Blog Archives

Arrivederci Firenze

3/31/2023

Every time I fly out of the Florence airport, I wonder if I will return to my favorite city, or if I am saying arrivederchi for the last time. It's not something I've dwelt upon on over the years, but this trip I found myself looking at the Arno and the Duomo with 'memory' eyes. I'm a realist and an optimist, a combination that has encouraged me to take these trips. I'm also healthy and used to traveling, which is another combo that keeps me planning to go one more time.
As I write this on the plane on the way home to Boston, I'm thinking I have at least an October trip still in me. But I won't make those plans until I return from a week in Edinburgh at the end of May.

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Buon giorno from Florence

3/27/2023

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Art Institute of Florence

3/25/2023

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Here I am, back for the umpteenth time in the park of the Art Institute of Florence near Porta Roman, sitting on a bench, people watching, musing, and writing . I've written about the people, the dogs, the students, the little kids in this park many times. Probably I should reread those past blogs, but that holds no interest. No, I am living in the present moment, considering my current theme--meaning making as the ultimate human endeavor.
Sitting here, I am aware how content, purposeful, and complete I feel, which I have to believe is a life goal of all humans. Is this contentment easier for me, an older person, than for the students walking across the grounds? Probably. The students are searching as was I when I studied here years ago. At the time I didn't realize that I was not only learning independence but was taking it on as important part of my way to make meaning of my life. I trust it also has to do with my faith and with God.

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A visit to the Bobile Gardens

3/23/2023

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Morning at the Duomo

3/22/2023

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This morning, as I often do, I went to the side entrance of the Duomo, which is open for private prayer or for those attending Mass. Today, however, a large crowd of camera people and security guards surrounded the entrance. And there in their midst was a young man, sporting a very chic coat and holding a Gucci briefcase, solemnly walking a short distance among pigeons. Every so often someone would rush up to him to fix his hair or whatever, and then the man would go back to the start and make walk again.
I slipped into church and when I came out they were still at it.

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Meaning makers in Florence

3/21/2023

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I have made it to Florence; one grateful trip after another. But this is THIS time, just has today is THIS day. The other trips, the other days meld together to become the days of life, which is the whole to which each trip, each day is added. I was certain that the 'theme' of this time in Florence be would simple: enjoy each day, each cappuccino, each museum, each church, each meal--and I am doing that. Whenever I travel I renew that theme! But something more has evolved this trip, something that deepens my understanding of  being in the present-- the search for meaning, accompanied by those questions that every human being asks: What am doing with my life? What is the meaning of my life? Why am I here? What is the purpose of what I'm doing right now?
        Maybe that is why we are all here: to figure it out, which implies not only an answer but the process of answering it. The answer comes in the doing.  Perhaps that is the reason writers write and then feel the need to share. Maybe it is why I keep this blog going.
    The poet Rilke suggests:  "And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."
     Rabbi Krusher wrote When Bad Things Happen to Good People as a way to come to meaning around his son's death from progeria at age 14.
      In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl shares that the people in concentration camps who survived or who went to their deaths with hope were those who realized they had the choice to find meaning in the moment--often helping others
     I believe that every human being I see is here in Florence, every person who has walked into Orti Dipini, this "special educational garden"* while I have been writing, is searching for meaning. They may not be conscious of it, but they are;  it's a life process, a project as inherent as breathing.

* Orti Dipini--Here we practice organic urban horticulture and its application in the daily life.
We promote sustainability, reuse, recycle, environmental education, professional formation and social integration

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To Florence again!!

3/18/2023

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Carry-on, Traveling light!

I’m off to Florence tomorrow, via CDG. I arrive in Florence at 9AM Monday morning and will take the 20 minute, 2 euro tram ride to Santa Maria Novella. I will call Lorenzo, who for years has rented me apartments, and then walk 15 minutes to my absolute favorite apartment. I will take a quick elevator ride to the second floor where Lorenzo will meet me. We will check that the wifi works, and he will give me the keys.
My apartment overlooks a little street; from the window I can see my favorite cafe serving the best cappuccino ever--maybe I'll stop in!. Then I'll walk around the corner to the Piazza della Signoria, say hello to David and be on my way through the Uffizi courtyard to the Arno. So many favorite spots! And I haven't even mention the Duomo, which I'll check out on my route before returning to the apartment for a nap.

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Me, today!

3/15/2023

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My first entry to this blog was in November 2010 when I started spending the winter weeks at the cottage by the sea that I rented in Maine. That comforting habit continued for five years. Now it is March 2023 and the blogging continues. Every so often I write what you might call a biographical update to let you know what is important in my life at the moment. So here it is. (You can check out past bios o
    My family is doing well: everyone, which means our two kids and four grandchildren, who will all be college graduates by the end of May. My two sisters and my brothers are active and happy. Jim and I are committed to staying in this old house until we can’t!! One of our rules is that we both have to be able to go up and down the stairs. So far, so good. The entire family channels my mom, whose last words before she let go at age 101 were ‘Very grateful.’
        You know about me: traveling, walking, active in my church. I love visiting the older folk, which makes me laugh because before I know it I’ll be visiting myself!! Every week I tell my 102 year old friend Ruth that I am catching up with her.
     If you are new to this blog, and don't know who I am, check out 'About Me' for a bio. I just read it and had to chuckle at all I have forgotten about myself. Well, at age 83, I give myself a break.

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Too much chatter about the weather

3/13/2023

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There's a big buzz around here. It's about the weather. What else? Last night at 10:30 the phone rang. It was Eversource interrupting our sleep to tell us about possible wind, rain, and snow that might come our way in the next few days. I already knew this from everyone I met during my walk yesterday, or when chatting with friends at church. Everyone was making plans… just in case. While I'm all in favor of adequate preparation, I don't feel the need to attend to the nuances of weather. I love living in New England where I never tire of anticipating and enjoying the change of seasons. That being said, I never wanted to be a weatherman, nor do I watch the weather on TV. Who needs to watch when every friend and acquaintance will tell us what we need to know, or that what they think we need to know.
'So, what's your point?' you ask.
'It has nothing to do with the weather. Silence, solitude, and simplicity are available
whatever the weather. I'm trying to surrender to unnecessary chatter, both with myself and with others. Chatter about the weather can usurp my silence, solitude, and simplicity.

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Dostoyevsky's loving humility

3/10/2023

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Dostoyevsky suggests that 'loving humility is a terrible force.' On first read I interpreted loving as a verb; but that didn't make sense. As an adjective, the phrase is provocative. Isn't all humility loving? Can humility be hateful? Does humility even need an adjective? I think not. And yet, defining humility as loving makes it active, something that needs to be demonstrated in public, not just assumed as a private stand-alone. Perhaps loving humility is worn by our extrovert selves when we want to publicize love, not just be humble inside ourselves.
Is humility one of those qualities that stands alone only to be diminished by any adjective, by any descriptor? I humbly defer.

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