Much ...

Forgive me if I fail to write coherently about the food at yesterday's 50th birthday party but I think the photograph at the end of the post goes some way to explaining why I fail ...

It was things like the fact that I don't like the idea of veal but ohmygoodness, it tastes like THAT!?? 

Jayne hosted the most exquisite party, invited a whole lot of lovely people, and made sure glasses were kept full of champagne while tempting our tummies with the most divine nibbles.

And I picked up a camera not my own and took photographs to my heart's content.  I drank champagne, again ...  Why yes, I was that woman who formerly claimed she didn't like champagne, who has shamelessly consumed 'quite some' (as the Belgian bloke has been known to say) these last 48 hours.

It appears I have seen the light with regard to good champagne.

Mmmm, and so it turns out a recipe for surviving a 29 celsius weekend here in Antwerp involves some champagne, much good food, and more than a few excellent people.

Normal service shall resume here tomorrow.

Sometimes ...

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I were able to simply concentrate on one thing ... on just one of those wild and beautiful ideas that I have.

Perhaps it would be about me just going to Genova to work on my book.  Or if I stayed home and only worked on the photography workshops.  I wonder how it would be if I was a one-idea kind of woman.

Or if I just did the housework and cared for my family, deep-cleaning this quirky old Belgian house once a month, studying new recipes then cooking then, and taking the time to be sure my family was happy. 

And maybe I would have that dog I dream about too.

If I didn't enjoy meeting new people as I do ... or love exploring other countries so much, then that distraction-factor would be so much smaller and that much more manageable.  Perhaps.

But I am seem to be one of those people, genuinely deeply curious about almost everything.  I love photography, writing and people.  I love new people but old friends too.  I love family, and I love those messy new ideas that bubble up and spill all over the place. 

I tried staying in and working one rainy day back in Genova but the balcony beckoned and instead my camera and I attempted to capture some of the beauty just outside the glass doors. 

I miss that apartment and yet, at the same time, I am glad to be home. 

There was a BBQ last night, a reunion with some of Gert's university friends.  They were gracious and kindly allowed me into their circle.  The reunion was held in a beautiful location someplace in Belgium.  We were outside under this sail-like canopy that kept us dry while a Fiordland-New-Zealand-style tempest rumbled and crackled and downpoured around us.  It was a truly superb evening.

We hit 29 celsius yesterday ... summer is here.  The garden is luscious, between the heat and the rain, everything out there is celebrating by growing madly.

And today there's a 50th someplace in the city.   I should get ready but meanwhile ... another of the series of photographs taken from that balcony high up on Via Malta, one rainy day back in beautiful Genova.

Reading in the Garden, Belgium

We wandered out into our small pocket-sized garden after dinner and read until 10pm.  It's been hot here.  We have summer.  It's for sure now.

There's even talk of 31 celsius at the weekend.  We have a BBQ to attend, a birthday party too.  Oh, and the monthly expedition for supplies.

But anyway, the garden ...

Note of caution, based on what I read in Gert's mind ... if you want peace and tranquility, best not take a photographer.

Stories and People ...

Maybe we refuse to acknowledge our common origins because racism causes amnesia, or because we find it unbelievable that in those days long past the entire world was our kingdom, an immense map without borders, and our legs were the only passport required.

Eduardo Galeano, Mirrors - Stories of Almost Everyone.

Re-entry is always difficult.  My life in Genova is so different to the life I live here in Antwerp.  And being house-keeper in this quirky little Belgian house means settling back into that domestic life of cleaning and cooking and taking care of people.

It's also about me creating a space that I like to spend time in and so there are peonies in the big vase downstairs ... my laundry is done, the floors have been cleaned, bread was baked, meals cooked.  The transition  is complete, I am a housewife and all kinds of other things too, again.

I've done a couple of school-runs with Miss 9 (almost Miss 10), we're on a countdown to her fourth of July birthday.  And one of those school-runs involved a much-needed detour to my place of worship and peace ... De Slegte.  I found treasure, of course.

Eduardo Galeano's book, Mirrors - Stories of Almost Everyone, was my tram-companion today.  I love that  man's humour.  His intelligence more than anything but the way that he writes is rather exquisite.  I heard him interviewed a while back and thought, 'Hmmmm'. 

I have a copy of his Children of the Days too. 

In other news, in news from Genova ... Giovanni is a friend I met long-ago via the internet.  Raised in Milan, he moved to New Zealand some years ago with his wife, and it is from there that he too writes the most marvelous things.

You can imagine, it's rare that we find ourselves in the same country at the same time.  Until this last visit he was always in Italy when I wasn't however we did catch up back in 2010, when I was at home in New Zealand.  And this time the gods of travel allowed us a small meeting.

He arrived in Genova last Sunday and we met in Piazza De Ferrari.  The antiques market was still on and it was fun to wander with him, hearing his stories of this thing and that. 

I was obviously beyond temptation having purchased the beautiful shawl.  (Actually I reached home with about 2euro in change in my pocket.  This is my traveling life, the common story of Di wandering... New Zealand to Istanbul being the most disturbingly close-call of all).

Giovanni and I lunched, we caught up on stories and then, that evening we were able to join Barbara, Donatella, Luciano, and friends of theirs, for aperitivo out in the city.  It was so much fun.  But that's Genova to me ... aka La Superba.

My airline had contacted me that afternoon and so there was the scramble as I worked to get ready to leave a day earlier than I had planned.  Gert has since expressed bemused surprise that he made that mistake while booking for me.  We never make these mistakes and, while it was a situation that made me laugh, there was so much I was leaving until that last day in the city. 

Mmmm, children, don't leave everything until the last moment.

Anyway, I left Giovanni in the city on the Monday, as he wandered there before he headed off along the exquisite Ligurian coastline.  And I gifted my wine and Monday-food to Barbara, then left.  It was over again.

And below ... a photograph I took of Giovanni as we said our goodbyes until next time we find ourselves in the same country again. 

That Divine Thing ...

Today, at the monthly antiques market here in Genova, I met the most marvelous man and he sold me this 'most divine thing'. 

I wasn't shopping.  I was actually accompanying Outi as she shopped however ... this happened.  This beautiful shawl that I couldn't resist and believe me, I can resist most things, but this hit me in my girly soul.

I wasn't bartering, I really didn't have the money.  Unfortunately most people assume I'm bargaining.  It used to happen in Istanbul too. The lovely bloke selling this dropped to a price that was simply superb and so yes, I'm walking to catch my plane in Milan on Tuesday ...

But no, really, the Belgian bloke is bailing me out.  Thankfully.  I broke into a sweat confessing.  I love this shawl that much though ...  and I'm not sure I captured it here as it's silky and heavy and completely luxurious.  But anyway, you get an idea.

My Genovese Workspace

It's raining this morning and so I've stayed at the apartment, with plans to meet friends later.  But even when it rains, I find this city beautiful. Reflections appear in puddles on footpaths all over the city.

I have developed a new and terrible habit.  I wake about 8am, open the door to the small balcony, climb back into bed and sleep again ... as late as 11am that first time.  It's bliss.  I'm an early-rising creature and find it easy to wake and begin a day.

Not so here.  I have become a sloth. Quite the delighted sloth.  It won't last. It's only that I'm walking all over the place and talking to so many interesting people.  And I have Donatella and Luciano's cd playing.

But staying in on a Saturday morning in Genova ... you can see why in the photograph below.  The space where I work is an easy place to be.

Thank you, Air B&B.  I can't recommend them highly enough.  My cousin, Julie, introduced me to them and we stayed in them in Verona, Croatia, Budapest, Austria, and Lake Como last summer.  You get to meet interesting locals and live in local homes. 

My bedroom/office space in this beautiful apartment, downtown Genova.