approaching

Spring is approaching, slowly, steadily. A new year of seasons brings on a host of memories for me. This time in the budding of a cherry tree. In 2005, I was able to go to Washington DC’s cherry blossom festival while my friend Shelby lived there. It was a gorgeous time in my life. And that year, that moment was significant of so much change in me. All of the lacy pink, which seems against my normal fancy, and the blue skies and the white of Washington, contrasted with the dark, dark bark of the tree itself; for me it was a portent of life to be. Shortly afterwards I was awarded the job as a librarian here. The world of remove opened up. Security in isolation, thoughts allowed their freedom, only my actions to worry about.

And now, here still, in a slightly different role.

Naturally, the tree behind my bedroom turns out to be a cherry tree. It keeps trying to tell me something. Every petal a new message. The green, gray, white, bark, pink of here is saying “things will not always be”. It seems to be an ominous message at first reading, but probably because it’s unknown. If I find out what the world is saying or what the nature of this tale is, I’ll let you know.

The other 70%

If you are a headline scanner like me, this one may have slipped by without you paying too much attention. So, I thought I’d bring it out into the light. A multi-media New York Times article with graphics on the state of our oceans and a slide-show of the threatened marine species. Lots of this we already know, but I was a bit shocked by some of the information in the graph.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/science/earth/26coas.html?ex= 

And no, I’m not trying to scare you any more than you already should be, I just think it’s good to stay informed and not let it out of the universal conscious.

As an interesting footnote, I spoke with one of my Canadian friends who is also an environmental engineer and he claims (as a Canadian mind you) that Kanooks (per capita) consume more energy than Americans. Can you believe those northern neighbors? Jeez, no respect. But then, their population of

33,390,141

compared to our population of

301,139,947

well, I guess we can’t start placing too much blame on them yet.

la la la

Bright and sunny today. Feels like Spring may actually be not too far off. I’ve had serious sleep deprivation the past few days due to coffee, night energy, or the incredible exhaustion that keeps you up for spite. Actually forgot an appointment with a friend because I was convinced it was Thursday and not Friday. In other words, my head is in the clouds and wanting sleep.

(Oh, and I’ve discovered the world of playing scrabble on facebook. Immediately addicted. So sad. But please play a game with me and feed the beast.)

However, yesterday evening finally deep good old-fashioned REM state was achieved. And woke to this lovely day. A day off at that.

Really hating that for the 3rd year in a row, I didn’t spend Oscar Sunday on the phone with either Lori or Shelby in what amounts to us geeking out for a day over the hoopla. How did it go girls? Did you miss me? (Shelby, did you actually get to watch it or were you still moving?) And the witty and lovely Jon Stewart, how was he?  I need to know, help me out!

Pratolino

I found a place, with some help, at the end of the 25. There was the sun lulling a fake warmth on top of those hills. Proud little community with their trails and woodsy paths and abandoned Tb facilities. Somewhere, my shadow appeared and it was bending like a breezy tree. Must be the effect of the thinner air. Whatever it is, my fingers became branches and there was my little-girl-self wanting to play. Odd to see her again at age 37. Hardly recognized her. But the impulse is the same. Joyful knowledge of the still and the moving. Putting time away for awhile.

this one goes out to the ones I love

According to Wikipedia, in Finland, Valentine’s Day instead of being solely for romantic love actually translates into something like “Friend’s Day”. I like this. Valentine’s has always been a mixed bag of tricks for me. As a truly single living in Atlanta, it was more about forgetting (through copious amounts of alcohol) the Hallmark spin on love. When I was part of a long relationship, it was the day we celebrated as our “anniversary” and now as a constantly morphing single in love, well, who knows how to express it. So a Friend’s Day, well, I think today I’ll claim Finnish heritage.

In spite of the fact I’ve known and experienced great loves (and still do) the consistent steady beat of friendship is what makes my heart race because I have the best friends. Eclectic, fun, intelligent, inspiring and most of all trusted. I honestly love my friends. And though I also have great parents and family, I lucked into them. So today I want to send all of my love to my lovelies; the ones who are not blood bound to tolerate me, the ones who always pick up the phone and the ones that never hesitate to laugh or cry or debate or celebrate with me. Thank you thank you thank you. I love you all.

HAPPY TRUE LOVE DAY!

(un bacione)

lightness of being

Winter offers us little, but when you have a day that is so bright and blue, a day that brings on the screaming yellow of mimosa in bloom — well, you begin to think about the nature of withdrawal and the benefits of gray and bleak. Without endless days of rain and cloud and nature hate, a day like this may go unnoticed. But I can’t help but rejoice after my walk home between jobs. Everything is cold, crisp and clear and the sun opens up all the shadow of before. In this moment, a glass house would be perfect, letting everything spill in.

Which is to say, it’s a beautiful day and I’m happy for the impact.

Supposed to be reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being. But my windows and balcony keep pulling me out of doors. Maybe tonight after nightfall and classes end.

WendyMendy

Mendy came breezing through here last week. We really had a great time. She was fortunate enough to be able to stay longer, so the whole pace of her visit was “take it easy”, much better than “let’s go”. Honestly, I hope she wasn’t bored. I got her hooked on Weeds and we both caught up with LOST. Lots of laughing and talking and staying up too late. We did manage to leave Florence for a beautiful day in Lucca. Lucca, with its walls and alley ways and tasty lasagna ai funghi. I love discovering new places, and especially new dishes. Naturally I did take pictures, but hers are much better. Eventually I’ll get them all organized and on Picasa.

But, as it always happens, people come and people go. I guess that would be true no matter where I live. Luckily I worked the day she left, so wasn’t able to feel too glum about it. Of course now I have a ton of catching up to do. Here on the blog, cleaning the apartment, preparing for classes and resting for my work week. It was a fantastic visit of a great friend. Check out her blog for pictures and a clearer description of what all we did.

My Birthday (or Trieste, part 2)

What can I say?

I had pure fun, coffee, food, a castle, nature, architecture, and once more, an experience. In Trieste, fascism meets Roman ruins meets neo-gothic. I love a good blend. Thus the tons of pictures of buildings. Not to mention my play by play of the birthday dinner at Tommaso’s cafe. Birthdays are tasty in so many ways. But, to revert back to my childhood self, silence is golden and this time I’ll let the pictures say what they will.

Trieste pt. 2