Malta and Gozo have a surprisingly vibrant music scene.  Since the country is so small, you get several chances each year to see the biggest stars.   There is an annual Gozo Music Festival.

• 12 eggs
• 8 nectarines
• 7 large potatoes
• 3 plum tomatoes (in season, €0.60/kg)
• 3 large carrots
• 2 onions
• 1 mushroom
• 1 green pepper
• 1 litre of milk
• 1 loaf of bread

We entertained guests last week and in showing them the sites we had a few firsts ourselves.  Our son had been given a lesson about Caravaggio in school and he expressed the desire to go see 'The Beheading of Saint John' which is on display in Saint John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta.

We had not been to the island of Malta for several months. The capital city of Valletta was very crowded, it being the first really warm Saturday of spring. The Co-Cathedral  was crowded as well, but we were suprised and grateful to find out that a portion of the crowd was a talented choir.  They gathered together in an acoustic sweet spot and were directed through several pieces of sacred music while men in Italian suits and families in tourist clothes looked on in rapt attention.

The painting was impressive as well.

According to a survey base study, Malta is home to the happiest people in the world. This result has been largely attributed to their strong family ties.  Here is a mention of the survey in The Globe And Mail and another mention in The Palm Beach Post .

The view was the deal closer for our present digs, that and proximity to one of the nicest beaches in the country. I intially suffered from an optical illusion; the beach seemed very far away across an expanse of numerous farmer's fields. It took some time to realize that what wasn't sinking into the visual part of my brain was that they are particularly small fields, and that the beach was actually much closer.

According to FITA, there are 11,400 farmers in Malta but only 10% of them do farming as a full time job. The average area of an agricultural farm is 1 hectare (2.47 acres). Most fields are surrounded by walls made from stones that have been removed from the field, recycled building stones, or a combination. Bamboo fences are also common.

A suprising statistic is that there are only around 500 tractors in the country. The narrow access alleys and small fields make them an impractical expense for most farmers. The horsepower on many Gozitan farms is a type of vehicle that I have never seen in North America. It is a vehicle in two parts; a two wheeled utility trailer with a seat hooks onto a large gas tiller (tines are removed when using it for transportation). It's not uncommon to see a farmer coming home at midday with a cart rounded up with fresh cut fodder for his animals. Horses are a common sight here but mostly of the racing variety.

As an aside, I found out about a visit to Malta by a certain famous farmer named Jimmy Carter while fact checking. Here's what he had to say  http://www.cartercenter.org/doc17.htm

Today is very chilly here in Gozo!  Although it is bright and sunny we are not expecting the temperature to go above 50F all day.  I predict that this will be one of the few very cold days this winter.  There is a strong northerly wind, not quite as strong as the gregale we had last week but definitely gusty.  We can see Ramla Bay from the house.  The waves are quite high and there is a lone kite surfer who looks like he or she is having a fantastic time.

 We would not have believed that we could ever regard 50F in February as chilly but I guess it all depends on perspective because now we do and we are glad to have our gas heater on low here in the house.

There are a handful of houses being built on our street. Almost all the houses in Gozo are made from limestone. When we were being shown houses early on, Catherine showed me up by using terms like lintel. It is quite fascinating to see the craftsmanship that goes into these houses, especially the arched windows and doorways. 

One reason that I don't envy the builders is the fact that so many houses have to be built with out-of-square corners. This makes for lots of measuring and cutting. 

The Basilica in the village square is presently having its facade refurbished. There used to be a false clockface above the entrance, I think it has been removed to avoid damaging it while the stonework is completed. I'm trying to find an authoritative statement about why the Basilicas have a fake clock on them (they have a real one as well). 

We were out leaning against a sun drenched stone wall enjoying our afternoon coffee when I noticed a bee. It was slowly crawling along the cold cement ally. It seems to be common for them to run out of energy while on foraging missions. I decided to pick a nearby stalk of wildflowers to place in its path, thinking it would fuel up on nectar. It didn't seem to be that interested in the flowers, so I used the stalk to transfer it to a sunny spot next to the wall. It almost immediately increased its activity and gradually climbed halfway up the wall before taking off to an unknown fate. Later on we saw an almond tree that was nourishing dozens of very noisy bees.