I threw the pearl of my soul into a cup of wine.
I went down the primrose path to the sound of flutes.
I lived on honeycomb.
~Oscar Wilde, De Profundis
I have been writing a character I call My Neptuna. The work is going slowly this week, lots of resistance, and so today I thought, if my mind [...]
Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge. We are perpetually on the way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind. Guess who said that? Hmm…I wonder.
My day began with the birds and the ocean, in the dark, around six or so I spose (no clock, heaven!).
We had a [...]
Three of my favorite parts of this journey were found when righteously lost, and I’m feeling that is something worth noting. It is also ironic as the adventure included a visit to Alfonso’s cousin Antonio, who designs software for Fiat, most particularly GPS, or Global Positioning Systems.
We began by driving to Torino–Turin–by way of mistake [...]
As a friend so aptly inquired this week, the blog can be a bit distracting from the task at hand (aka “my novel,” which I cannot utter without a wry smile somehow), and so, as I am up to my palpably aching eyeballs in research, I submit this Sunday only a postcard from what Ms. [...]
Perhaps I was too glib when the ostrich bit me. In retrospect it seems a harbinger of much that was to follow.
This weekend we explored the Loue Valley, following along the winding Doubs river that runs from Switzerland to France. The Loue river was discovered to be a tributary of the Doubs when in 1901 [...]
Sometimes life gives you exactly what you ordered. This can be good or bad, but probably shouldn’t surprise if you’ve been taking notes or at least not reading Oblivion Enthusiast magazine in class.
It was like the first page in an Edward Gorey story: a lone glove lay grasping, or perhaps surrendering on the stair. We wandered around Historic Bethlehem in Philadelphia on a little New Years Day trip. We had found the one bagel shop open, and all the buildings built by the Protestant cult none of [...]
I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs; A palace and a prison on each hand.
Lord Byron~ Childe Harold (canto IV, st. 1)
This has been a surreal and life-changing trip. Lying in bed for six days was heart-breaking after years of wanting to see Venice, but more so, it was frightening. The day after [...]
We went to Notre Dame and I lit a candle for Jim and Xie.
I cried by the Seine, thinking how hokey it is to light a candle at Notre Dame and then cry by the Seine and how much I would have liked to tell Jim. I lit it under the statue of Joan of [...]
Today we visited Père-Lachaise Cemetery. It was established by Napoleon in 1804, breaking the (health-hazard) ban on inner-city cemeteries imposed in 1786.
At the time of its opening, the cemetery was too far from the city proper and attracted few funerals. The administrators devised a marketing strategy and with great fanfare organized the transfer of the [...]