Italy part 2
Why did it seem so surreal? So much that it felt impossible to be present in the moment. I tried. I suppose I'll have to go back and try harder next time.
This photo was taken in Cortona, just outside the city center. The whole villiage is perched on a steep hillside, and the views overlooking Tuscany were amazing. I'm pretty sure this flowering vine is Jasmine, because it smelled amazing. While we were in Cortona, a few memorable things happened.
We witnessed a slow motion Italian road rage incident. Both men hopped out of the (tiny) cars and gave 98 hand gestures per minute, while yelling at one another. No guns were brandished, and they both walked away without incident.
We had a fantastic meal al fresco...and I bought myself some perfume. It's incredible. It smells just like a perfume I would create just for me.
I'm fairly certain this is in Cortona. I will always be fascinated by small side streets.
This is inside the duomo in Siena. It was very crowded, and I had been inside on our first trip, so we didn't spend much time here. I wanted the kids to see it, though. Interestingly, it was free entrance in 2012, and now it costs $13 per person. Even more if you want to see the chapel. I noticed that several locations now charge an entrance fee. I suppose it's for maintenance and upkeep. While we were there, a tourist from the UK carved his initials into the wall of an ancient ruins. The mood amongst the locals was not too pleasant with regards to tourists. I suppose they've had an increase in numbers since covid, and Americans tend to be the most obnoxious. More on that later.
The view coming down from the top of the village in Cortona.
This is inside the duomo in Siena. These are the likenesses of former popes, which seemed morbid to me. I wasn't interested in the papacy (sp?) at all this time. The gilded excess seemed even more excessive.
I'll always take a photo of a bike next to flowers. This was in a village on an island in the middle of a lake in Tuscany. :p
This guy was having the time of his life. He and his entire wedding party had lunch at the table next to us, and he was happy to hug anyone within arm's length. Moments like this make me want to go back.
And here we end with another bike next to flowers. It's a favorite theme of mine.
Next time I'll post black and white photos taken in Venice.
Comments
Perhaps if you park your bicycle (means of travel) next to a home with its' walls covered in flowers, you could make it your own... at least for as long as it remains parked there.
Looks like you had a great time. I'm NVS.
But my next trip will be to Ireland, hopefully.
I might change my mind and park my bike in county Cork! I'm already dreaming about the green fields and having a pint in the pub...
Me, I can't wait until the baseball season is over and I can get my evening routine back (my wife's a big fan). :)
I think we're desperate for something to bring us together and give us a reason to be excited. But who knows...
So good and so beautiful.
I'm desperate for beauty these days. 😢
I have been finding snippets, now and again. And thanks to you, perhaps I'll soon find another in your book recommendation. Thanks :)
I'm going to a Veterans luncheon at the local Veterans Center tomorrow. Maybe I'll find some there as well. If not, a little face-to-face contact with friends and new acquaintances may help. Not quite beauty, but good conversation is good conversation.
I just finished the series on Netflix and it was worth the watch. High Laurie was really good in it.
They changed the ending considerably, though.
Next up on my audiobook adventures: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I need some stoicism in my life right now.
I still haven't watched it on Netflix. We're still finishing up a few other series (Nancy Drew) before starting another. That, and an occasionally movie, like "A Haunting in Venice". I'm a sucker for Agatha Christie's Poirot, but still uncomfortable with anyone but David Suchet in the role. I did solve it before the "reveal" though. It was fun.
I read the first half of "Meditations". I admire the Stoics, but I'm far too a pampered epicure to attempt it. You won't find me at any Spartan Syssitias.
Let me know when you're done, and maybe we can compare notes. :)
Ralph, Waldo Emerson, "Days"
Daughters of Time, the hypocritic Days,
Muffled and dumb like barefoot dervishes,
And marching single in an endless file,
Bring diadems and fagots in their hands.
To each they offer gifts after his will,
Bread, kingdoms, stars, or sky that holds them all.
I, in my pleached garden, watched the pomp,
Forgot my morning wishes, hastily
Took a few herbs and apples, and the Day
Turned and departed silent. I, too late,
Under her solemn fillet saw the scorn.
But I thought it was a great story!
My wife has a number of paintings of flowers hung around the house. They're not nearly as pretty as photo's of them might be... in the absence of the real article, anyways.
Enjoy life now! Lent doesn't begin until tomorrow. ;)
For Lent, I gave up hope for our country. Just kidding. Kinda.
I'm gonna go ahead and ask my doctor to up my cymbalta, since we can all see where we're headed. I voted for Nikki so in the general election it guess I'll have to Google who the latest Libertarian candidate is.
On a different but related note, I found an Instagram page for alienated Christians who are neither Trump supporters or Christian nationalists. I felt so comforted knowing how many of us are out there. Then I made the mistake of reading the comments section and saw how the nationalists (evangelicals?) had come to the conclusion that we were never really Christian to begin with if we had left the evangelical church. Who knew??
I try so hard to be optimistic, but I think we're headed towards bad things ahead.
🤓
So... dish. :)
Other options:
Liz Cheney
Liz Cheney
Liz Cheney
... Mickey Mouse
... Mickey Rourke
... Mickey Rooney
I'm excited for you! Sounds like an adventure of a lifetime. Gone long? Will you be doing PT, or something else? I am NVS...
I'll be gone for 12 days, working at a medical clinic to help with stroke rehab, dental procedures, and whatever else needs done.
Two weeks. Sounds like just enough time to make a contribution, and not get burnt out of collapse from empathy fatigue.
Yes, 12 days sounds about right. We'll have a meeting this Saturday to discuss all the important stuff, such as emotional overload and whatnot.
I watched a couple of YouTubes on Zambia the other day. Looks pretty cool. Victoria Falls/ Zambezi River? Like a childhood fantasy of mine (big game hunter). Not very PC, I know... ;)
So any of your medical team-mates experienced in these aid missions? Hope you meeting goes well and they give you a good feeling as to what to expect. Are you going to be in the bush roughing it/ camping, or in the clinic of some local towns with more comfortable facilities? I'm totally shooting in the dark, here. Hopefully they'll show you some training films so you'll know what to pack. ;)
The disenchantment of the world is expressed in de-auratization. The aura is the radiance that raises the world above its mere facticity, the mysterious veil around things. The aura has a narrative core. Benjamin points out that the narrative memory images of mémoire involontaire possess an aura, whereas photographic images do not: “If the distinctive feature of the images arising from mémoire involontaire is seen in their aura, then photography is decisively implicated in the phenomenon of a ‘decline of the aura.’ ”
Photographs are distinguished from memory images by their lack of narrative inwardness. Photographs represent what is there without internalizing it. They do not mean anything. Memory as narration, by contrast, does not represent a spatiotemporal continuum. Rather, it is based on a narrative selection. Unlike photography, memory is decidedly arbitrary and incomplete. It expands or contracts temporal distances. It leaves out years or decades. Narrativity is opposed to logical facticity.
We will be staying in a small village, about 30 minutes away from the nearest town. We'll be sleeping at the monastery! It's mosquito season and they seem to love me, so I'm stocked up on all kinds of remedies. I'll start taking my anti-malaria meds today.
My hope is that this experience "resets" the "aura" in my soul. I'm hyper focused on things I can't control, and that just takes the beauty out of life.
Of course, I used to go camping all the time in Venezuela. Never caught Malaria... the shots worked just fine. :)
I'm excited for you! We could all use a good "aura reset"! As for me, it may not be "Jesus take the wheel"... but I don't try and control much anymore. If only I could kick this internet routing, my life would be largely "stress free".
I need to channel more Byung-Chul Han. Regain a feeling for the "fragrance of time". ;)