Mt. Etna Getting Active

         Maybe we should say more active.  The mayor and Company went to Sicily ten years ago on a vacation in the shadow of Etna.  Taormina, the old Roman city is close by, on the east coast of the island.  We visited the volcano by driving up the slope almost to the summit.  It was a clear day, except for the billowing, light smoke carried by the prevailing west wind that pushed the plume down the mountain to the coast, just south of Taormina.
        We couldn't drive to the summit, but took a ski chairlift almost to the rim where snow often falls in winter months.   The small lodge was abandoned, having been engulfed by a lava flow a few years earlier.  The noise was incredible, sounding to these ears like heavy artillery.  Enough to give one pause before going further.   It was an interesting experience, very Italian.   I wouldn't want to live in the shadow of this famous mountain, almost as famous as Mt. Vesuvius, its near neighbor in Napoli.