I read this poem by Daniel Tobin in a recent issue of Poetry. Talk about economy of words. Wow. Speaks volumes, I think. The brilliance …
Two Days from Summer…Spring!
It’s finally warm enough today to have the front door and windows open, the fresh air rushing blissfully in. The cats are outside lazing in sun and stalking arrogant, taunting squirrels. …
What Constitutes a Good Day…
Today I made a conscious effort to change some of how I do things rather than fixate on what I do and be all crabby about not doing enough, being disciplined, etc. (my usual state). I tried to focus my morning journal pages …
The City of Barack
Apparently 75,000 people assembled somehow, someway on the banks of the Willamette River earlier today to hear Barack Obama speak for half-an-hour. Lines wound around downtown corners, landmarks, blocks—
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Home Sweet Home
We’re back and I’m glad. To an overgrown garden, just-blooming rhododendrons, bleeding hearts and ferns along the grass out front, and jet lag to beat the band, of course. I seem to get four or five caffeine-fueled waking hours with some clarity of mind
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No More Pigeon Food in St. Mark’s…
That’s the big, no huge, no even bigger news today. The pigeon food vendors (1 euro a pop) moved all their carts into a picket …
The Loveliest Time of Day
Right now, 4:30 pm on Saturday afternoon, the sun on the surface of the water of Rio San Barnaba, the canal outside of our apartment, …
Wing and the Wheel
A pigeon just flew past our open living room window. Earlier today I saw one emerge from the front door of a cafe along a narrow calle behind the swank Grand Canal hotels. Friday must be changing-of-the-tourist-guard at Ca’ Rezzonico…
Slow Travel, Slow Time…
Today was a slow, living-in-the-neighborhood day. John hiked through San Polo and Santa Croce up to the Rialto markets this morning to find fish and veal (which I’ve never yet had) for dinners for the next few days.
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Travel Diary: The Rain Returns to Venice
Dateline April 2008—It’s a lazy, cloudy, rainy Tuesday here in Venice. A black skiff painted with the faces of Disney’s Seven Dwarves just sped along the Rio San Barnaba canal below our apartment windows. It sets a person wondering—what is that about?…
