So Where Is That Damned Muse?

I sat awaiting for my Muse
To descend from heaven.
I first sat down at two-fifteen
And now it's well past seven!

For some reason that little piece of doggerel I wrote for the school year book back in 19 some years ago has been running through my mind the past few days.  It may well be in response to messages from my friend David  at I'll Think of Something Later, a comment made by Spo when he was here in the summer or the rebirth of several blogs written by old friends from earlier blogger days.  

So why haven't I written anything on the blog in the past five months?  What's my excuse?

Lack of subject matter?  

Well life may not be as exciting as it was in those far off days of our days in Rome but no.  Since April there have been several visits to Toronto that included two remarkable productions at Soulpepper, the Canadian Museum of Inuit Art and Casa Loma; the opportunity in July to show Spo and Harper's Keeper the sights of Ottawa (many of which I have never bothered to visit before); a bucolic week in August to Prince Edward Island filled with music, glorious vistas and seafood; and coming up a cruise down the St Lawrence River into the Gulf and on to St. Pierre-Miquilon.

Lack of posts?

I just checked and I have 75 drafts of various lengths, sorts and subject matter.  Some go back so far I can't even remember why I started to write them.

Lack of visuals?  

Good lord no - I have enough photos and videos on the trusty iPhone to fill several albums.  And there is at least one music video that I have yet to publish.

Lack of time?

Well when you work five days a week and your primary job is writing it is a bit of a chore to then sit down at home and start typing.  But I'm able to write rants and short pithy comments on Facebook so wherein doth lie the problem?  And I won't even count the hours spend surfing the web for all manner of things - good and bad.  And I'm now amongst the unemployed/retired I have more than enough time to sit down and write ad nauseam

So what's the answer?

What was the question?  Oh yes, why have I not written a blog entry in the past five months? Well I'm going for the Muse thing.  And no it's not what's suggested in the slideshow by that last image by Edward Gafford.   She/He/It just hasn't motivated me strongly enough to take idea from brain to fingers to keyboard.  However as appears to be happening with Cowbell, Auld Hat and Yellowdog Granny I can feel the old urge coming back - oh grow up I don't mean that!!!.

Having said all that I starting to look at old drafts to see if any of them are still relevant and looking at new ideas particularly with the upcoming trip.  We shall see how this all turns out.

September 5 - 1840: Premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Un giorno di regno at La Scala of Milan.

Aprile's Plate

Since last June I have included a ceramic plate commemorating the month on the sidebar. I found these rather endearing creatures in the breakfast room of Maso Wallenburg the B&B we stayed at on the outskirts of Trento last May. My dear friend Walter was, as always, observant and commented that I didn't have a plate for the month of Aprile posted. He figured that the little man with the short pants who had gone up the ladder in Marzo would come down it this month.

Unfortunately I don't know if he ever did or not. For some reason when I was taking pictures of this series of happy (?) peasants at work and play, I neglected April. It must have been all the mountain air, good food and great wine.So until I continue the series in May I thought I'd make do with this rather fun ceramic plate from a shop in Spoletto. The various combinations of Venus, satyrs, chubby cherubs, flamingos (?) and Leda with that damned Swan certainly suggest spring-like festivities if not activities. Not that I am suggesting that April is the month for a Bacchanal - an amphora of nectar or a goatskin of wine anyone?

02 aprile - San Francesco di Paola