Piedmont

On Saturday, I hopped on a train, heading for parts unknown to me ...

Stefano picked me up at Novi and then I arrived, on a small patch of paradise, in the Italian countryside.  Before any of my more cynical friends roll their eyes over my casual use of the word 'paradise', I will explain. 

In New Zealand, I was a creature who loved nature.  I didn't need wilderness, I just enjoyed the sky doing its thing, seeing healthy plants, walking my dogs in school fields, along beaches or river edges.  It was a recipe for dreaming.

And I have always loved the scent the nature, especially in Spring, when plants seem to celebrate their winter survival and fill the air with stunning scents.

In Piedmont, Italy, the air, without exaggeration, seemed to be constantly scented by some delicate flower.  Acacia I suspect but I don't know enough about the beautiful plant, I photographed, to be sure.  Does anyone know what the flowering 'tree' at the end of this post is?  Or what the gentle, jasmine-like scent might have been?

Update: Stefano let me know the name ... it is Robinia pseudoacacia or False Acacia.

I rested, in a way that I haven't rested in a long time.  I watched the clouds put on a small show and I photographed so many of the plants as I wandered the grounds.

But that aside, I met excellent people. On Saturday evening, friends of Stefano and Miriam gathered and the Genovese humour made me laugh.  It's a wicked humour but gently wicked.  And I tried a range of Genovese foods, out there in the Piedmont countryside ... Cima stood out as a new favourite.   I'll write of it another day but Miriam's mother made it and it was delicious.

And wine ... the wine I tasted, it came from the area and was unlike any I had tasted before but in a good way.

Yes, let me say quietly ... I had a most marvellous time.  Grazie mille, Stefano and Miriam.

Leiden, Holland

One of our guests left his super special headphones at our place over the weekend.  Monday found Gert with a day off, us still with another day of car rental, and there we were, searching for a destination.

Since I was small, the journey has pretty much been the destination ... a journey was surely called for and so, we drove 140kms to Leiden, in Holland, and returned Jacob's headphones to himself.

It was a lovely day out and Jacob was a gracious host.  We wandered the  tiny little Dutch streets with him, finding small treasure like the house below ... it was perhaps 4 metres wide. 

Jacob took us out for a most delightful lunch at De Stathouder, thank you to Shannon for the recommendation. 

Bubbles, Piazza De Ferrari, Genova

I'm one of those creatures who, to learn a new thing, need to repeat it until it becomes familiar.

Actually, that's one of the reasons I have begun offering one-on-one photography coaching, for women. I suspect I'm not alone in being overwhelmed over years, as well-meaning, engineering-minded people have tried teaching me photography via their beautiful minds of order and logic.

My mind doesn't function along the lines of order and logic ... there is some logic there but in a form that is more about 'my logic', as opposed to logic that makes maths and physics obvious.  Ask my first husband, the physics guy ... there were some stories about my way of portraying the theory of relativity and other things. 

So here I am, bending my mind into the 'obvious' in photoshop, creating these small collages and having the nicest time before going back to my work.

I hope your day is a good one, where ever you are.

Stepanka Ceramics

Last year, my daughter gifted me two of Stepanka Horalkova's beautiful ceramic mugs and I made a  note to write of them, with photographs, but never felt satisfied with the photographs I had taken. 

So I put it aside, knowing I would finish the job sooner or later ... but I didn't. 

So much time has passed that I feel ashamed because I loved the gift of them and because I wanted to share the beauty of Stepanka's work with everyone. 

Finally, here I am with the news. 

You can buy Stepanka's work over on her Etsy store or visit her website to read more about her.

 

 

Of course ...!

Still idealistic, aimless and broke, nothing stopped us from becoming adults.

Found over at idiomill blog.

I loved that sentence. 

I thought, 'Yes, despite all that. And despite mad choices, bad choices, the choices made by others ... I still became an adult.'

'Idealistic and broke.'?

Oftentimes.

Delighted by life so far?

Of course! 

A day in the life of ...

I usually arrive here at my office desk around 8.30am and begin.  But it's a slow easing into my day, trying to clear email, catch up on any new (and inspirational) posts that have come in on my google reader overnight, and then there's facebook too.

But this morning, I deactivated that seductive thief of time. Facebook is gone for now.  I love the social nature of that particular space but it's too much when I really look what I have in front of me.

In 5 weeks, there is a huge business launch party that must be prepared, with accompanying workshop offer.  There is the book I'm putting together on Genova, using my photographs taken since 2008, and channeling my huge passion for that city.

The final touches are being put on the photography e-course but I'm also preparing a series of one-on-one photography coaching and wandering options, as well as more flexible times on journeys to other places for the website.

I'm interviewing Minske Van Wijk about her film in the days ahead.  I'm also writing for two other websites but details on the second site still to come. 

There is the continuing saga of manually uploading my posts from the old website to the new website.  Only 800 or so to go...

Actually, truth be told, I dream about arriving here in the office and saying to assistant, 'Hey there, how about you work on this project this week, and I'll develop this one.'  But that's not for now ... that's just a wee dream.

I really hope that your week is a good one.  And below ... a photograph I took back in those Istanbul days.

4 April, 2012: An update.  I lasted outside of Facebook for just 24 hours.  A huge filling broke and I was left with a need to distract myself while I waited for an emergency dental appointment.  Facebook, like google reader, brings interesting things into my world at times when I can't create for myself and waiting for a tooth repair did, so very much, interfere with my muse.

My tooth was repaired today but too late, I'm back in the Land of Facebook, although attempting to be measured in my time wandering there.