Napoli

My friend told me today that some author has said that Napoli is like a beautiful woman with stinky feet.

Until this trip, I knew only about the stinky feet. The poverty and crime of this city are well known throughout Italy. Right now the city is literally stinky because for over two years the Camorra, the local Mafia, have made it such that the garbage services do not function for the city. It's crazy.

But today I got to see the beautiful woman.

We drove around much of the bay. You can see Vesuvius, Sorrento, Capri, Ischia, and of course the blue sea all around. I did not realize how much of Napoli is surrounded by water.

We went to Pozzuoli (Puteoli), which is the port that the apostle Paul sailed into when he spent a week with the church here before going on to Rome.

We went by an old Roman amphitheater (closed), and a site where they found tons of ruins under the city built on top of them. They have closed that part off and opened the underground part. Unfortunately it was closed today, too! But still neat to see the buildings built atop the ruins and imagine what was below.

We went to the castle of Baia, built just three years after Columbus sailed the ocean blue. It houses some ancient ruins. Part of a temple was found underwater in the 50s and has been/is being excavated and preserved in this castle. Part of the bay is clearly marked off by red buoys, indicating where the remaining ruins are, and they continue to bring things up from the water.

Our last stop was Cuma, said to be the oldest European city. I loved it. It's up high, with lots of trees, and just fascinating to see all the ruins.

In all these places I was mostly talking with my friend Jennifer, not concentrating on learning dates and history, so I'm not even trying to tell you that much about the places.

What an interesting day, though, to look at statues and mosaics made before Christ was born, then to sit in the sun in a 4th century baptistery out in the open and talk and pray with Jennifer....and then to buy a popsicle on the way out! And it was so funny. I told the man I wanted strawberry. "Va bene." (Okay.) Jennifer asked if they had cherry. "Si, tanto sono lo stesso." (Yes, they're the same.)

They were selling red popsicles whether you asked for strawberry or cherry! They're both red, right? This is Napoli.

Tonight we're going to watch the boys place soccer, and tomorrow I think we're going to try to get to the amphitheater, which is supposed to be open, according to the sign we saw.

This being Napoli, though, there's no telling.

But with the blue sea, the islands all around, the wildflowers everywhere (truly wild, they seem to have no highway maintenance here), the maritime pines (which inspired Respighi's Pines of Rome), and the blue sky today, she is a beautiful woman.

Bella Italia

To any who might be reading, I probably won't be putting photos up very often unless I come across someone who can help me with the technology.

But I did make it to Italy without problem. I spent a night in a Ramada Hotel near Oleggio, west of Milano. To keep myself awake that afternoon I walked into town, up to the cathedral, and back (of course), walking for almost two hours. En route I saw some cows, got barked at by dogs, heard roosters crowing, saw two rather large, classical rats....even the rats in italy are nicer than rats I've seen anywhere else!

It was wonderful to be out in the country like that, after all those hours on planes and in airports.

I did love that the Munich airport had a "Room for silence and peace" or something like that. It was an interfaith chapel and provided a welcome break from the sterility and noise of the airport.

I spent a couple of nights with friends in Milano. The little apartment I stayed in, right in the middle of the city, had a view out the balcony to the "hippodrome" area. So even though I was surrounded by apartment buildings and the terrible traffic of Milano, I could look out and see horses galloping across the way, in a large expanse of grass and trees. Quite an unexpected treat.

The women's retreat, held up in the hills of Velletri, near Rome, went very well. I never know for sure how my Italian will come back to me. It has been seventeen years since I lived here!! But it just kind of came right back, and I spoke for four different sessions, and only one Croatian word escaped in the whole three days. :-) So I was very thankful for that. I don't know why my brain retains languages so well, but I think it has to do with the close connection between music and language. So even though i don't speak or hear Italian very often, I do sing and play a lot of music, and I figure that must make a difference.

Today I arrived at the home of dear friends in Napoli. We may go to see Pompei while I am here, but my main reason for coming is to be with my friends, and just this one evening has already been such a blessing. Amazing how friendships can span time and distance, and souls can remain united throughout all of it.

Italy is just as beautiful as I remembered it, the gelato is even better than I remembered, and it was wonderful to have a real cappuccino the other day!

Arrivederci!

Happy Trails

I just love this picture of Prince Charming and Catherine the Great walking together in the snow. You wouldn't guess from the harmony this image conjures up, that only moments before he was shaking snow from the branches onto her head, and that in the parking lot they were after each other with snowballs.

(They are, of course, Drazen and Catie Grace, our friend who spent the night with us the night of the Great Snowfall.)

Muchos Too Muchos to Do-os

So many things I'd like to write about, and several photos I'd like to share!

But I am planning a trip to Europe, preparing for retreats that I'll be leading there, tying up loose ends over here so that I can leave without nagging worries, and of course working and keeping house as usual. Oh, and trying to visit with as many friends as possible before not seeing them for six weeks.

I feel a bit like this, hopping around in circles, not sure which way to go next:

And yes, by the way, that is snow. And that is my front porch. Memphis actually got snow. Snow that accumulated and stuck! Snow that covered everything and made it beautiful. Snow that children could make snowmen from. Snow that stuck well for snowball fights.

It was March 7, after a winter with not one snowfall. After quinces and daffodils and magnolias and forsythia had bloomed.

I even took a break, because our young friend Catie Grace was overdue for a birthday spend-the-night-with-Uncle-Drazen-and-Aunt-Sheila gift. So we got out and enjoyed the snow, and for a night and a morning, I did not feel "snowed under."

In fact, I slept so well that night, I was the first one up. (Actually, that's not unusual.) So I got out and took some pictures. I think I had the camera on "dusk/dawn" setting, because it was dawn. I guess that's why they are blue. But I kind of like it.

Here you can see the east-facing houses across the street catching the first light of sunrise.


I don't know when I'll blog again. In a way it feels like a distraction from the things I ought to be doing. But it is also a welcome break. So we'll see.

Arrivederci.

Cousins

This past weekend I attended a professional conference in Nashville. It is always a great conference, but my favorite part is getting to spend time with my cousins who live in the Nashville area.

I may be biased, but I think my little second cousins are terribly cute.

Wonderfully sweet.

And smart and well-behaved.

And of course this is due to their being the children of my first cousin, who looked an awfully lot like her younger daughter (top photo) when she was about that age! And is sweet and smart, and was always well-behaved.

It's wonderful to have extended family. Even though we don't see each other nearly as often as we did when we were the young ones, it's a lovely thing to call somewhat up and know you'll be welcome to stay, even if they are in the midst of building a new garage, moving furniture, and one of them teething.

As it worked out, I was able to help out a bit by giving some pointers on how to use a metronome to the older girl, and watching the two littlest while all the moving was going on, so I hope that made up for the extra sheets that had to be washed the next day.

When I count my blessings, I count cousins.

(With apologies to the older son; I didn't get a picture of him, what with the moving and all going on once he came home.)

Another Night Scene

About three weeks ago, tornadoes were all around us here in Memphis.

Our part of town escaped, but for a while, more than once, it looked like one was heading our way. I was home by myself and had the TV on so that I could call Drazen, who was still at work, when the radar said the coast was clear for him to come home.

I've written before on this blog about how I love storms. I do take cover when appropriate, but in the in-between times, I'm out on the porch, soaking in the wind and wonder and the amazing reminder that we are not as "in control" of our lives as we like to think we are.

So, since some of you liked my moon photos, here's a shot looking the other direction, taken during some of the worst of the storm. In an in-between moment, of course. Though soon after I went out on the porch, a new warning system which I assume is on the university campus not far from our street, began saying, "This is a tornado warning. Take cover. Take cover. This is a tornado warning. Take cover. Take cover."

So I did.

To appreciate this photo, you have to click on it and enlarge it. It's darker than it seemed to me at the time, but perhaps that just adds to the mood. And I didn't realize my lens was getting wet, but that adds kind of a neat effect, too.

Guarda la Luna

A friend let me know about the lunar eclipse anticipated tonight. That's a true friend, isn't it, who knows you well enough to realize you'd want to know about it, and is thoughtful enough to send the email?

So, I went outside eagerly to our driveway, which I knew would be a good place for viewing.

And this is what I saw. Except it wasn't so blurry. Clouds as far as the eye could see.

It was a bit of a disappointment, yes.

But it just made me all the gladder that I had noticed the moon the night before when it looked like this. Of course, it wasn't actually blurry, either. (For anyone who knows, is it acceptable to say "all the gladder"? Never thought of it before, but that's what came out.)

I am very much a moon gazer. It occurs to me that perhaps that is why the disc in my neck ruptured....all those years of looking up? If so, then it was worth it.

I'm always writing little poems about the moon in my mind, and one has even made it onto paper, though it's not finished. Maybe someday. That moon just prompts so many thoughts, it's hard to get it in words.

But my pictures, like my poems, don't do justice, either!

Which is fine. I don't feel a need to define or describe or capture Sister Moon, as long as I can see her now and then.

Still Here, Sort Of

How's this for a Valentine's picture? It should make anyone feel that their life is romantic, or has that potential, compared to mine! Ha.

I have no idea how this photo turned out this way, but I use it here to represent how I felt a good bit of the time between the last time I blogged and today. I was rather stressed from some work situations, then became quite sick with the flu, and then have felt a bit overwhelmed with the aftermath of all the work missed.

Thus, the weird photo.

But my health and my life seem about ready to return to normal. Yea!

So I'll be back when I have more to say!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sretan Rodendan!

Da bismo mogli, bismo ti poklonili cokoladu....

i cvjece.....

Svi ti zelimo lijepi dan....Paolo....

i Tosca (iako je ona malo umorna).....

Sheila......

i Drazen......

Mislimo cesto na tebe i jedva cekamo da dodemo tamo i da budemo opet skupa,

da vidimo tvoje cvjece!

Ti si najbolja mama i svekrva, i volimo te od srca.

A iako mu nije rodendan, isto tako volimo i Tatu!

To my non-Croatian readers, January 25 is Drazen's mom's birthday. We decided to send a non-traditional birthday greeting this time. Our neighbors will be inviting her over "to show you something," and will then show her this blogpost.

In case you didn't figure it out, those are pictures of their garden, and them in it.

She is truly an amazing woman that we love very much. Happy Birthday, Mama!

Slow Goodbyes

Anyone who has read my blog for any length of time, or who knows me personally, knows that my grandmother is a very important person in my life and that she left this world a few years ago. In fact, it will be five years this Thursday, on the 17th.

I wasn't thinking of that date when I took these photos. They have to do with a New Year's resolve to get my office in better order.

The flowers came from Grandmother's yard. I think some I picked the spring after her death, and some the following spring. I wanted to remember the things she had planted in her yard.

Well, they have lived, so to speak, on my prayer desk all this time. I had them laid out on a piece of white paper, and even though they dried out and got dusty, I never felt the desire to get rid of them. I like the direct connection they provided to a woman who was out in her yard daily, who knew the name of every plant in it, who knew how to take care of each one and did just that.

But last week I decided it was time to say good-bye. My little desk (which she gave me) just had too many things. It did not feel peaceful; it felt cluttered and was nearly impossible to dust. So I said good-bye. And of course I did it my way, taking pictures and reminiscing and being thankful. And I think there were a few tears, too.

And by the time I finished, I realized I still didn't want to throw them away. So I put them in a box and in the drawer with other things related to her.

I think eventually I will take them to Croatia and put them in the soil there, when I have my own garden and can plant some of these things there. (We don't have enough sunlight here for most of them.)

So, here is a (very small) sample of Grandmother's garden . . . .

Daffodils that grew between her yard and the next-door neighbors' . . .

Tiny white roses from the south side of the house . . . .

Closer to the daffodils . . . .

A peony that was once pink, also from the south side of the house . . . .

Tiny sweetheart roses, from the cutting garden out the back door . . . . The top photo is their petals, some still pink after all this time . . . .

And lavender, from the border along the cedar fence, near the garage . . . .

I wish everyone had flowers from the gardens of their loved ones. I wish everyone had people in their lives who loved them so much and gave them so much to remember, to respect, to reach for.

I wish I could give that to the people I know who can't let go of the people they've lost because there is so much unresolved pain and hurt in the relationship. We call it "complicated grief," and it is very hard for people to work through.

I'm thankful for my fairly simple grief and for the flowers that have helped me through it over the years.

And, I must be honest, I am thankful that they are off my desk and no longer gathering dust! Grandmother wouldn't have liked that one bit!