Know how to see

May we all feel like we are seen and may we all see clearly. 

 

When I get low...

On Sunday before the start of our lockdown a woman in the store had a rant after realizing that I was a foreigner. Nothing too terrible or incredibly personal, just general frustration spilling out.  It is  understandable - people are stressed these days. I understood where she was coming from but it did weighted on my mind. The memory was sitting there like a little needle, and spoiling the otherwise nice day. Until!  Until I listened to  Hot Sardines and their wonderful rendition of "When I get low, I get high." And so it is, a new version of tried and true "Accentuate the positive" was born, with a delightful double entendre if you wish....

 

Another March, Another Lockdown

Exactly one year ago almost to the day Rome entered its first lockdown, and from today we are in our second one. By now it is painfully obvious that everyone should have a lockdown kit - something that brings comfort and joy. Mine - is below:

• Silk lounge pants for a touch of luxury;
• Simple bangles for soothing sounds;
• A purple ring to remind me to keep my spirit up. 

 

Apples and Kisses

 There is a common proverb, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", which in Italian will sound exactly the same, "Una mela al giorno leva il medico di torno" But, leave it to passionate Italians to come up with "Un bacio al giorno toglie il dentisto di torno" ("A kiss a day keeps the dentist away."

 Do you know that there is a Moon Bunny? He lives on the Moon, hence the name, and helps Chang'e, the Moon Goddess, to brew the elixir of Immortality. It is quite a story, the myth of the Moon Goddess! It has everything - love, deception, greed, addiction, punishment, and it is told remarkably well here Chang'e

The  Moon Bunny officially  is referred to as  Moon Rabbit. The problem is that when I say Moon Rabbit, I think about White Rabbit, which leads me to Alice in Wonderland, and in turn to Jefferson Airplane, and creativity in general, and then it stops being about the Full Moon, and morphs into everything else.

Say hi to the Moon Bunny, after all it is  the Full Moon  today. 

Little imperfections..

The clover in the courtyard of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere has little brown spots on each leaf. One can see the early signs of decay or an unusual pattern. May all of us "live in clover" 

 

Timeless Images

 Rome is one of the cities where the art of centuries ago surrounds you, one just simply exists with it day in and day out. It can be a sign on the wall, showing the level of a flood,  a statue around the corner, that you come upon to without looking for it,  a small water spout for which you will be grateful in the summer heat. And of course there are paintings...

 I marvel how timeless some of the images are - you look at the face of a woman that lived 200 years ago and notice that the way she  arranged her hair is the way that numerous women wear it now, including myself. Serene gaze is harder to come by, but this is just the trapping of the modern living.

Rafael, Head of a Muse, 1510-1511

Raffaello, Testa di Musa

A gift from beyond

There was a string of sad news in the past few weeks. Two of my good acquaintances lost people dear to them, my very good friend lost her mother and is awashed with grief and guilt of not spending enough time with her, listening to her , talking to her. I remember those intense feelings of regret when my mom passed away - intensified by realization that so many questions were left unanswered. Often when we finally are wise enough to know what questions to ask, the people who can answer them are already gone. All that left are our memories and our interpretations of the events.

My mother, like the mother of my friend, passed away close to my birthday. For several years after that I couldn't master enough joy  to celebrate it. With time I came to  think that there is a beautiful symmetry in such close proximity of those events - through our birth we are forever tied to our parents, and thus when we are loosing them close to our special day, it serves as a reminder to celebrate and thank them for our existence.

Somewhere during these weeks an interesting event occur. I was sitting with my Tarot  cards creating stories, looking for inspiration when my husband came in. "Oh you and your tarots", he said.  He  paused for a moment and then added with a hint of surprise, "You know I think I have an ancient Tarot deck in my boxes. It was given to me by my grandmother when she was still alive. Not sure why I kept it for all that time." He went into his office to check and shortly returned with an old Rider Waite  deck wrapped in a silk scarf.

So, here it is - an unexpected gift from beyond - from Grandma Johnson through my husband, who is very suspect of all  things New Agey - to me.

First of July - the day of internal turmoil.

The first of July is turning to be one of those multilayered days filled with the range of emotions. Let's see, shall we?

• It is my son's 20st birthday, which brings on the pride, the joy of seeing a young adult he became, and the nostalgia for the precious times when he (and his older brother for that  matter) were unguarded and easy going. It is also the birthday of my mother-in-law, hm.
• On that day one year ago we left the Bahamas -  the land of sunshine, sea, and good friends -   after living there for three years. (The FB was very kind to remind me of this.)
• It became the day that I got the news that I didn't get a job that I applied for - enter self-doubts and visions of my living under the bridge somewhere. The encounter with the local homeless lady who tend to go up and down Via Della Scrofa talking to herself didn't help either - she got to that stage, somehow, isn't she?

It isn't even noon!

On the bright side - magnolia is in full bloom.

New Moon and Summer Solstice

The New Moon is nowhere to be found in the sky,

It is preparing to get out of the darkness

And be filled with light

The Summer Solstice marked

The longest day of the year

But the night is getting ready to reclaim its rights.

Both days started the New Cycle.