Job's Wife

Back in July my friend Elizabeth wrote a startling and moving poem on the old Biblical tale of Job and the Trials visited on him (Left is one of Gustave Doré's illustrations to the story). But she wrote it from the point of view of his wife; when I read her The Book of Job's Wife I was stunned by the shear emotion of it. Perhaps knowing some of her background gave it special resonance but even without that it is an highly charged cry of a wounded soul whose lose has been ignored in the telling of the tale.

I was then a little surprised to find that almost three months later she received a comment on it from someone who, to my mind at least, is an ignorant, self-righteous coward. Ignorant in their lack of knowledge of the book they brandish in people's faces, self-righteous in their judgment and too cowardly to sign their name. Fortunately Elizabeth was not at a loss for words in her response. The sad thing is that who ever it is that wrote the comment will probably never read it - people like that tend, in the tradition of cowards, to be hit and run.

Bravo my darling Elizabeth on a remarkable piece of work and a thoughtful and honest reply to someone who knows little of the true love of God.

14 ottobre - San Callisto Papa

Sharing

Haven't done one of these posts in a while. Again not that I haven't read some wonderful stuff just that two very active puppies (and some really heavy ballet review translations) have been keeping me a tad busy. And I also have done any GPP or GPV items in over a week. So why not combine the two. Here's some posts I've enjoyed and a few pics of the deadly duo - though I realized I have more photos of Nora than Nicky - maybe because she stays still long enough.

It hard to believe they were ever this small ... this friendly ... or this quiet. They both weigh in at slightly over 2 kgs now, fight constantly and seem to have boundless energy. Hell they're puppies of course they have boundless energy.

• She hasn't been blogging regularly for a while but as always when she does Big Ass Belle hits the mark every time. Her most recent post reminded me of the big part that serendipity has played in my own life and has even encouraged me to start working on a post about it.

Okay we have a moment of repose here but it's just in preparation for the next assault on the race course that use to be the hallway.

• Also absent for awhile, Elizabeth has such a full creative plate that she can be forgiven for not putting in more frequent appearances. Her recent trip to New York brought back memories of previous times in a city that helped shape her life.

Stick with me kid, says our Nora. I'm older than you and been around more, 'cause its just you and me against the world. Very appropriately Dashiell Hammett don't you think?

• Always a keen observer of the world - and with plenty experience of it - Helen has penned her most recent letter to Margaret and has a few words about Mr Obama and some things that were better left unsaid.

The house tends to be a bit on the dark side - no direct sunlight anyway because of all the angles. But there is a nice spot out on the service balcony that was just made for sunning.

• It seems the ladies - I was going to type women but you know in my mind every one of them is a lady, sorry I'm old-fashioned that way - I know in blogdom are a busy lot. Cowbell has been busy with work and a few adult education opportunities including learning Spanish. Her class has given her food for thought and for a post.

Nick always likes to make sure the bed covers are perfectly arranged before a good night's sleep.

• For awhile there Sunday drives with Jeff was becoming a regular feature of my life, however there were a few Sundays when he had more pressing things to do. I'm glad to say he's returned to take us through the high and by ways of the LA area. In the past two weeks he's shown us cool signs with a decidedly 50s feel and then stopped off at a BBQ pit for some ribs and more 50s nostalgia.

Nora is completely unimpressed with the internet - its just too modern. She tends to be an old fashioned girl - the sort who hides demurely behind the lace curtains when she isn't chewing on them!

• And finally my friend Larry spent a few days in and around Sienna and has shared several posts about that lovely area of our adopted country. Rather than list them all why not just go over to AmoRoma and do a bit of a "birdwalk".

Good reading and you'll have to excuse me I have two puppies who have to be walked.

04 agosto - San Giovanni Maria Vianney

Sharing

Its been a while since I've shared some of my favorite posts with you but its not because there's been a lack of things out there just that there's been a lot going on here. I am still visiting and enjoying all my regulars plus a few new ones. I don't mean to be jingoistic here but Laurent has decided to try his hand at blogging. He's got one called Larry Muffin At Home - and don't even ask where the Muffin comes from!

Aside from his new blog I also have two postings that I read this week that effected me very much. Both from my dear friend Elizabeth. Liz was the first person who ever asked to use something from my blog and from that simple e-mail request a friendship developed. She's a remarkable lady with remarkable talents, not the least of which is her writing.

• When I read this posting earlier this week I so wished in my heart that it would be what happened in every family, though sadly I know that is not the case.

• The events this week at the Holacaust Memorial in Washington were frightening and paint a sad picture of the state of a nation; Elizabeth was close enough to those events that they resonated with her and her family.

The first post fills me with hope, the second despair.

12 giugno - Giovanni da San Facondo González de Castrillo

I Blush

If you've scrolled through to the bottom of the blog you may notice that I've been given a new award. My friend JacqueSue, better known as YellowDog Granny felt kindly enough to include me in her list of people she wanted to receive the Bella Award.

YDG and I are a little bit like Donny and Marie - we're almost the same age but she's "a little bit country" and I'm a little bit "rock and roll". Okay that isn't really true she a good bit rock and roll too and I'm a little bit everything leaning heavy on the classical. But the point is that we have become friends - as far apart as we are geographically and as differing as our tastes may be, through this Internet thing we've come to appreciate each other as much for our differences as our similarities.

I look forward to hearing about what's been happening in West, Texas because its so much a part of what makes her special. I've come to know how much Annie means to her and through her posts when she was sick, was concerned and worried along with her. I love it when she writes about her beloved Cowboys - don't understand much about it but then she doesn't get my opera thing. And I know I can be guaranteed a laugh when she posts her "Stumbles." I enjoy her wit, her take on things, her wicked and warped sense of humour and the number of times she can use the word "fuck" in one sentence.

Now apparently there are rules with the Bella Award:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I've accepted the award with pleasure and posted it along with a way to get to over to visit with YDG (be warned that sometimes the posts are not for the faint-hearted or prudish, this is a woman who speaks her mind.)

I'm not going to pass the award along to 15 people - mostly because YDG has taken the links right out of my mouth for a few. But I will add four people - though at the moment the first three are so busy with work, family and homes that they don't necessarily post on a regular basis. The fourth keeps us up to date with happenings in her corner of the North West US and beyond.

So I'm passing it on to four women I have grown to love and care about:

My Darling Dora - the hottest Lady in Red I know.
Cowbell - who's let us in, though not as often as I wish, on the growings and adventures of her brood, the dogs and TOFH!
Elizabeth - an artist in so many ways, though chiefly in living.
Lorraine - our Rainey is the one active wench and here wench is a good word!

Here's to you ladies!

13 maggio - Nostra Signora di Fatima

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

A Flicker of Light

You may have noticed the candle on the right side panel that has been burning the past few days. Though I am a lapsed Anglican-Presbyterian-Anglo-Catholic I have always continued the habit? tradition? practice? superstition? call it what you will, of lighting a candle as a way of asking for a blessing on people I know and care about.

The past few weeks both here in Rome and in Athens, whenever I stop by a church I have been lighting a candle for my friend Elizabeth, KH (her husband), the Things (their 4 children) and the doctors who will be operating on KH today (April 1.) It is not for me to go into details and Elizabeth has explained both the situation and the seriousness of it on her blog.

If you read this and are so inclined I would ask that on Tuesday you remember Elizabeth, KH, the Things and the team of Doctors by lighting a candle, by praying to what ever God you address in prayer, by pausing for a moment or two to think of them or in what ever way you see fit.

Many years ago Father Darby, the Superior of the Cowley Fathers, in response to a rather brashly worded question concerning the lighting of candles - the questioner was a rather rude young man who shall remain nameless - simple said it was a way of bringing attention to our hopes and concerns. And that if nothing else it was a flicker of light that briefly illuminated a dark corner of our world.

1 Aprile - San Ugo

Sharing

There have been quite a few changes going on in my little corner of Blogdom and at least one addition to my list of favorites.

• In an unusual concept three of my favorite bloggers have joined forces with a friend of theirs, who I'm ashamed to say I hadn't visited before, to become East End Boys and West End Girls. Auld Hat (The Voluptury), Cowbell (I Need More Cowbell), Eric (Secrets of the Red7) and Maine Gay have turned blog reading into one-stop-shopping - we'll now be getting four great blogs for the price of one. And Ms Hat's template is innovative and cool.

King David plays his harp before the Lord - bas relief from the organ decorations at San Giovanni in Laterna.

• And the sexiest food photographer I know has, with his buddy Al, done a redesign of his blog. The new look over at Tater is clean and classy and the writing remains amongst the best in blogdom. And those photographs... I want me a big bowl of cherries.

I knew those damned SmartCars needed some sort of power booster.

• And speaking of food, at Around Britain with a Paunch Jonathan has posted a very unusual food fight. As well he and Cowie are cooking up some goodies, visiting some upscale restaurants and on a very serious pancake hunt.

An very Deco spider spins its metal web on a gate near our house.

• Our blogmother Lynette has come briefly out of retirement and posted another one of her powerful pieces. Kayla is not an easy read and if you are like me you will be both heart-broken and enraged.

Towards the Piazza San Pietro from the steps of the Basilica.

• Elizabeth at Love Elizabeth touches on diversity in two posts - one as an observer and the other as one of the observed. And over on her other planet, Ridiculon, she's posted a photo that asks, it seems to me, a reasonable question.

These tombstones lay forgotten by the side of Via Nomentana, our main street. No doubt they are relics from the catacombs that warren the area.

• Buddy Sling recounts an adventure in dining at Applebee's that makes me appreciate that here in Italy being a waiter/waitress is a profession not a inoportune pause on the road to stardom. And earlier in the week he provided us with some real pretty guitar music.

The Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona is being restored. This means using dental equipment to clean delicate surfaces. Sort of like a teeth cleaning only takes a hell of a lot longer.

• It often happens that someone posts a comment and you've never seen them before, so off you going to check out their blog and how it would connect to you and your interests. I'm guessing Gertsamtkunstwerk is, amongst other things, an opera fanatic but the title Mad Musing of Me pretty much says it all. Been enjoying the posts immensely and according to one I'm in the Upper Middle Class. My accountant would be surprised to hear that.

21 febbraio - San Pier Damiani

Sharing

Though things have been a little off kilter here the past week or two doesn't mean I haven't been following my favorite bloggers. Though in many cases I haven't been commenting a great deal - imagine me keeping my mouth shut - I still found so much to enjoy out there.

• The doyenne - so young and she's a doyenne already - of Opera here in Italy if not all of Europe, the beloved Opera Chic has been featured in Classical Singer magazine. Interviewer Amanada White, rightly IMHO, calls her the world's foremost opera blogger.


• My darling Auld Hat is back in full force after a brief sabbatical and is as wise, witty and talented as always.


• Sageweb went on a trip and gets tripped up at Ikea. And then she goes and gives us the cutest damn puppy and puddy picture around. And you all know how I feel about puppy and puddy pics.


• RG has totally ruined The Wizard of Oz for me, I'll never look at getting back to Kansas the same way ever again.

• Once again Tater writes from the heart and reaches our hearts with a memory profile of his beloved Jimmy.


• Lorraine is touched by grace at a time and place she least expected. And in the telling proves that grace can be in the written word.


• And Elizabeth muses on the nature of friendships and the kinship of being an outsider.

And that just a random sampling of what I've been reading from my blog buddies - all of them more than worth a regular visit if they're not on your list already.

These pictures where taken on a back road in the Reiti plain in November. That old dog was very concerned when we separated him from the flock. The shepherd had given us the all clear when there was a break - but that old boy kicked up quite a fuss.

25 gennaio - Conversione di San Paolo

Sharing

Okay just because Christmas is over doesn't mean we still can't share things. And there's lot to share out there:

• Auld Hat has done a major redesign at The Voluptuary where the colours are seductive, the content saucy and the artistry superb.
• Over at Meanwhile Aaron shares another series of his beautiful photos.
  Field Trip: Flushing Part I
  Field Trip: Flushing Part II
  Mystery
• Joe, My God broke the news that our beloved Big Ass Belle is the co-winner for 2007's Post Of The Year for Piano Music. It is a touching and powerful piece that reflects the passion and compassion that is Lynette.
• Elizabeth looks at family as a mother and as a daughter.
• Dr Faustus got a rather decent preposal. And gave the right answer.
• And one place that I don't visit often enough but always dazzles me: Japonisme

And why the Carousel picture? Because I like carousels and I have all these pictures from 2007 that never got posted.

01 gennaio - Maria Madre di Dio