Saturday, January 29, 2005
New Newsletter Up
Also, for more our our Italy vacation, click here.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Getting back into it
Monday, January 24, 2005
Back from Italy
We are back from Italy! Amazing that we went, amazing that we are back. Among the amazing things: that we left Rome on a splendid sunny day with no coats required, and arrived (delayed flight) at the end of a major snowstorm and single digit Farenheit temperatures. Quick memories: Thinking at the Colosseum about gladiators, "We Who Are About To Die Salute You," and all the Medicis and the Borgias and the Augustuses and Constantines -- so many dead. Rome in the sun but also the Parthenon roof next to our hotel just before dawn, deep deep blue, white sudden explosions of gulls between me and Orion's belt: deep salmon bricks, deep blue sky, chips of white flung agains. Also: tiny pink roses in bloom near the circus maximus. Sound of music below, rising from "our" piazza. At the Capitoline museum the beautiful brass lupa with the little bambini from a thousand years later. An Escher exhibit, very popular locally, and one I'd love to see at my leisure in NYC. High point: almost back to the hotel at 4:30, we stopped at a cafe and sat outside (in the third week of January!) and the waiter was friendly, we took his picture, and I got up my courage and said, "Somos americanos ma non votamo per il Bush!" And the waiter shook my hand and each of our hands! Very satisfying. I tried it again on the cab to the airport, and again got a delighted reaction, the cabbie saying that the Italian president and Bush are like that (fingers pressed together)-- "due putti!"
Friday, January 14, 2005
Off to Florence and Rome!
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
The Day is Approaching
Friday, January 07, 2005
New Year Greetings Should be Over...
Then today it was Warren Streeet School in Newark.
And now I've been putting my first full entry into Wikipedia! What an extraordinary feeling, to be able to contribute to and participate in something that thousands maybe millions of people are working on together. A kind of euphoria and marvelling. I did the story "Life in the Iron Mills" because I already had the research done. A week or so ago I put in some grammatical corrections, but this was my own article!
Saturday, January 01, 2005
New Year's Evening
January 1
Early today, a beautiful low 60's day with lots of sun, I officially finished my holiday messages and end-of-year donation. I also went to Maplewood's reorganization meeting which was nice and colorful--a lot of folks show up, there is a clipped-step police color guard, lots of swearing in of trustees and officers, and the magnificent Lori Brown Mirabal sang "God Bless America" and more. Prayers Christian and Muslim--a visit from Congressman Payne. I wish South Orange did something similar!
Last night, we went out to Verjus with Joel and the Graveses, and afterwards, Joel went out to a party and we four elders came home and sat in front of the fire and the Christmas tree.
This evening, a walk:
Pink fingernail scrapes
On a chalkboard of sky–jets
Pass: New Year's evening.