Just a gallimaufry of AI-generated photos, real photos and ramblings 📸
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, is a cherished celebration in many Asian cultures. It takes place on the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest. 
During this festival, children light up the night with colorful lanterns and parade through the streets.
Mooncakes, a traditional delicacy, are an essential part of the celebration. These round pastries, often filled with sweet bean paste, lotus seed paste, or salted egg yolk, symbolize reunion and completeness. Families gather to share these treats, savoring the rich flavors and the sense of unity they bring.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Mid-autumn festisval 2009
Dinner- pork schnitzel
I have, but I think I’ll stick with pistachio, thank you very much!
So, what's your favorite gelato flavor?
FROM THE TRAVEL ARCHIVES
Palazzo Vecchio 2023
I had a bit of a scare at a gelateria in Florence. My son went inside to queue up for gelato while my husband and I took a quick restroom break. We had planned to meet outside the entrance of the gelateria afterward. However, unbeknownst to us, there were two entrances. While I waited at one, my husband and son were waiting at the other, with their eyes glued to their phones as usual and probably not noticing the two entrances. To make matters worse, my phone was in my son's backpack. After waiting for what felt like an eternity—though it was only 10 minutes—I started to panic, especially since I have anxiety issues. Finally, I went back into the store, realized there was another entrance, and we were reunited.
Has anything like that ever happened to you?
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Great photo of Palazzo Vecchio! Thank you for posting a picture of such a solid and massive building located in Florence. It was built in 1299 with it's gothic windows.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you and your son hadn't been meeting for ten minutes, as you didn't know that the ice-cream shop had two entrances. You were able at not panicking, that's great!
Have a nice week end!
Being separated from my family in a strange place would upset me no end, Veronica. I'm glad your story had a happy ending. Speaking of happy, your darling mice brought a smile to my face. Thank you, and have a blessed week!
ReplyDeleteAmazing! I love the lanterns, a sea of lights.
ReplyDeleteThe mice eating ice cream are adorable <3
I wish you a wonderful weekend
I love ice cream and gelato as well
ReplyDeleteThose are fun photos and the food looks great. Boy, those cute mice sure love a good party!
ReplyDeleteParece un lindo festival. siempre he querido coer esas tartas. Te mando un beso.
ReplyDeleteA delightful gallimaufry of enjoyable happenings. When we lived in California our neighbors invited us to their Moon Festival celebration. It was a wonderful time and a lovely memory. Sorry to read about the mixup on meeting with your husband and son. I remember this happened to us years ago, before cell phones, so I understand your anxiety. Your little mice are very sweet. Happy weekend to you.
ReplyDeleteCan you believe I've never had gelato?
ReplyDeleteI would have been anxious in that situation when you were separated from your husband and son too. Glad it wasn't too long!
What a festive celebration love all the colorful lanterns and all your adorable ai photos with the mice Judee. Gluten-free az blog
ReplyDeleteAs a kid, I always enjoyed the lantern parade with lots of other neighbourhood kids.
ReplyDeleteDearest Veronica,
ReplyDeleteYou make me crave for some Durian gelato!
Happy to know that you also left footsteps in Florence—fond and happy memories for both of us.
Hugs,
Mariette
These are wonderful AI's. Lovely photos of the Moon Festival too.
ReplyDeleteI won't eat Gelato Ice Cream it not to my taste and would/will go without and have done. That must have been dreadful feeling not knowing where your family were...glad you found the other entrance. Take care.
What a beautiful Asian holiday!! The cake of the month looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteGelaterias in Italy usually have two entrances, I've noticed from my travels. I experienced something similar when I went out for drinks with a friend!
Have a nice day, Veronica!
Great celebration and beautiful photos!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photos and the festival sounds fun and so colorful and truly delightful. I had that experience with my aging dad years ago. We stopped at a rest area that had entrances going north and south to use the bathroom. When he didn't come out I was terribly worried as he was quite old. Eventually, I started to search for him and he had gone out the other door and was panicked, thinking I had left him. I would NEVER have left him. We were both scared, for different reasons.
ReplyDeleteDear Veronica, thank you for telling us about the Moon Festival. I didn't know about this custom before, but it sounds nice. Do you also know about St. Martin's Day? We celebrate it on November 11th and it is also called the Lantern Festival, where children parade through the streets with lanterns. The mice with the lanterns are also cute - and the mice with the ice cream. By the way, my favorite ice cream flavor is cinnamon apple (also called apple strudel ice cream in some gelaterias 😊). Your gelateria experience sounds really scary, but it's good when things like that turn out well. My worst comparable experience was when I lost my friend Gabi in Paris in 1981 on Bastille Day and didn't find her again until the next day... But this experience - or the entire interrail trip - made us grown up and strong and we are still friends.
ReplyDeleteAll the best and have a pleasant weekend, Traude
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2024/09/calle-libre-festival-2024-und.html
We had a situation like that in Las Vegas. One of the kids wandered off when we weren't looking in a crowded casino. Very scary!! I'm not a fan of big crowds and always avoid them when possible.
ReplyDeleteGelato - LOVE it! There is a salted caramel gelato that is beyond delicious! I would've had anxiety too. It's like being at Disneyland and getting lost. (Of course, not having your phone was unnerving, I'm sure. I'm glad you all found one another again. Happy Moon Festival! What is pork schnitzel? Is it fried with a special sauce?
ReplyDeleteOh! There's this game I play on my phone. It has mini games. The current mini game, which started up yesterday, is about mooncakes. I didn't get the significance. Now I get it. Thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteSuch cute images of the mice holding the lanterns. I'm glad you found your family. Being lost in a foreign city would be frightening. It hasn't happened to me yet.
ReplyDeleteMooncakes look so good. I've never had gelato and the mice are just too cute.
ReplyDeleteYour posts are delightful Veronica, I love how you incorporate the mice. The moon festival sounds wonderful, and all the delicious food, the mooncakes are pretty. My favourite gelato (we call it ice cream here) flavour is caramel :-)
ReplyDeleteLovely photos. My youngest walks faster than us all and we sometimes stop for impromptu photos and to browse something in a store and have to make sure we tell him to stop walking else he will just keep on going without us.
ReplyDeleteLotus seed paste. I haven't eaten this yet. Interesting blog. I decided to follow.
ReplyDeleteGreetings and I invite you to see my new painting
I adore moon cakes, I tried them many years ago and think they are so yummy.
ReplyDeleteI loved your adorable photos back from the Mid-autumn festival. You all look so cute! Your delicious pork schnitzel dinner also looks so amazing!!
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely set of colourful photos love the food of course and the AI too ;-)
ReplyDeleteHave a gallimaufrytastic week 👍
So sorry that happened to you at the gelato store. That must have gave you quite a scare being in a strange place. The mid-Autumn festivals look so fun with the lit up lanterns. Sounds like something the kids enjoy. And those mooncakes look delightful. I wish I could try one with my coffee right now. All the food looks delicious. The buildings in Florence look so charming and old. My favorite ice cream is pistachio, by the way, but I always love a good rocky road.
ReplyDelete~Sheri
Lovely photos of the lanterns and ice cream!
ReplyDeleteI don't know what flavor of gelato is my favorite -- and I am afraid your little mice friends are going to eat all of it before I can get there to try it! )) We do have gelato over here but I'm sure it isn't as good as yours. It's different from ice cream which we have lots of. We also have a few places where we can get pastries with sweet bean paste -- I love it!! Although there too again I'm sure it's better where your pictures were taken.
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos! I love the photos with the lanterns, what a fun festival.
ReplyDeleteThe food look delicious, great travel photos. Take care, enjoy your day and the week ahead.
I love ice creams :D
ReplyDeletetraveling around this beautiful world in just a few sweet minutes with you, friend.
ReplyDeleteHello, Veronica,
ReplyDeleteI loved the photos of this autumn festival, here I learn a lot about Asian customs and traditions, thank you for sharing them with us. I have a similar story to the one you lived, I would have been about 5 years old and I entered a cake shop with my parents through one door and left through another while my parents stayed inside the shop, a lady who saw me grabbed me on her lap and took me inside the shop and my parents were already looking for me, I was a child but I remember that feeling of being without my parents! Hugs!
The festival looks like fun and the food must be delicious. Florence is such a photogenic city! I can understand feeling panicked when you lose sight of your family in a foreign place. Glad it was resolved quickly! Love the mice. ☺
ReplyDelete