A Year in Pictures
I started reflecting back to last year at this time as I scrolled through the phones from my iPhone and realised what an incredible year it has been: two trips abroad, 2 ½ months of fierce writing courses, beginning to experiment with writing poems again, the death of my mother. Bringing new people into my life and new pastimes. I thought I’d share some highlights with you.
Autumn. 2018. Paris.
I am here for three days before my retreat in Morocco and two days after the retreat. By the time I return in early November, I feel so familiar with the city. Almost like I felt in 2015 when I spent an entire month there, renting a flat from my French teacher.
To the right is a picture of the oldest chocolateur in Paris. I pick up an assortment of candies for Charly, my dog sitter. Back in 2015, I’d stumbled across this shop and picked up some candy for him. He’d done the research to find out the shops history.
Winter 2018. Crissy Field, San Francisco.
Back in the day, just a few years ago, Miss Agatha Pocket and I would head over the Golden Gate Bridge two times a week to Crissy Field. I even had a small hose in the back of my car so I could wash the sand off her. She could’ve fetched sticks for hours if she’d had her way.
I don’t take her to the beach like I used to because her behavior is so erratic. A large woman could walk towards us on the beach in a flowing garment, a huge fluffy dog or just someone fishing can set her off, barking and circling and sounding like a ferocious animal.
Here’s Miss Agatha Pocket in slo-mo on one of our short outings on the beach in December.
I recently started working with a vibration collar again and we’re hoping to be able to resume our beach outings.
Spring 2019
I am in Rome for a few days before meeting with a group to head to Umbria for a yoga retreat. This picture was taken outside the Vatican and I can still remember the feel of all those bubbles as I walked through them.
I think I eat pizza every day in Rome, even though at home I don’t eat gluten. But there’s that old saying , right? “When in Rome ...”
And I try to. Except I keep getting horrendously lost and finally figure out that the easiest way to visit the most popular spots is to take the Metropolitana. It’s a small subway system, easy to navigate and most of its stops are right near tourist destinations.
And then I come across this magical row of parasol pines just beside the Circus Maximum and find I just have to write a poem.
The row of parasol pines
alongside the Circus Maximus
on this spring morning
reminds me of the
canopy of cumulous clouds
I journeyed through en route to Rome.
Little surprise, full of promise,
I levitate 100 feet
to slowly sail
through the exquisite envelope
of their foliage;
it dampens my cheeks, dusts my hair.
The trees breathe me out between them
in gentle play
until the whole world is gauzed in green.
Montefiasone, Italy.
This picture was taken inside an incredibly old church in the small town of Montefiasone, Italy. The entire historic cobblestoned city, like many in Italy, is on top of a hill. The day we visit it is overcast so we are unable to take advantage of the incredible views over the towns below. The yoga retreat, my second in 2018-19, was a real victory for me. I didn’t know a soul there and was really challenged, not with the yoga, but with the prospect of interacting with strangers.
Since I didn’t go to Paris, I bought Charly some chocolates from Perugia, which we visited an another day but they all melted in the bag.
New York. Summer 2019
My mother dies in August after an illness which raged through her body for close to seven years. It was impossible for us to feel grief at her passing; she had been for so long in such pain.
There was a highlight from the back-to-back trips I took back east in August: I got to spend some time with my grandnephews. In this picture, Dylan, 6, is navigating his way through a frozen yoghurt which we allowed him to top with as many toppings as his heart desired. The yoghurt must have cost at least $10 (don’t recall how much it weighed) but he’d been incredibly well behaved and we wanted to spoil him a little. The next morning 7/8 of this concoction had melted in the container on the dresser of his hotel room.
November 2019
I am reading “The Wind up Bird Chronicle” by
Haruki Murakami and one of the main characters keeps seeing two moons in the sky at night. The other night, looking out my window I noticed the moon appeared as if it was partially covering another moon behind it. It was surreal. I tried to capture a picture of it but none of my shots reflected what I was observing with my own two eyes.
In closing, during the last three months, I have been battling plantar fasciitis. I’ve tried PT, foot massages, all kinds of exercises, cutting back on my walks in the hills where I live. These sandals by VIonic have such incredible arch support I wear them everywhere. At this point, I’m probably about 80% cured but if anyone has had this condition and wants to offer some advice in the comments below sure would be interesting.
So as usual, folks, this is an open thread and the floor is yours!!
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper…. Newcomers may notice that many who post in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table and hope to make some new friends as well.
Please do not attack Democratic candidates or drag primary fights into our community.