becoming "Parco Florence Trevelyan", finally giving her original owner and curator the proper recognition.

As for Isola Bella, at Salvatore Cacciola's death in 1927, it was inherited by Cesare Acrosso (alongside with Cacciola's palace), who will sell it in 1954 to Leone and Emilio Bosurgi. The two businessmen brothers, disregarding Florence Trevelyan's will and wishes, built 12 individual homes, plus a small pool perfectly camouflaged between rocks and vegetation, to accommodate and entertain friends and clients. When their firm went bankrupt in the 80s, they were forced to auction off the islet. In 1990 Isola Bella was finally bought by the Sicilian Region, which transformed it into a wildlife reserve, reverting back to what Florence had intended.

Every year, on October 4th, a small ceremonial is held before a bust portraying Mrs Trevelyan in her dedicated park. It's a commemoration open to all of those wishes to remember and thank a woman who did so much for Taormina in her time, and left a lot to the future generations.

#women #history of women #history #historical women #women in history #florence trevelyan cacciola #contemporary sicily #taormina #salvatore cacciola #Province of Messina #people of sicily #women of sicily #cesare acrosso #giovanni colonna di cesarò #myedit #historyedit

25 notes · View notes

fatouttahell · 5 years

Note

Etna!!!

“I dunno how you expect me to fit all that in me, but I am pretty thirsty...”

It takes a special kind of person to even approach a tanker truck full of soda, and Etna’s one of those people. Not like she’s got much choice in the matter, given the fact that the alternative is fighting a horde of high-level demons that might not put a scratch on her, but would definitely wipe out an unacceptable number of Prinnies in the process of trying.

That, and she actually is thirsty.

Before she even has time to rethink her decision, a small group of Prinnies has already brought the fire-hose nozzle to her lips, and all it takes is her opening her mouth slightly for them to jam it right in. With an enthusiastic “HERE YOU GO, DOOD!” one of them slams the lever into full blast, and Etna’s immediately assaulted by a torrent of sugary liquid.

Her cheeks fill to near bursting almost instantly, and her stomach swells past its usual level of post-meal roundness in mere seconds. Needless to say, she isn’t feeling thirsty for much longer, as she’s soon swollen larger than an exercise ball with only a small portion of the tanker’s contents.

As the deluge continues, Etna blows up even more than her fluid intake would suggest, as the rumbling lemon-lime flow stirs up carbonation and inflates her on top of everything else. It’s a downright monstrous amount of soda, and with liquid and gas competing for real estate, the demoness’ gurgling gut quickly eclipses the rest of her in size.

And it only keeps going from there. Not even half the tanker is gone and her stomach is already large enough for her to lay on, which her Prinnies help her with lest they risk their master getting crushed under the bloated weight of her waterlogged stomach. It’s fortunate that she’s got this many levels under her belt, as a demon with less fortitude would have easily exploded from all this.

As her comically oversized refreshment break continues, Etna starts to feel like even she might be getting close to popping, but at this point the urge to keep drinking is more powerful than the desire for self-preservation. It always gets like this for her whenever she’s given access to such a volume - she gets as into the volume of things as the actual taste, and bigger is always better. But she can only handle so much, and with each gallon that flows into her, she can feel herself get tighter, and tighter, and tighter, until...

Pop!

She finally manages to down it all and pull the nozzle out of her mouth, and as soon as it’s clear, the sheer amount of carbonation built up inside her immediately becomes apparent.

BUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-

This continues for some time as Etna’s stomach noticeably shrinks, losing about a third of its size by the time she’s finally finished and leaving her laying in the middle of her own sloshy soda-bed of a belly.

“That... urrrrrp... better be all of it... or I’m gonna have to - b-BRAAP - bash some heads in...”

#Anonymous

15 notes · View notes

ryo-maybe · 5 years

Note

A classic tale of youmu vs reisen (Do them all VS,Or and +)

It’s easy, like putting two and two together. Addition inherently implies a plus, a gain. Two plus two equals four. Reisen plus Youmu equals peace of mind.

It’s the rupture point, when the loyal bonds of servanthood are eroded by the stress of living like a guinea pig or a glorified Roomba/lawnmower/tubby custard machine. Lots of ironic emphasis on ‘glorified’. The moment when cheeks reach the Peak Inflatation Point and explode with a loud and clear ‘MOOOU’, propelling two minds with many a difference together in shared purpose - to stop having to deal with this Weapons Grade BS. So naturally, by the magic of Contrived Implied Backstories, we end up with Reisen and Youmu sharing some manner of living space. I don’t know. A shack, though not necessarily the kind nestled between a paltry ram and a pitiable le (it’s not the time for that). Real estate in Gensokyo is kind of a crapshoot, but living it up with the big shots builds your character as much as your finances, so we’ll have these two enjoy their newfound freedom right here, in this snug little corner of nondescript green situated anywhere you want it to be, long as it’s a good distance away from any ghostly gardens or medical clinics.

Make no mistake though, there’s no smoochy business going on here. None, natch. We’re deep in Gals Being Pals country here. Keep in mind that, going by the statistical average of the relationships enjoyed by your typical Gensokyoite, two people sharing a living and going by more than a day without at least a thinly veiled threat or a scathing insult caked in viciously humorous powder would equal a couple in the real world who spend roughly 1,4% of their shared time not banging. Youmu walking in on Reisen reading the latest piece of printed tengu trash and muttering a tired “G’morning” before sitting down to feast on phantom oatmeal is about as romantic as it gets - in terms of real life, this would correspond to waking up your significant other by ravenously fellating whichever appendage is most eligible for said verb.

So everything’s peachy for a while, yeah? No suspicious capsules to ingurgitate, being able to subsist with the contents of one tiny fridge rather than by leasing a whole subsection of Cocytus to store all manners of meat products. A quaint, enjoyable lull of a life.

Until that happens.

“Gone... it’s all gone. All of it.”

Gone, like the fleeting peace of days long past. Gone, like all traces of blood and its spiritual equivalent from a face and a round blob that ends up transcending the boundaries of chromatic pigmentation to showcase a new, paler shade of white where its visage would be, if it had one to express how aghast the sight in front of it feels. Roughly four hundred hours of painstaking labor, all gone like tears in the rain.

It takes Youmu an eternity contained within three seconds flat to recover from the shock of discovering that the entirety of her Disgaea save file has disappeared, devoured by the babystep beginnings of a new one taking its place with a paltry thirty minutes to its name. Barely enough to clear the first of too many tutorials. It’s not even one of the updated re-releases, because back in Gensokyo, an original copy of the PS2 classic version is rarer not by virtue of how old and expensive it is to buy one on eBay, but of how damned new it is. We got like six and a half more games of that. Does anyone still even remember who Etna is? There must be loads of Disgaea copies sitting in a landfill in the Scarlet Devil Mansion’s backyard. I bet Flandre’s 100%’d at least half of them by now. I think I lost myself in the speculative sauce for a moment here, but what I’m getting at here is that Reisen would be too busy rolling her tobacco cigarette (she’s been trying to quit, and doing pretty well, considering this is only the third one this morning) to notice the X prompt floating above her floppy and suspiciously fake-looking ears. By the time a couple of silhouettes have entered her line of sight, it would be almost too late to avoid getting her windpipe constrained by inappropriate use of a ghostly tail. Almost, if remnants of her military training hadn’t kicked in fast enough to combat roll her body away out of trouble. You would think to find her surprised about her predicament, and yet her eyes shine with a sinister glow of fierce understanding. Her fingers clasp not at empty air, but the grip of her stupid rabbit-shaped gun-megaphone-thingie.

“Took you long enough to notice, miscreant.”

“You did it. And you did it with purpose. Tell me why and I’ll cut you down.“

“Did you mean ‘or you’ll cut me down’?”

“I know what I said. What I don’t think I know anymore is you.”

“But you do. Those are the very same words I was thinking that Friday night, when you revealed yourself for the wretched scum you are.”

“Ah. So that’s it then. You blame me for your own weaknesses.“

“I’m not hearing this from a Mai main.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t have mained Mai if you had learned to do more than spam Noel’s D.”

“YOU. You would accuse me of D-spamming? You, who know nothing other than to keep using and routinely failing to use Hakumen’s counters?”

GASP. That’s it, the moment when the last blade is drawn, grasped by an iron fist to determine the king among fighters, whether they come out of it dead or alive. Extreme beach volleyball.

“Shut up and stop DPing on wakeup!“

“Only if you’ll learn to block! AAAA!”

“AAAAAAA!”

““AAAAAA!““

So see, Ace, I do not ship Reisen and Youmu romantically, or at all. Because when all is said and done, when words are made obsolete in the realm of action, what matters is only one thing - a single moment when all is decided, the edge upon which fate sits in precarious balance, and only one hand shall tip it in its favor.

But since I like Reisen better and she’s bringing a gun to a swordfight, I guess she’s gonna win this one lòl

#frommetrunui

5 notes · View notes

brookeolin · 5 years

Link

love this comment. manhattan pillaged by lux real-estate + ever-greedy landlords.

#noho (manhattan #ny)

1 note · View note

mariaclaragomez276 · 4 years

Text

Independent Minds: Manfredi Rizzuto, Susafa

The ancient agricultural traditions of centuries-old rural Sicily are very much alive at Susafa, a converted farmhouse which has been lovingly restored by owner Manfredi Rizzuto and his brother, Tommaso. Living and working in harmony with nature’s bounty, this family-run estate sets new standards when it comes to regenerative sustainability thanks to the Rizzuto passion for everything seasonal, local, and cultural.

Freshly picked herbs and vegetables from the gardens. Olives harvested and pressed by the family for their own organic, olive oil. Handpicked regional wines for guided tastings to accompany ravioli made from scratch. Susafa gives guests more than a taste of the Sicilian countryside, it is a true immersion in farm-to-table living with every home comfort imaginable thanks to the Rizzuto family presence.

Cultivation, restoration, and regeneration are at the heart of the Rizzuto philosophy. With a deep respect for the environment, the land and its rich history are the main sources of inspiration for Manfredi, who envisages a self-sufficient, zero-emissions future for Susafa. Soon to launch an e-commerce site dedicated to Susafa-grown produce, along with a ‘field adoption’ scheme where customers can monitor their harvests, Manfredi is already well on his way to bringing his vision to fruition. Forward thinking yet firmly rooted in the rustic way of life, Manfredi is sowing the seeds for a boutique experience like no other.

What does being ‘Independently Minded’ as an hotel owner mean to you?

The tourism industry is more than ever oriented towards travel as an experience, and the experience itself today is that of living different cultures. The relationship between the lifestyle of the place we visit and the journey itself complement each other. After all, travel cannot be a complete experience if there is no link with local culture and customs. Therefore, a hotel cannot simply be an anonymous structure independent of the context that surrounds it – hospitality must be subordinate to its environmental context. In this way, being independent and independently minded is our fortunate condition and the only possible way to offer a truly unique experience.

From the guest’s point of view, the value of travel is in discovering something different. Susafa reflects the culture of its land and manages to convey its past, present and future in connection with customs, habits and knowledge of all the people involved. The result is a genuine experience. It is then the ability of the staff to make sure that the experience is positive and special. My contribution to this approach to travel is wholehearted, as I believe is that of any hotel owner who embraces the idea of being independent.

How would you describe your own perfect luxury experience?

Experience makes all the difference, and I put it first. I also think that the ability to anticipate the guest’s needs is an important requirement, or at least being available as much as possible. The uniqueness of the offer, friendliness and knowledge of the staff, cleanliness and quality of the furnishings, details and additional elements, such as good food, are all distinctive features of a luxury experience.

Today there is a lot of talk about sustainability, but most of the time it is a marketing strategy and hotels think that by putting a natural soap or a sign not to waste water, they have done their part. It disturbs me to discover that what you have been told is actually nothing more than a commercial façade, and it’s even worse when the staff are not knowledgeable about the topics the company is advertising.

What was the inspiration behind the hotel, and where do you continue to find sources of inspiration?

I am strongly respectful of the environment. I look at landscapes with reverence and in every little detail I find inspiration. I think that the human ability to create beautiful surroundings is something extraordinary, and I think we have a duty to commit ourselves to making this happen. I am very fortunate to be part of a family of landowners and to have inherited the legacy of a virtuous farming community. I am fascinated by this history and am honoured to share it with as many people as possible.

I find inspiration in the idea of conserving and in some cases rebuilding agricultural traditions to be able to share our approach to the environment, nutrition and a genuine experience with guests who visit. This concept started with the renovation of the old farmhouses, buildings totalling about 2,000 square-meters and once used as warehouses, stables and workers’ accommodation.

Today guests can stay in finely furnished rooms equipped with every comfort, without having to give up the authentic style of the original structure. The granary was converted into a restaurant, and the cellar into a bar and lounge area. The next project involves staying in modern lodges positioned in the wheat fields or vegetable garden, in order to offer a 360-degree experience, immersed in nature.

If you only had 24 hours to get a taste for your hotel experience, what would you recommend a guest must do?

We recommend starting the day with some freshly squeezed fruit juice, with oranges or with organic apples (depending on the season) and a slice of tart with season fresh fruit, made by Rita. Our selection of cheese and bread is something you can’t miss out on.

The bread at Susafa is still made using an old variety of wheat cultivated in the property, which is stone milled and integral. We are still working on our ‘food laboratory’ project, a dedicated area using the old wood oven space, where we invite guests to experience a real traditional-professional kitchen every Thursday in our cooking classes – we plan to host these classes more frequently once the project has been finalised.

You absolutely must try our Schiacciata for lunch, an artisanal homemade sandwich with warm bread and fresh extra virgin olive oil, followed by an afternoon lounging by the pool with a signature cocktail in hand – my personal favourite is called Susafa, made with fresh orange juice, bitter liqueur from Etna, and rosemary. Continue your relaxation with an olive oil or cherry stone massage, before an aperitif on the terrace watching the sunset.

End the day with our tasting menu for dinner – Manfredo and Graziella based on the fresh vegetables picked every day from the vegetable garden, or the Sara menu based on fish (which is only available in July, August and September). We also recommend visiting Castellucci Miano and Tasca, the closest wineries to our farmhouse.

The post Independent Minds: Manfredi Rizzuto, Susafa appeared first on Small Luxury Hotels.

from Small Luxury Hotels https://ift.tt/3kROGUv Publish First on

0 notes

lovecometonovascotia · 5 years

Link

0 notes

homesudhome-blog · 5 years

Photo

SICILY IS NOT JUST SEA IT’S THIS TOO! #ETNA ⚡️TODAY WE’RE SKING ALSO FOR YOU⚡️ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ . . FOLLOW US for all INFO PROPERTY Take a look at our website👇 www.homesudhome.com . . INFO 👉 @homesudhome INFO 👉 @homesudhome INFO 👉 @homesudhome. . . . #homesudhomerealestate #realestate #luxuryrealestate #realestateagent #sicily #noto #architecture #propertyforsale #realestatesales #luxuryproperty #forsale #propertymanagement #luxurylife #livinginsicily #luxuryestate #nature #landscape #instarealestate #dreamhome #sun #villaluxury #beautiful #snow #winter #mountains #travel #snowboard #ski #italy ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ . ☎️ Contact for your Real Estate needs! [email protected] | +39 0931 891681 (presso Etna) https://www.instagram.com/p/BssWuT6AEnP/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1nxls1ggkh3yt

0 notes

biofunmy · 4 years

Text

$400,000 Homes in California – The New York Times

Fresno | $409,000

A 1935 single-story house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, on a 0.16-acre lot.

Taylor-Wheeler, a company founded in Fresno in 1927, built this Tudor-style cottage in what is now a residential neighborhood of vintage houses and gardens less than four miles northwest of downtown. Elementary schools, a high school, Fresno City College and Gazebo Gardens, a nursery that dates to 1922, are all within easy walking distance. A shopping mall is less than two miles east, and the Fresno Yosemite International Airport is a 15-minute drive.

Size: 1,996 square feet

Price per square foot: $205

Indoors: The seller, a designer, made infrastructural and surface improvements, inside and out, most evidently in the colorful custom wall and ceiling treatments, updated kitchen and bathrooms and refinished brick and hardwood floors. She also worked on landscaping and hardscaping the grounds to create continuity with the gabled, fairy-tale architecture.

Passing through a vestibule with an ornamental niche, you enter a living room with faux-finished plaster walls and ceiling and an elaborate tiled fireplace. An original pointed arched window with dozens of panes dominates the front-facing wall. Next to this room is a formal dining room, followed by a sunny breakfast nook with built-in cabinets, and a narrow kitchen. Both sides of the kitchen are lined in pale wood cabinets with decorative hardware and blue-and-white-tile countertops. Decorative tile is used on backsplashes, and the appliances include a Wolf range with six gas burners.

A breakfast bar divides the kitchen from a brick-floored sitting room with bead-board walls and a ceiling that are painted glossy white. French doors open to a den that can also serve as a third bedroom; the room has an electric fireplace and another set of French doors leading out to the backyard.

The master suite includes a bedroom with leaded glass double doors that open to a hallway with marble-and-terrazzo-tile floors. Doors along this corridor reveal a pair of closets (there is also a niche for a dresser). At the other end is the master bedroom, which includes double sinks set in a blue tile vanity top, a walk-in shower trimmed in floral tile and a bidet. A second bedroom has use of a hall bathroom with vintage aqua tile, patterned floral wallpaper, a combined tub and shower and a makeup vanity.

Outdoor space: A cottage garden ornaments the front, while the lush backyard includes a stone-and-brick patio and a gazebo-like outdoor kitchen with a grill, sink and refrigerator. A detached one-car garage and a fountain can also be found there.

Taxes: $4,908 (estimated)

Contact: Gene V. Gonzales, Iron Key Real Estate, 559-351-1645;

Fortuna | $440,000

A 1903 Victorian-style house with four bedrooms and two bathrooms, on a 0.2-acre lot.

This house, which is on the northwest side of town, two blocks from Main Street, has a rare amount of original detail — the flooring, woodwork, decorative glass and light fixtures have survived intact, and period patterns have been restored to the walls through hand painting. All of the mechanicals have been updated in the last 10 years, the foundation was reinforced and the roof replaced.

Fortuna is a city of more than 12,000 on the Eel River in Humboldt County, 10 miles east of the Pacific Ocean and 125 miles north of Mendocino. The area attracts lovers of redwoods and late-19th-century architecture. (Ferndale, a historic Victorian village, is 12 minutes southwest.)

Size: 2,843 square feet

Price per square foot: $155

Indoors: Passing through the front door, with its pane of original etched glass, you enter a living room with a wood-burning stove and several decorative wall patterns in paper, paint and tile. Millwork frames the windows and doorways from the floor to the carved ceiling cornices. To the right is a room with a bead-board wainscot that started out as a men’s parlor and is now used a study. Straight ahead is a central hall that includes a staircase with a spider web pattern carved into the base and a built-in sideboard. French doors on one side open to a hexagonal sunroom. On the other side is a formal dining room hand painted with green-, gold- and rose-colored floral borders. This room can be used as a fourth bedroom.

The central hall and dining room both connect to the kitchen, with its white-painted vintage cabinets and navy tile countertops. The central seating island is built around a four-burner range. Off the kitchen is a bathroom with a stained-glass window and a combined tub and shower.

The three upstairs bedrooms have carpeted floors and quirky configurations. The largest includes windows on five walls and a walk-in closet. The hall bathroom has a tub-and-shower combination.

Outdoor space: A rocking chair back porch looks out to a lawn bordered by tall hedges and planted with evergreens. The original carriage house has a restored foundation

Taxes: $5,500 (estimated)

Contact: Debi August, Coldwell Banker Six Rivers Real Estate, 707-498-6439;

Fort Jones | $429,000

A 1993 log home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, on a 45.5-acre lot

Located 15 minutes southwest of Yreka, this Scott Valley house is in a county (Siskiyou) with 60 percent public park land and has views of Mount Shasta, about 50 miles southeast. Fort Jones, a city with some 700 people, is three and a half miles northeast and includes a market and several restaurants. A number of distilleries, breweries and eating places have opened in the surrounding area in the last several years, following in the tradition of the nearby Etna Brewing Company, which was founded in 1868.

Size: 2,001 square feet

Price per square foot: $214

Indoors: The seller bought the property three years ago and added built-in bookshelves, cabinetry and other decorative features in wood. Because the building faces south, it gets a great deal of winter sun.

The home can be entered from all four sides; the front door is near the parking area and opens to a hallway that leads to a large, double-height room at the back. This room has two sets of French doors opening to a covered deck that faces the mountains and windows that rise to a corrugated tin ceiling. A wood-burning stove sits between the French doors, and a kitchen with wood cabinets topped in granite occupies a corner. A staircase ascends to a lofted landing that contains a closet with a sliding barn door used to store recreational gear. French doors open from there to a bedroom and an en suite bathroom with wood floors and vaulted tin ceilings. The bathroom includes a claw-foot tub.

An additional two bedrooms with spruce log walls are off the downstairs hallway, along with a bathroom with a corner shower and a vessel sink attached to a retrofitted dresser with a mirror.

Outdoor space: The property includes rolling hills and usable dry pastureland.

Taxes: $4,700 (estimated)

Contact: Jim Peluso, Siskiyou Partners Real Estate, 530-340-1984;

For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.

Sahred From Source link Real Estate

from WordPress http://bit.ly/2sC64XI via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

0 notes

columbuscraigslistfraudblog · 5 years

Text

Luxury 3 bdr 2.5 ba condo with 2-car attached garage (Pataskala) $1395 3bd 1896ft<sup>2</sup>

Luxury 3 bdr 2.5 ba condo with 2-car attached garage Property Address 107 Autumn Trace | Etna, OH 43062Available: Now Offered By Mid Ohio Real Estate | *** Description Be the first person to live in this lovely 3 bdrroom 2.5 bath end-unit condomi ... from Craigslist https://columbus.craigslist.org/apa/d/etna-luxury-3-bdr-25-ba-condo-with-2/6795708505.html Fraud Bloggs made possible by: http://circuitgenie.wix.com/techsupport

0 notes

thedeadshotnetwork · 7 years

Link

6 spacious homes in Wyoming Jackson. Set on just over 5 mountain acres, this three-bedroom, glass-walled home offers 360-degree views of the Teton Range. The modern house features an open floor plan, hydronic-heated floors, and two masonry fireplaces. A large stone patio includes a built-in gas grill and granite and quartz countertops for prep stations. $2,795,000. Julie Faupel, Jackson Hole Real Estate/Christie's International Real Estate, (307) 690-0812. Casper. Sculpted lions guard the grand front door to the 1923 Henning mansion , in the South Wolcott Street Historic District. Built by the town's first millionaire, the four-bedroom brick Colonial Revival still has a ballroom, and the original dental moldings, plaster reliefs, French doors, chandeliers, and roof tiles. A recent remodel replaced the plumbing and electrical systems, updated five bathrooms, and enlarged the caretaker's apartment over the garage. $1,755,000. Jeanne Goldrick, #1 Properties of Casper, (307) 262-1365. Cora. The Rendezvous Ranch is a 1,200-acre cattle ranch in the Green River Valley with expansive views of the Wind River Mountains. Its early-19th-century log buildings include a three-bedroom main house, manager's quarters, and two one-bedroom guest cabins with kitchenettes. The property has a trout lake, a horse barn, corrals, and an outdoor roping arena. $4,950,000. Jim Taylor, Hall and Hall, (406) 855-0344. Etna. Part of the Double L Ranch community, this four-bedroom home sits on a 5-acre property by the Salt River. Built in 2015 of reclaimed barn wood and stone, the open-plan house features a chef's kitchen with custom cabinets, a fireplace with forged metalwork, oversize windows, and exposed beams, and offers mountain and valley views. Community amenities include a saloon, an equestrian center, a golf course, and a grass airstrip with private hangar. $2,650,000. Tate Jarry, Live Water Properties, (307) 413-2180. Jackson. This three-bedroom house lies on 3.6 acres close to the Snake River and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. The interior has a great room with vaulted fir ceiling, three fireplaces, an updated kitchen, and a hot tub room with glass walls overlooking the natural stream, pond, and gardens. A guest apartment is located down a walkway, allowing for privacy. $5,450,000. Ed Liebzeit, Jackson Hole/Sotheby's International Realty, (307) 413-1618. Cheyenne. Dating to 1883, this three-bedroom cottage is two blocks from Holliday Park and Lake Minnehaha. It retains many Victorian features: screened front porch, hardwood floors, stained-glass windows, cast-iron stove, butler's pantry with built-ins, and a fretwork spandrel over one bedroom's bay window. A two-bedroom in-law suite is accessible from the picket-fenced garden and yard. $399,000. JP Fluellen, The Property Exchange/Coldwell Banker, (307) 772-1184. November 25, 2017 at 12:21PM

#Blogger

0 notes