I loved this cat but it seemed so confused ... wanting affection, and yet hissing when we tried to stroke it.
This was our last view of it. Sitting there, at the top of the stairs, watching us watching it.
A Small Roadtrip, in the Italian Riveria
Joey the Wondercar, Leah's valiant little Cinquecento, (Fiat 500) took us on a delicious road-trip yesterday. We wandered, really meandered, from Genova to Portofino and back again, with many stops along the way ... lunch, coffee, aperitivo.
That would be Leah, the Canadian blogger writing over at, Help I Live With My Italian Mother In Law.
The one who laughingly told me, that my camera gear was the only thing that saved me from a soaking yesterday.
This water came that close, as seen below ...
The Ligurian coastline is completely underrated, almost a secret, but I kind of like the peace of that.
And as you can see, if you know New Zealand ... it reminds me of home.
Everything was beautiful out there. Divine even, without exaggeration.
There was this confused feral cat, who stretched and smooched nearby but hissed if we reached out to stroke her. She was a beautiful creature.
And we met up with Leah's little dog soul-mate, and I whispered to him as I clicked the shutter.
And then?
Well, we found these hammocks, up in the olive grove, above Leah's house.
I have wanted a hammock my whole entire life. I had spent a few hours in one as a child and loved it. I thought I had died and gone heaven yesterday, up there on the top of the hill at Portofino, in the hammock hanging between two olive trees, as the sun started its slide into sunset.
And on the way home, walking back through the city, people called out and greeted me. And that's gold when you live in a country not your own.
It was a good day ...
Grazie mille, Leah.
My First Music Video - Nickel & Dime, The Last Wolf on Earth
I have Canon 5D MkII, with a video function I've never used
The band, Nickel & Dime, with Ivo Sposaro - singer, guitarist and song writer , Antonio Capelli on violin, and Massi Di Fraia, as drummer, came over one evening. To the terrace.
It was really hot but we had a whole lot of fun. A practice run. I plan on improving my skills over the summer so I'm ready for a new series of attempts in the autumn.
Rita, Ivo's lovely wife, filmed me filming them play another song ...
Genovese Light ...
I have been chasing the light here in the caruggi ... the medieval alleyways this city is famous for. In the caruggi, and on the grander streets too, the ones filled with ancient palaces.
And with every movement of the sun, new light is discovered.
A familiar building is bathed in light in a way that makes it new.
Impermanence ...
These days, I am more aware of the impermanence of things.
I develop routines, find a place to live, have particular friends but always aware that these things are not forever.
Mr One went traveling for a couple of months and when he returned, he had grown and changed so many of his habits and routines.
I arrived in Italy and moved into the apartment I had been returning to since 2008 but then I had to leave. And I love where I live now, so much more but I had to let go and trust that things would be okay, even though it seemed impossible.
Winter was cold and I was ill but now it's summer, and it's so hot, and I'm loving that. It hasn't dropped below 23 celsius for weeks, not even at night but we have these occasional storms and so, unlike much of Italy, we're not experiencing drought. I love Genova's Fiordland-like deluges. I leave the windows open and listen to the rain crashing down.
I had a few weeks of wandering alone here in the city. Of days without shape or appointments. I was unmoored from life, quite completely. There was nothing and no one to hold me but I knew, that too would pass. And so, I very quietly, enjoyed that time of photography, writing and wandering.
I have found places, here in Genova, where the music is good. And musicians who are some of the kindest, most amusing, people I know. Spending time with them is so much fun. I hope to post video here soon. But that's a long story for later ...
And today, a woman told me she liked my writing, and that meant the world to me. Grazie mille for your kindness.
It's very difficult to take my work seriously. I'm a photographer who writes. It feels more like a kind of rebellion in this world where value is measured via income and social position ... this desire to seek out, and try to capture, beauty.
So it's another strange space I inhabit. I'm not anything respectable, like an accountant or a doctor. I don't work in an office or a shop. I only make art ...
But I love my life. And sometimes, when I go wandering, I turn at the right time and photograph a small boy gently touching a chandelier that is for sale in an antiques market, here in Italy. And that makes everything perfectly okay.
The Light, in La Superba ...
Walking here, it is simple to become distracted by the exquisite details the light reveals.
I could walk here, all day every day, for 100 years, and I'm sure I would find new things ... every single time.
Sometimes it's the light, sometimes it's just me looking extra hard.
I love this city.