Darling companion....

Though I have not slept enough in days

and I am irritable and can be cranky too,

& even though I get bugs up my bum & have to do things right away & only my way sometimes just because maybe I'm cranky again or restless or something...

Maybe it's because I smile and laugh and always like the good fun & maybe because no matter what I always love,

Maybe that's why I don't only get a flower (which always cheers me up) but all the flowers. So I guess I should just take the chill pill and cheer up gigantic and go to bed.

The End

a slice of polenta in Torino

The story goes something like this...

An architect made a bet that he could construct a three story building on an oddly shaped (triangular) and tiny piece of property. So- from the front it looks like a very small row house. From the side it looks like an average, typical building. BUT! From behind you see that the top floor is only a facade!

It is now an attraction for those in the know in Torino.

I think it's called something like; A Slice of Polenta.

*********************************************************************************

the year of the butterfly

my lost breath

the tears of angels

into swamps, into bogs

yes, i have drowned that way before

and been forgiven

come to life again

the better

for it has been accepted

that the horns we grow

as easily can turn to wings

the things we harness

can be released again...

your small fingers

how they've grown

and what they hold

impact me more than even springtime

with its promise

with its bounty

with the oldest truth

whispered in its winds...

rocks & stones & artifacts

Rocks & stones and artifacts...

I once heard that rock carries the history of the place of it's origin. That if you want to retain a taste of the spirit of a place it can be contained in a grain of stone as small as sand.

I've always loved rocks. To the extent that when visiting a new place I sometimes need to be reminded to look up! To the extent that when coming home from a new place or even from a walk around the corner, I frequently carry home added pounds inside my bags and pockets...

This trip provided me with a windfall of very small heart shaped stones (my very favorite. the triple win. the grand prize...) from a pebble beach in Cecina. Also the smooth black variety with perfect white lines circling them (another favorite. a Native American good luck signal) from Sardegna. A large red rock brought up from the sea by a friend who took us out on his boat one gorgeous sunny afternoon and although not exactly rock, a small shard of a ceramic drain pipe from Pompeii. Baked earth from a time and place that sings to me as if we were connected somehow...

I mostly don't remember exactly where all my rocks were found. I have quarts crystals from Russia and Culebra, smooth grey stones from Scotland, obsidian blobs and arrowheads from all around New mexico, rocks from the east coast and the west coast and from every trip I've ever taken...

And then there are the seashells and the parts of larger things. The triangular relic from when the wall was taken down in Germany that my father gave me, very small but with evidence of graffiti on it. The pottery shards I found in the back yard when I was little, playing in the mountains...

I write this because last night I had a dream that I was having a necklace made with all the favorite pieces of the collection. I was trying to design something realistic in terms of weight and size etc. I don't remember how it turned out but I remember vividly that I was covering myself with all the rocks to see how the necklace would look and feel and that it seemed very magical.

Dreams...

sensory italy (some thoughts)

courmayeur is silver grey and silver blue like clouds and snow and ice cold water. peidmont is all deep purple golden green and tastes like barbera, nebbiolo. liguria is green, a dish of pesto on delicious testeroli. sardegna is the taste of salt the aqua water and the ancient tongue. & then there's down south. naples is red, dark red, sundried tomato paste black red loud hot, in motion.

when i close my eyes i can see,taste, smell and hear it all again.