Thar she blows! Mt. Etna, that is....

On Wednesday I ventured into base with my darling husband.  On our way home at around 7pm at night we got off the autostrada (highway) on our exit to head up the mountain.  In the distance I saw a glowing red light and pointed it out to Patrick.  We then debated most of the way up the mountain what it could possibly be.  I thought maybe it was a light of some sort reflecting, or perhaps a UFO.  Patrick thought maybe it was some 'controlled' burning that they are so fond of here.  I threw out the idea that it was lava, but we quickly discarded that idea.  No way!

We came up with a few other ideas (as Patrick reminded me to keep my eyes on the road, but it was so fascinating!), and we came back to the idea of lava a few times.  The closer we got to our house  the more we were able to see, and sure enough it was lava!  Mt. Etna was spewing forth a flow of lava.  Because it was more on the East side of the mountain we couldn't see very much, but it was pretty cool none the less.  Yesterday I looked up a few articles and pictures to read up on our mountain.  I think for the most part I wanted to be sure that we were safe and wouldn't die in a Pompeii like erruption, clutching to one another whispering our last goodbyes.  Not to worry dear ones!  While Mt. Etna is active, it is not dangerous.  It's quite beautiful actually.