Happiness is ...

I picked up my camera recently. Intense again, like I used to be when I wandered the caruggi in Genova. I spent days, simply following a friend & his dog; walking the river’s edge, and Manapouri’s lake-edge bush tracks, with them.

I am still working my way through the results but I feel like my soul was involved. It has been a while since I lost myself in photography, day after day after day.

My music of choice lately (read, on repeat), is Snow Patrol: Live & Stripped Back at Porchester Hall. I was late to Snow Patrol party however I am surely making up for time lost now.

My Queenstown life is a beautiful life. One day I wandered into town, with a friend. We had tickets to hear that incredible New Zealand writer, Witi Ihaemara. And he was so much more than I could have imagined. Another evening, I wandered along to a members-only screening of Liam Neeson’s latest movie - over at the exquisite Dorothy Brown cinema, (20nzd per year membership) in Arrowtown. The bookshop in there almost destroys me, in these days of limited income however, I enjoy the pleasure of browsing. It is one of the most beautifully curated bookshops I know, any place in the world.

Life has a sweetness to it these days. I simply want to savour it …

I Have A Plan For My Book ...

I have finally begun work on that Genova book I've been working on for years ...  but with a plan.  And with deadlines.

I am a photographer and a writer but I am not gifted in the area of organising something as complex as this book I've been circling. 

A good friend of mine came to stay at the weekend ... Sunday morning, Leah sat me down, and made me stay there.  She questioned me, regarding my idea of the book, and then guided me through the next few weeks.  When she left, I had a folder containing a schedule and a plan for the book.

Of course ... being me I have already side-tracked a little, as I search through the thousands of photographs I have taken of Genova, I'm realising just how many images I haven't quite taken through the digital equivalent of the darkroom process.

I don't do much to them, most of the time, but I do like to go over each image.

And so I am discovering that, back in September last year, I went wandering after the rain and found the image there at the top of this post.

And there was this .. just patiently waiting from that time I was down in Porto Antico and the light was exquisite.

Cutting a Deal with Myself ...

The deal is ... if I work hard all day, then I can go wandering in Genova, about when the light gets interesting in the late afternoon.

I was out there today and it was glorious.  I started in the full blue of late afternoon and sat on the floating pontoon for a while.  Just enjoying the sun.

And I found this image on the way back through the port. 

My fascination with reflections started way back when I was a small child in New Zealand.  We used to head south, along State Highway 1 ... visiting Nana down in Invercargill.  We'd pass by the swamp area in Henley and, oftentimes, the world reflected was a perfect copy of what was above.

It didn't take much for the small child I was, with the massive imagination I still have, to believe it was simply another world.  An upside-down world. 

We hunt for reflections here ... my camera and I.  And Genova is perfect after rain.   The puddles here, they contain stunning visions.

And the fountain ... in Piazza De Ferrari has long been a source of inspiration.  A place to play.

Mmm, so that's what I did this evening.  I went out wandering, in this beautiful city I love so much.  Tonight, I have Amos Lee playing, the balcony doors are still open ... it's 21.18 and it's warm.

It's been a good day.

Reflections ... from that city I love

This stay in the city has involved quite some rain.  Just as New Zealand seems to be waiting for summer to actually arrive, Genova is waiting for the rain to stop falling. 

I flew in after some serious flooding had happened here in the city but the rain hadn't quite stopped  ... and so it was that I discovered the only boots that I brought with me had holes in them. 

But who does that!  One pair of shoes in Italy?!  I can hear my cousin, Julie's, disbelief from here  :-)

However having to replace those boots on my last full day here in the city ... that is going to make it all okay.  And no one will see that my feet have become webbed, like a duck's. 

There is nothing like owning a good pair of boots made here in Italy.

The very serious shoe-shop owner actually laughed when my lovely friend, Barbara, asked him if he might keep the plastic bags I was wearing over my socks, inside my boots (as a basic water-proofing measure) a secret ... as I was attempting to appear elegant while here in Italy.

Mmmhmmm, but then again, if all was simple in my life perhaps it would bore me.

The day ended with more laughter, as Alessandra, Barbara and I discussed 'but which wine?!' while accidentally blocking the wine aisle in COOP.   Oh yes, that was us.

And so, proof from this exquisite but watery city I have spent these last two weeks wandering ... another reflection.  I do love finding them here.