Blog Archives

A Wood Duck joining our solitude

4/25/2019

Beautiful spring day. I have a cold, which in some odd way I appreciate because it gives me the perfect excuse to stay home and just be (and to go to bed early). What do I mean by this? It’s all about the solitude, which I recall from my cottage-by-the-sea days when I lived day after day in the moment. But this is different and better because I am home with my husband who also loves to live in solitude. It’s something we can together.
This morning I noticed a bird thrashing away into a hole in a tree which I thought was the entrance to a squirrel’s home. I sent pictures to my ornithologist sister-in-law who reported that we have a female Wood Duck who is hoping to make a home right in our back yard. As she said “It would be very exciting if they nested there.” Ah, no place like home!

0 Comments

No place like home for solitude~

4/23/2019

0 Comments

I’m home. Spring is here. The garden is bursting forth, especially after last night’s rain. In the tree outside my window, a goldfinch and redpoll wait to swoop down to my kitchen window bird feeder. Life was good in Italy; life is good back home. In fact, I feel I have more solitude here than when I travel. Although I search for solitude in different physical location, I know that it is wherever I let it in. That being said, I feel like Dorothy returning from Oz knowing that there’s no place like home.

0 Comments

Roman Holiday

4/20/2019

0 Comments

Final morning walk in Florence~

4/18/2019

1 Comment

Traveling solo v.v. with others

4/15/2019

0 Comments

IPhoto is back working thanks to the younger generation. I thought the cause of the breakdown was too many pictures, but no, ‘it just happens’. We’ve been on the move with little time for writing. Again, need I say it is very different having traveling companions.
• I go where I want on whim v.v. discussing plans ahead of time.
• I walk fast v.v adjusting to the pace of others.
• I walk with an intentional destination in mind v.v. stopping to window shop.
• I have no one to talk with v.v. chatting and pointing out sights.

Being a solo traveler isn’t better, it’s just different. I prefer solo unless it’s with people I love. That’s the way it is this week.

0 Comments

With family in Florence~

4/14/2019

0 Comments

The only solitude I’ve had during these past two days has been my early morning walks while Em and Abby sleep in and catch up on jet lag. This is so fine with me. We have having a wonderful time walking the city, seeing the sights and doing some shopping.
Yesterday we wandered around in the rain, did some preliminary shopping, enjoyed a couple of delicious meals, and took a tour of the Piazza della Signoria. We made reservations to visit the Uffizi and Academia on Tuesday and climb the Duomo on Wednesday.
It is sunny and warm this morning as I sit at one of my go-to cafes and write. Abby repaired my IPhoto program which had somehow failed, but I notice this morning that yesterday’s photos didn’t transferred from my camera to computer. So please accept this blog as my meager way of letting you all know that life is good in Florence. These pictures of last nights dinner ought to suffice.

0 Comments

Wonder # 4 Morning in Florence

4/12/2019

0 Comments

Wonder # 4 Morning in Florence
    Early morning in Florence is the best part of the day for me. I leave my apartment about seven and turn left or right. Left to the Piazza della Signoria, right toward the Duomo.
     Today it was right as I headed to the southern door of the Duomo to start my day meditating in one of the chapels beneath Brunelleschi’s dome. I tell the guard ‘La Messa’ and in I go. When Mass starts at 7:30, the silence is over and so I leave for my first cappuccino of the day.
      I head toward the Arno, cross the Ponte Vecchio, and continue on to Piazza Santo Spirito and the Cabiria & Ricche Bar. They know me now; as I walk in the door they start my cappuccino and put a brioche vuota on a plate. In I go to the little cafe room where I am writing this now.
     In a bit I will be meeting my daughter and granddaughter arriving from Rome at the Santa Maria Novella train station. My week of solitude is about to change into a week of community, joy and love. Very grateful. Who knows how my posting will go?

0 Comments

Wonder # 3 Spring bursting forth in Florence

4/10/2019

0 Comments

Bardini Gardens

Boboli Gardens

0 Comments

Financial report from Florence~

4/10/2019

0 Comments

A random financial report from Florence.
A few years ago I reported:
• Fewer gypsies begging on the streets: they are back!
• Fewer Africans selling pictures, gadgets, and umbrellas: they are back.
• Cappuccino still costing 1.20 euro: standard price now,1.30.

What else:
• Across the board, fees for all museums and churches have gone up.
• All restaurants now add a cover or service charge to the bill.
• The charge for food hasn’t gone up. AND, as they say, “You can’t get a bad meal in Italy.” I agree.

0 Comments

Wonder # 2 The San Miniato al Monte Cemetery

4/9/2019

0 Comments

Cemeteries have always been a wonder of mine. I recall growing up and playing in one right on the road at the corner of a friend’s house. We made up all kinds of signals to attract cars going by and then would run and hide behind a old tombstone and watch to see if we were noticed.
     If I were a kid now, I’d be playing hide-and-seek in the HUGE cemetery that surrounds three sides of San Miniato al Monte. It is no exaggeration to estimate that 100,000, yes, one hundred thousand souls have found their burial rest there. I say rest because from the reverence inscribed on the stones and the uniqueness of the statuary there is no doubt that family members believe it important to give their loved ones a place of eternal, loving rest.
       The cemetery opened around 1864 and continues to offer rest in 2019. Family members come to tend the family graves. Whether they leave fresh, or artificial flowers (its difficult to tell the difference) their intention to show their love bursting forth.
     I’ve wandered this cemetery on every visit I’ve made to Florence, in all seasons. My sense of wonder never ends; I could take 100,000 pictures and each would be a wonder.

A Wood Duck joining our solitude

No place like home for solitude~

Roman Holiday

Final morning walk in Florence~

Traveling solo v.v. with others

With family in Florence~

Wonder # 4 Morning in Florence

Wonder # 3 Spring bursting forth in Florence

Bardini Gardens

Boboli Gardens

Financial report from Florence~

Wonder # 2 The San Miniato al Monte Cemetery

The Expanse

The Inscriptions

The Monuments

Categories

Archives