Ennui
An older friend said to me, “I’m just trying to avoid ennui” and I thought ‘whatever does he mean"
until I slid into my 60’s, after awhile it began to loiter about
The last gasp of cities
Could say Rome, but this would be a lie. Can no longer walk down from my apartment during ferragosto and hear the silence - for there is silence no longer in Trastevere- the heart of Rome
Now, you must pay and wait before you walk into the Pantheon and dwell on Raphael and the Renaissance
and, they tell me the Romans have made an exodus, Airbnb all over…every time I go I say no no no and know but on my last trip, in April, they are right…..such is state of the eternal city
Perhaps Venice is the one city that remains….La Serenissima
Ennui, yes, that is the right word. To suffer from it, feeling stagnate, listless, then move out, and find our bliss. For many, including me it is writing and letting those thoughts and feelings sing in each sentence. For when they don’t; ennui.
Italians are attached to their land, especially Anna
Anna’s from Piemonte, a northern Italian living in the the province of Asti, nestled up against the Italian, Swiss and French Alps.
I spent 7 years in Piemonte and Anna’s spent a lifetime learning everything there is to know about herbs and their healing powers. She continues her lessons and offers monthly hikes, now famous, in a town called Olmo Gentile. People come with their own knowledge, handed down by nonna but continue to learn and gather herbs as precious as jewels as we place them in our paper bags.
I interviewed her for my book, “Personal Legends of Piemonte”. Readers often say she is their favorite interview.
Italians are often attached to their land, especially the Piemontesi, in particular; Anna Fila Robbatino.
Road Trips through Transylvania, Tranfagarasan and Transalpina.
Reading to you from ‘A European Oydssey’ on youtube.
Who is your muse
Maybe it’s your life, or your experiences. Oscar Wilde said experience is the name we give to our mistakes. And they do inspire to create meaningful work, and find our bliss. Yes?
Who am I?
A short story writer. Capturing the last gasp of a continent that is changing fast in a book called, “A European Odyssey; how a boxer’s daughter found grace”
We sailed from Seattle, to Vancouver, then drove and flew across Canada and set sail from the port of Halifax to Gibralter in 2002
Then arrived in Rome where the odyssey began, lasting 20 years before finding a home. But the book reads like an airport novel.
Who am I?
A short story writer. Capturing the last gasp of a continent that is changing fast in a book called, “A European Odyssey; how a boxer’s daughter found grace”
We sailed from Seattle, to Vancouver, then drove and flew across Canada and set sail from the port of Halifax to Gibralter in 2002
The odyssey began in Rome and lasted 20 years but the book reads like an airport novel.
Emotions move at their pace
You never know when you might need it. I couldn’t have written my books unless I had written it down at that moment, no matter how mundane the event appeared at the time. After all, emotions move at their own pace.
“See enough. and write it down, i tell myself. And then some morning, when the world seems drained of wonder, some day when I’m going through the motions of doing what i am supposed to do, which is write. On that bankrupt morning, I will simply open my notebook and there it will all be, a forgotten account with accumulated interest. Paid passage back to the world out there. It all come back. Remember what it is to be me. That is always the point.” - Joan didion.
Waiting for Godot
We named him Godot because sometimes you have to wait
and know when you’ve arrived
This strangely happy entity
Gore Vidal spent half his life in Italy and called it ‘this strangely happy entity’. Don’t know how they do it, but they still are….some say it’s all about ‘nonna’.
Could be, most days I hear someone talking about their grandmother, in the street, the market, my house - she is still protected, she must not be cold in winter, left alone, but held dear, in spirit; above all else.
Maybe this is how Italy does it….
