exploring life and love with pictures and words
“Fa Caldo!” It’s hot! I hear the phrase again and again, as the temperatures along Lake Como have been hovering in the low 90s for days. My cousins and I escape the heat in Mandello, and head for higher ground in Lierna. It’s not significantly cooler, but there is a small pool, a garden hose... Continue Reading →
I wake up long before my alarm, my bladder is in charge these days. I don’t get up right away. Instead I lay in bed and ruminate about those things that are large and looming in the darkness and somehow fade away in the light of day. Shuffling to the bathroom I wonder, why are... Continue Reading →
“Home . . . I’m on my way “ It took a split second to recall why I had written those words . . . it was a year ago. I had just wrapped up a year in Italy and was sitting on an airplane in Malpensa headed back to the states. I posted... Continue Reading →
I slide the window shade up a few inches, careful not to let too much light into the airplane. We are pretending it’s nighttime as we chase the sunset on this flight. The cabin is quiet. I cannot sleep and I cannot resist the view, thirty-eight thousand miles above an enormous snowy mass somewhere over... Continue Reading →
Lying on my back, my book held arm’s length above my face, it shades my eyes from the bright sun. I read and sunbathe along the shore of the lake, soaking up these last days in Italy. Children splash and play in the water, while the grownups swim past them to the quieter, deeper water,... Continue Reading →
Wearing flip-flops, I walk slowly, slightly stooped, along the pebbled shore. I am careful to maintain my balance on the rocky water’s edge as I search for sea glass. Most are emerald green, some milky white, or clear. Wedged between the dark colored stones in crystal clear blue water, they are easy to spot. I... Continue Reading →
An early morning message had me misty eyed. One of my former bosses, colleague and friend, was perusing Instagram and stumbled upon one of my photos highlighting my Italian adventure, “Bittersweet” she wrote, after having just seen my name on the Resignation Report at the school board meeting. “We miss you Christine.” I felt the... Continue Reading →
I sit shotgun as my cousin Moira zips down the tiny, narrow streets of Somana into Mandello. Windows down, the mountain air blows through the car. She taps her horn and waves to passing cars and neighbors who brave the walk. They shout Ciao, Buon Giorno! Their greetings trail off as we speed past. I... Continue Reading →
Tapping away on my keyboard, I reread phrases, type and delete words, and feel a range of emotions in the span of a few hours as I write. Sometimes my emotions are a reflection of the content itself. Other times they are conflicting expressions of belief and doubt in my ability as a writer. One... Continue Reading →
It’s raining in Milan, gray and dreary. I wonder if the weather has anything to do with how I feel, missing home. I talked to my daughter this afternoon and learned it was raining there too. As we chat I can hear my eight month old granddaughter, Aria, babbling to herself and laughing. I smile... Continue Reading →
Bare Naked in Public 