slowing down

Today there is hustle and bustle, things needing doing. I have opted out, taking time for me.

I have gone back to the blog of Lani Kent, and have the music of this blog caressing, soothing, gently in the background as I type. I have added her blog to my links, giving it the title "Contemplation". I hope she wont mind. The real title of her blog is "Healing Expressions".

Today I am grateful for the word "gentle" and all the beauty that being gentle can bring to the world.

consider the lilies?

One of my favourite childhood memories is of being woken by a tapping on my bedroom window. My father was about to put the cows into the paddock behind the house, an area that had once been a huge garden. The first crocus was out, and would be trampled as the herd rushed for the fresh, dew-laden grass.

Dad lifted me out, pyjama clad, and carried me to where the delicate mauve flower bloomed. He explained that picking it had no sense, as the flower, like the day-lilies further along, had such a brief life. I sensed that in showing me the flower he was imbuing that short life with some meaning.

In the one or two hours of fragile expression the flower had, it gave to me a lifetime of pleasure.
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too many words

Are words a mixed blessing? How is it, being without words?

A friend mentioned that her daughter had said that "there are too many words in the world". How astute! We label, identify, describe, dessicate, judge... in our quest for control, ownership, mastery, development, progress...

when all we need to do is feel, respond, enjoy.

Today I am grateful for words of wisdom that encourage me to appreciate simply "being".

tuesday, thinking day

Today lots of thinking about art, artists, guiding... general discussions with other Kiwi artists about cultural difference, what art means to us etc...

I started the day guiding Polish tourists and am finishing it talking art. Life is good.

Today I am grateful for the opportunities I have to meet interesting people of many different nationalities.

too much of a good thing

When you are responsible for a huge part of the world's art work and historic sites, how do you maintain them all? This triumphal arch (reputed to be built in honour of Mark Anthony but lacking provenance to verify this, hence the discussion on the sign) has seen better days...most of it is now underground being used or misused, depending on your point of view, for other purposes.(Click on photo for larger image of Italian text).

*****

Today I am grateful for the happy ending to a tricky piece of problem-solving.

Cassino

Today is the anniversary of the bombing of the town of Cassino. It was once a beautiful, wealthy, medieval town. Now... not exactly beautiful, to put it kindly. Post-war apartments, streets at odd angles, not a lot to recommend it to the tourist other than the abbey.

This morning we became tourists in Aquino, at the market, in the old church, on the Roman "Via Latina".Friends living beside the historic Via Latina saw us there and invited us in for refreshments. The day disappeared!
When tree meets ancient stone, who wins?

Today I am grateful that I grew up in a country that was not occupied in wartime.

driving to fiumicino

Post later...

Today I am grateful for the guests sleeping in the room with the computer...

post tomorrow?