Words are beautiful. Words of love, words of thanks, words of comfort. Pleas, demands, and warnings. Prayers. Blessings. Words unsaid. Like buds and pearls strung together, words connect us. They connect us through time and space. Whether shaped into sounds, gestures or movement these words translate our thoughts and feelings: Communication! When they flow I …
I have always wondered if it would ever happen to me and yesterday it did. Just for a moment, but it did. Yesterday I walked right past the Pantheon without looking at it. Well, almost. Just as I was getting to the other side of the Piazza della Rotonda I realized what was happening and …
It was because of the notebook. It was the notebook in his blazer pocket, really. That’s the reason I followed him. I have a thing for notebooks. My thing is Words & Paper, that’s what I do, that’s who I am. I write. I am never without paper and pencil. I know it’s old-school and …
Roma, 18 aprile 2022 Dear R. ~ It’s been a while since writing you. I’ve been feeling strangely nostalgic these days and have been reflecting on the last two years. It’s not that I miss them, they were hard times and of course I wish they had never come to pass. They were extraordinary times, …
I’ve only been inside once. I keep missing the one hour window that it’s open each day, often by just minutes. It’s only open between 6 – 7 p.m. on weekdays. Other times I arrive during the middle of the Rosary and I’m too embarrassed to join late so I don’t go in. The …
Walk it out, and then write some more. That’s what I am doing on Appia Antica today. I love walking on the ancient Appian Way. Flanked by soaring Umbrella Pines interspersed with eroded Roman ruins it takes only a few steps on the road to fall into a comfortable rhythm. Every so often the sampietrini, …
This morning I went to my new to me neighborhood market. Conveniently, it has a bar right at the entrance so of course I had to test it out before anything. I ordered a macchiato al banco, and while there at the counter I studied my new shopping grounds. The space is smaller than my …
(Continued from last week’s blog post) I miss the Tree. I miss the Crows. I miss the old apartment. I miss having a designated parking spot (posto auto). I miss my old neighborhood. I miss my old newsstand, my local Tigre supermarket, and the bar (coffee shop) we’d go to Saturday mornings after doing our …
I just moved. I’ve moved from Italy to Italy. The new place is in shambles, everything all jumbled, boxes and clothes everywhere, everything spread out covering all surfaces, crammed into corners, suitcases and boxes piled high in every room. It’s been surprisingly really hard, and I feel completely uncentered, like I am in a time …
Roma, 14 febbraio 2021 Dearest Tree, I have been writing this letter to you since day one. Only I’ve not been able to put the words onto page yet because everyday there is something to add to the ever- growing list of that which I am grateful for. The list is as ever-growing as you …