Some Things That Happened in June

New plants on the balcony with clouds sitting on them.

Lunch with good friends to celebrate a birthday.

A new tablecloth with colors of the Italian countryside to brighten the balcony.

A new (to us) view of Cittá Sant'Angelo, our fair city

A new home for the bougainvillea so it can eventually tumble over the railing

New scents mingling on our balcony from new placement of jasmine, lavender and rosemary in proximity

Herbs and hot peppers thriving on the other end of the balcony. The basil is post- harvesting of two huge batches for pesto.

An old olive tree with new trim for its leaves located not far from our house.

Discovering new places with an old friend in Luxembourg Gardens, Paris.

Post- pruning magnificence of the coleus and its myriad colors.

New blooms on the plant who loves the light if not the sun and lives indoors next to the french doors.

I'm marveling at and enjoying the abundance of summer in my little corner of the world. How about you?

Home from Paris

The delights of Paris this trip:

Time with long- term friends, including time to talk about our contribution as elders. We're chatting and laughing at the amusing directions being given by the friend of the woman talking the photo for us.

Roses in bloom everywhere to make Paris even more gorgeous.

Special treats that we savored to mark the sweetness of the occasion.

A Vivaldi concert in a beautiful church with amazing acoustics. It brought my friend to tears.

Two art exhibits (Chagal and Boudin) in separate and lovely venues.

This is the reason I wanted to live in Italy- the opportunity to go to places where I and my friends want to visit. The combination of beauty, history, music and art fills me up and grows me as an elder by expanding my world view and awareness. To share all this with friends since the 80's who can check in at deeper levels, is rare and altogether satisfying.

Travel to Paris

I head to Paris today to spend five days with my friend, Annee, and a friend we worked with in California who's also visiting. It will be a time to catch up with friends, share stories of our past, see more of Paris and even have a romantic rendezvous with my Honey, who's there teaching a program this week. Getting to do this is another one of the perks of living in Italy for these four years and adds to a long list of things for which I'm grateful. Travel to the rest of Europe is easy and since I didn't travel in Europe as a young woman, I enjoy doing it now. A lot. And Paris? How can I not love Paris?

(taken in Notre Dame Cathedral on my last trip to Paris)

The Luxembourg Gardens

The Luxembourg Gardens in Paris proved delightful on one of my days in Paris. It's the second largest park in Paris and, on a sunny summer day, it was crowded with people of all ages luxuriating in this gorgeous outdoor space. I thought I would take a walk in a nice park but ended up spending all day in this unique and wonderful place.

The original palace is still there setting the stage. It now houses the French Senate and this is their garden that they generously share with the public.

The pond and fountain in front.

Flowers are everywhere, every color imaginable and bordering all the lawns.

One of the things that impressed me were the amazing statues and sculptures in lovely settings all through the gardens. Benches and chairs were plentiful providing comfortable seats to rest and enjoy.

The close up on this one shows the natural surroundings that enhance all the statues.

This one, embedded in the rocks and plantings, looks so real, like a man being born.

This one is of a couple enjoying their baby in a tender family moment.

These children and their mother are also caught in that spontaneous moment of joy. I love the various pinks in the flowers.

A tribute to Chopin tucked in a wooded grove.

I couldn't find who this was but it looked like Bacchus reveling.

I noticed young children stopping and looking at the many sculptures in between playing their games on the lawns. It's all part of their environment- historical buildings, amazing art, natural beauty, open spaces carefully tended that incorporate it all and is available to them. It's a lovely legacy.

Cemetery of Montparnasse

One day in Paris while strolling near my hotel, I unexpectedly came across the Montparnasse Cemetery with its many famous residents- writers, sculptors, architects, painters, composers, doctors, historians, comedians, musicians and more.

Jean Paul Sartre, the philosopher, and Simone de Beauvoir, the writer and Sartre's lover, buried together, for instance. Their grave is visited by young couples who kiss the tombstone at the same time for luck in love. Look closely and you'll see the lipstick imprints near their names as well as little mementos left by visitors.

 


Samuel Beckett, the writer, also receives tiny mementos, even notes. One read: "Still waiting?" and another: "I was here. Godot".

Charles Beaudelaire, the poet, is there as is Porfirio Diaz, a past president of Mexico.

There are so many untold stories in any cemetery and this one was no exception. The stories are hinted at   in word or sculpture, by fresh flowers or signs of obvious care.  One little girl's grave, with a child dropping a flower onto the grave, had a verse carved into it that ends: "The flower of your memory". My French isn't good enough to translate the rest. Even the juxtaposition of this young one frozen in time in 1817 now silhouetted by a modern skyscraper speaks to the finality of death.

Another grave documented a family killed in Auschwitz-Birkenau with only the mother surviving for another 14 years and the daughter or son who memorialized them all.

With the number of sculptors buried here, their various depictions of grief were remarkable and conveyed their powerful, poignant message.

Or some of the other headstone sculptures that told their own stories.

The couple separated and searching for one another.

The grandchild clambering for his grandfather.

Or this striking portrayal of palpable sadness.

This statue stands in the center of the cemetery with the word "souvenir" on it exhorting us
"to remember".

I spent a long time in this lovely place meditating on my ultimately short journey on planet earth and struck by the stories shared by my fellow travelers.

What's on your mind as the week starts?

Wordless Wednesday in Paris

Sights on day one:

Traveling around Europe with my Honey is one of the things I like best about retirement. 

What's delighting you?