A Window Stained With Colour

You may have noticed  that the header on my blog changes frequently. The change can depend on the season, holidays, current travel or just because.  When it's a holiday or travel destination the choice is fairly easy but what to do during those times between?

Fortunately the internet is a constant source of material - that and friends share moments of their lives which they have captured.  My friend Elizabeth and I met through a picture I had taken of a wine shop window in Rome - don't ask! - and over the past seven years we have shared stories and pictures through our blogs and Facebook.  Recently she posted a simple picture of a window in her home.  Simple but it captured, for me at least, those first days of winter.  The frost is on the window, the trees are almost bare of leaves, the light looks filtered through gray, and possibly stormy, clouds yet it still picks up the glow of a few of the pitchers and vases she has collected.

As I look at this one of my thoughts is:  time to be put the kettle on for a nice cup of hot tea to fight the coming cold. 

Thanks for sharing Elizabeth.


December 2 -  1991; Canada and Poland become the first nations on earth to recognize the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union.

In the Face of Grief

I met Elizabeth several years back when I received a request to use a photo I had taken for a series of frankly silly pictures she was featuring on a Flickr page.  Through that request I started reading her blog and being struck by the humour and grace with which she greeted much of what the world handed her - good and bad.  And often the bad was extremely bad - and often she turned that into a source of creativity.  In response to yesterday's sadness in Boston she wrote a poem that expresses the "communal national grief" that is being felt by so many.  She has given me permission to post her  poem as a way of allowing you and I share that grief.

The Thorn Tree

The thorn tree in my yard
is six feet high and wide, with a crop
of inch-long needles bristling
along its branches. Yet it holds, within it,
a flock of trilling fluttering
sparrows. When I walk by
they quiet. But one foot past and they begin
again, caroling and chuckling.
In its dangerous arms they dart, turn,
then light unscathed
beside spiked teeth that bite me
bloody when I have tried
to trim it. I am so blundering, so
soft, so easy to wound.
The small deft birds laugh
behind my back and I long
for their winged grace
in this world of thorns.

April 15, 2013

 March 2012 - Her Word's Say It All
 October 2010 - Job's Wife

April 16 - 1170 BC - The calculated date of the Greek king Odysseus' return home from the Trojan War.

Her Words Say It All

My dear Elizabeth doesn't post to Love Elizabeth very much these days - but then given what has been going on in her life it is understandable that she has very little time for blogging. When she does it is not usual for her posts to stop me in my tracks and take my breath away.

I try to avoid family matters or speaking of things that, though close to me, are not mine to speak off but her entry is past week hits very close to home - hers and ours.  Sadly Laurent and the rest of the family have watched this happen over the past ten years in our family and can only share with Liz and her family the sorrow, the pain and the fear.  A right click on the remarkable photo will take you to a piece that has had me close to tears for several days now.

She has captured so much of what we are seeing and have seen and are afraid that we will see.

25 March - 1958:  Canada's Avro Arrow makes its first flight.

Sharing

It's been a while since I've shared the wealth of postings that are out there on my favorite blogs, not because I haven't been checking things out but mostly because I've gotten lazy. There's been a kind of lethargy settled over our place the last month or so - call it the post-winter blahs, big-city depression, whatever but its certainly had its effect on my blogging activity. It took me almost a week to get a posting done on the very exciting Fidelio I experienced two weeks ago; and I still haven't posted anything about the two Vatican visits last weekend - but they are in the works. Maybe by Pentecost???

Here are a few things that I've read and enjoyed over the past few weeks.

• One of my great inspirations when I first started blogging, the incredible Lynette over at Big Ass Belle posted a piece on prayer God's Golden Spotlight back at the end of March - yes its been that long since I shared. It came at a time for me when prayer seems to have, in a small way, reentered my life. And it's great to see Lynette posting again, even if for the moment it is only off and on.

This alms slot is at the portal of the now closed Church of St Giacomo in Augusto which was built to serve the former hospital for the incurables.

• The newly shaven EvilGnome had an unusual sighting in the middle of Boston earlier this week. And his camera has come in handy for capturing the birds that are flocking to his neighbourhood. And in his wry way he shared his thoughts as he looked in the mirror razor in hand.

This funeral monument set in the floor at Santa Maria dei Aracoeli was commissioned to commemorate the burial spot of an important personage for eternity. Ironically their name and face has been erased by the footsteps of centuries of worshipers and tourists.

• As well as changing her profile picture (you can't mistake those naughty eyes) Sageweb had a transcendental experience in the grocery aisle that had me in stitches. And she ended the week with two great videos that are touching and reaffirming.

Just off Campo di Fiori this stable/coach house dates from the 1500s - its now a beauty salon. Sic Transit Upsweep!

• That master storyteller Tater tells us about a bitter realization that changes a boy's life.

We saw this famous map of Venice last Monday during our private tour of the Vatican Museum - its on the wall at the end of the incredible Map Room. Venice is one of our favorite cities and we'll be there next week just in time for their Patronal festival. Don't even ask about the cost of hotel rooms!

• Foodie Jonathan at Around Britain with A Paunch praises the joys of Heinz 57 and unveils a new upscale version that's coming on the market.

For any of you who think you want might want to relive those moments from Three Coins in the Fountain - here's the crowds at the Fontana di Trevi on a quiet day in late February. You won't want to see it now that the warm weather is here. Actually you may not be able to see it.

• For the past few weeks Jeff has been taking us on a Sunday drive through his neighbourhoods. It reminded me of the Sunday drives we often took when I was young - only in this case the driver is a heck of a lot better looking.

When we were having lunch with friends at Bleve, a great little wine bar near San Andrea delle Valle, Laurent noticed that this Bacchus seemed just a little bit tipsy. I must say his eyes do have that slightly unfocused look I remember - says he very self-righteously after over six weeks without a drink - from my drinking days.

• And Elizabeth has been keeping us posted, as her time allows, on how things are progressing with KH after his surgery. Though I've removed the candle from the sidebar I'm still stopping in to light a candle for his recovery and to remind myself of the needs and concerns of so many of my friends.

After the Papal audience on the Wednesday following Easter newly married couples were lining up for their photo-op. Couples come from all over to re-don their wedding finery and receive the Papal blessing during the general audience. The couple waiting their turn were from Spain.

You may have read some of these posts already - if not give them a visit. And if you have, what it would hurt you to take a second look?

19 aprile - Sant'Emma

The Mouths of Babes

We had dinner on Sunday night with old friends of Laurent's: Gülay, Julien and Elizabeth. He met Gülay and Julien when he was posted to Jordan. Over the years they have kept in contact from their various postings through the world. Laurent attended their wedding in Istanbul, visited them in London, they’ve visited him with their daughter Elizabeth in Beijing. They were returning from holiday in Tuscany and stopped off to say hello, meet me for the first time and show Elizabeth a bit of Rome.

At dinner Elizabeth – who is six years old – amused herself by drawing pictures of those present. When I thanked her for not showing my gray hair she stated the obvious: That’s because I don’t have a gray pencil!

22 agosto – Santa Maria Regina