A Cottage by the Sea
  • Home
  • On My Mind
  • Quotes
  • Secrets of an Old Woman
  • A Solitary Traveler
  • Compassionate Reading
  • Comfort food
  • Books
  • Suggested reading
  • Poems
  • About me
  • About me and my blog

Sharing a birthday with my sister

12/30/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
When my sister Margot asked me what I had planned for our birthday today, I told her it would be a perfect day. I would be visiting my 101 year old friend Ruth and delivering a dinner to a friend who is in the midst of some pretty brutal chemo. 
      You may notice that Margot referred to ‘our birthday’. Yes, we share it. I recall my dad telephoning from New York City to our home in Connecticut to wish me a happy birthday and tell me that I had a sister for a birthday present.  On that day that I turned six I learned about sharing. 
       Except for one birthday, when my sister’s party got in the way of mom driving me to ice skating with friends, I have loved that Margot and I have the same birthday. Two years ago, when I turned 80, we had a big celebration at the Wayside Inn. Last year Jim and I celebrated, just the two of us. Today will be another perfect celebration. Ruth offers me the motherly love that I received from my mom when she was 101. I’m grateful for my good health and happy to support my friend.

0 Comments

Word for the year

12/28/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
There is much that is packed into the end of December for me:    
24th—Christmas Eve
25th—Christmas
28th—Our Wedding Anniversary
30th—My Birthday
31st—New Year’s Eve


   I wonder what my ‘word’ for 2022 will be?  In 2020 it was gentleness, in 2021, patience. I’m still working on those, although they are coming along. At least I am more aware when I am harsh, not gentle, and when I am impatient, rather than patient.  
     I sit her waiting for the 2022 word to come into my consciousness. Ah, here it is--loving: the bottom line of all faith traditions. Two aspects of loving come to mind: to slow down and show people appreciation: and to send loving thoughts to people (and situations) with whom I don’t agree.

0 Comments

Easy trip home

12/20/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
I’m home. Easy travel--Florence, CDG Airport, Boston--except for the bumper-to -bumper traffic from Logan Airport to home. Everyone was on the road. I wonder what it will be like this weekend with omicrom seemingly taking over our lives? I never was concerned that I wouldn’t make it home, but I glad I came when I did. Nothing is for certain and Covid news is changing minute by minute. 
      The airline emailed me that I had to have a covid test the day before I flew. At a pharmacy in Florence it took no more than 15 minutes to receive the test and a print out indicating I tested negative. And then, that was the last I heard about it; I was NEVER asked to show the paper. Going through customs was the easiest ever. The good news was that most likely everyone on the plane was covid free!!

0 Comments

Solitude in Santa Maria dei Fiori

12/15/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
To be inside the San Marie dei Fiori alone! A dream that came true yesterday. The line outside was short (unlike the long ones in the fall), and so I joined. After showing our ‘green pass’ and going through the scanner, about thirty of us were let in together. Then, as the people in my group began to leave, but before a new group entered, there I was, alone in this enormous cathedral. 
    It brought back one of the most vivid memories of my time here in 1959. It was here in this duomo that I was first aware of my desire for solitude.

0 Comments

La Badia Fiorentina

12/13/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
One of the benefits of traveling alone is flexibility with everything I do. It’s up to me. I don’t have to confer with anyone or make compromises. At a whim I can change my plans. Yesterday morning I started out with the intention of walking along the Arno. But no, instead I turned toward the Piazza della Signoria, stopped for a cappuccino, and then entered La Badia Fiorentina, where Lauds was being sung by the six monks and eight nuns that make up this monastic fraternity of Jerusalem in Florence. 
      As the service ended men and women in all kinds of dress and nationality began coming in to help set up for 11 o’clock Mass,  including a medical volunteer wearing a yellow vest. A man of Indian heritage, dragging a suitcase, lit a candle. One of the gypsies that I’ve seen around the city begging for money, sat in the back corner. 
       This place was alive with with people reaching out to God. You see, the call of this fraternity is to be present :“In the heart of the cities in the heart of God.” Their mission— to help the poor, and the homeless, to meet them where they are. 
       In the entrance way is a statue of a homeless man sleeping on a bench. The inscription quotes Matthew 25:6: I was naked and you clothed me.

0 Comments

Florentine art I love

12/11/2021

0 Comments

 
Every time I come to Florence I get fixated on the paintings and frescoes of Annunciation . Just when I think I have snapped every depiction of Mary and Angel Gabriel, a new one appears. Yesterday, it was at the Academia. Most of us go there to see Michelangelo’s David, but I also love to climb to the first floor to absorb the paintings of the Florentine School 1370-1430, which include Late Gothic and Early Renaissance works. Most have been restored to the vibrant colors that were a landmark of the shops (bottega) where the artists and apprentices worked to create these magnificent altar pieces. 
     Wealthy patrons made sure that their own portrait joined the adoration of the magi or was present somewhere in the picture,  tympanum, or predella. They were eager to do what they could do gain a place in heaven and to gain favor with the powerful in the city.
0 Comments

San Marco. Which cell would you pick?

12/8/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
I’m very grateful to be back in Florence for the Christmas season. My first go-to spot, yes, the Convent of San Marco. I can’t get enough of those cells. Ah, the simplicity of not having any things. Today these cells don’t show the bed, desk, chair, and cross that would have adorned a monk’s cell. All we see is the Fra Angelico fresco on the wall, painted to remind the monk of Jesus.   
       I would have asked for the first cell on the east corridor, depicting Mary wanting to touch Jesus--Noli me tangere. I resonate with the warm colors and the intimacy. About half the cells show the Crucifixion. For sure I wouldn’t want to be assigned one of those!
       Every time I visit San Marco can’t stop myself from taking photos of each cell. This time I included a little more of the room and the window shutter.
         For all of you who love silence, solitude, and simplicity, this may be the place for you.

0 Comments

December 08th, 2021

12/8/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
​A morning at the Uffizi. OMG, a new entrance of white corridor after white corridor just to get to the three flights of stairs that lead to the top floor where the exhibits begin. And there I was, greeted by Giotto’s Madonna and Child, flanked on either side by one by Duccio and Cimibue.
    I know the Uffizi well. I have been there at least 30 times? Very likely more. I know what I want to see and how to maneuver  around the crowds to reach my favorite paintings. Two hours was my limit. 
          In Italian Uffizi means office but this was no office visit. It was as close to heaven as I can get.

0 Comments

Christmas season in Florence in 2021

12/7/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
 I am sooooo glad I came. Both flights— to Paris and then to Florence—were not crowded, and on time. I’ve shown my ‘green card’ before entering a restaurant and San Marco museum. People are wearing masks outside as well as inside. In fact there is a mandate to do so in  crowds outside. 
    It is festive here but not too crowded. Tonight the Christmas tree lights at the Duomo will be lit, but I’ll stay away from joining that crowded of onlookers. The F-Light Festival begins on the 12th (F for Firenze). Lights, accompanied by music,  reflected on the Ponte Vecchio, San Lorenzo, and S.S.Annunicate.


This morning I slept until 8!!. I stopped for a cappuccino, before going to the La Badia, my favorite prayer church.  Another cappuccino before visiting San Marco, the Dominican convent where Fra Angelio painted frescos on each cell wall. It is the first church/museum that I visit upon arriving in Florence. It never disappoints.
        Random picture of my first day. 


0 Comments

Florence in December

12/2/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture
In December 2016, 2017, and 2018 I joined the Christmas festivities in Florence. A joyful time: craft and food fairs in Piazzas Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novellla; a luminated concert shining on the Ponte Vecchio; and the lighting of the Duomo Christmas tree at 5 PM  on December 8th. 
     And then, alas, Covid kept me away for two years. But not this year. I fly Boston-Paris-Florence on December 5 and return December 17th. The apartment I’ve rented is tucked behind the Uffizi and a few steps away from the Ponte Vecchio. In the morning I  will write as I sip a cappuccino at my special cafes; in the afternoon I will visit my favorite churches and museums; in the evenings delicious Italian food will be waiting for me. 
      Carpe diem.

1 Comment
<<Previous
    Contact me: bobbifisher.mac@mac.com

    Categories

    All
    3rs
    3S's
    Aging
    Andre Dubus Iii
    Ann Patchett
    Anticipation
    Art
    Assisi
    Barbara Kingsolver
    Being Alone
    Beyond Words
    Boo
    Books
    Cantice Of The Sun
    Celebrations
    Choices
    Churches
    Community
    Cor
    Cottage By The Sea
    Cottage Day
    Courage
    Curiosity
    Dad
    Dalai Lama
    Death And Dying
    Depression
    Desiderata
    Dietrich Bonhoeffer
    Donald Hall
    Dr Alex Tang
    Edinburgh
    Eleanor Lerman
    Emily Dickinson
    Environment
    Esther De Waal
    Faith
    Field Trip
    Florence
    Fo
    Follow Your Bliss
    Food
    Friendship
    Frugal
    Gifts
    Giving And Receiving
    Gratitude
    Health
    Heart
    Hermits
    Hope
    Impermanence
    Independent And Close
    Inspire & Affirm & Encourage
    Introvert
    Iona
    Ireland
    Italy
    James Hollis
    Jane Austen
    Jan Sutch Pickard
    Joan Chittister
    John Dear
    John Masefield
    Joseph Campbell
    Katherine Paterson
    Knitting
    Li
    Lonely
    Longing
    Love
    Marsha Sinetar
    Mary Oliver
    Max Ehrmann
    Meaning
    Memories
    Mom
    Moving
    Museums
    My Day
    Nature
    Nina Sankovitch
    Now
    Oliver Herford
    Pamela Dalton
    Paris
    Passion
    Paulo Coelho
    Peace
    Philip Koch
    Place
    Play
    Prayer
    Present Moment
    Quiet
    Rachel Carlson
    Radical Compassion
    Read
    Reading
    Resolutions
    Restlessness
    Retirement
    Richard Rohr
    Rita Golden Gelman
    Robert Kull
    Rome
    Routines
    Rumi
    Sankovitch
    Scotland
    Seen In A Draper's Shop
    Service
    Silence
    Sim
    Simplicity
    Skye
    Sol
    Soli
    Solitude
    Soul Work
    Space
    St Catherine Of Siena
    St. Francis
    Stress
    Susan Gain
    Tenzin Palmo
    Thanksgiving
    The Uncommon Reader
    Thomas Keating
    Thomas Merton
    Three Sieves
    Time
    Travel
    Tru
    Viktor E. Frankl
    Walking
    Wonder
    Writi
    Writing

    Archives

    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.