here & there

first...my heart is with dear karen in this difficult time. if you have a moment, drop by this lovely lady's blog & give her a kind word & a cyber hug.
Requiem eternam
Requiem eternam dona eis
Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis
Requiescant in pace
Amensecond...annie, you read my mind in the 24 may post! your comments echo my thoughts exactly. i didn't even write a poem for one single impression though i thought the photos conveyed the sentiments adequately. if you would like a whirlwind poetic adventure, please visit OSI where the prompt this week is 'dropped'.finally...a hint as to why all the blog-laziness...in just 48 hours we will be winging our way to this glorious place! i will no doubt breathe a huge sigh of relief as all the busy-ness of daily life & how one might condense 2 months worth of chores into 1 settles into a restful week with the family followed by 2 weeks of italian lessions & finally a grand adventure with melissa! stay tuned for travel updates!!

one word

after an exceptionally busy week, early this morning i finally had a free moment to click over to one single impression to check the poetry prompt. one word...hmmmmm. i don't do "one" word very well (just ask D. or the soul sisters!!!); i'm more like a "whole story" kinda gal. heck, i even talk in my sleep, sometimes in italian according to D. but one word?? that word must be a very important word, not just a run-of-the-mill, everyday type word...it must be a truly inspired word. honestly, choosing just one is like asking me for a preference on my last meal when i just want to eat my way around the world (or at the very least around the **gelato** world!)...i decided to sit with this prompt through the day to see what might unfold in the course of events.on the drive into the city my thoughts rolled around between choosing a word & the week in passing. i spent an afternoon on the phone with one of my very dearest friends who has just lost her momma, bumping around that strange & sticky world of fresh grief.

i spent another day with melissa packing a garageful of clothing to be shipped for her ministry in romania...which led me to near-panic on the drive home that evening~~ we are bound for europe in just 6 short weeks for a journey that lasts 6 weeks & i had not really organized all the notes & emails for that time, nor had i made a good working "to do" list. (yes, that list is now made & the info packet for the entire journey is printed & organized!)

while i was printing all the lodging confirmations from my email's inbox my italian instructor sent me the 2nd email in as many days, this one with an element of concern ("are you alright?? i have not heard from you this week!") . this prompted a side-tracked response with more verb errors that i care to admit, all the while upping my general panic level another notch (yellow to orange, perhaps?!?!)...must. study. conjugations!!...classes start in 7 weeks!at this point on the drive i found myself taking a deep breath, & then refocusing what we were doing today. we were heading to brunch to see an old friend who was playing a gig. no ordinary guy...an amazing flamenco guitarist who is whupping cancer's backside right now!! it was so good to see paco again. he's looking a bit under the weather but his music is as strong as ever.

aaaahhhhh...time together with D. & my boys, a good meal, the best music, a stroll to the river afterwards on this fine carolina spring day...the thought of "one word" came rushing back to me on the drive home. i must admit that the first word that came to mind was "nap"! (i'm a huge fan of restful sundays.)but as my thoughts threaded together, the ever-present whisper was "gratitude." i'm so grateful...

136. for a dear friend like L. & for her momma who brought her into this world, for a chance to be there for her at this hard time...

137. grateful for melissa & her work, for the example she is to my children...

138. grateful for the awesome privilege of travel & all that affords, for the privilege of being able to join melissa if only for a short while...

139. grateful for the opportunity to study the language of my heart in its native country, for my italian instructor, a true peach of a woman with the patience of a saint & a true gift for teaching...

140. & speaking of gifts~~ grateful for paco & his music...

141. grateful for the privilege of holding these wonderful folks in prayer in these difficult days, days of adjustments large & small...

142. grateful for friends far & near...

143. grateful for precious, quiet moments with my family doing very ordinary things like relishing the taste of food, the sound of chords blended to perfection, the scents of spring air...

144. & grateful for a bit of gelato & a 20 minute nap on a lazy sunday afternoon.in the fourth watch of the night

i wake

while quiet stars linger

around last quarter moon,

undiluted recollections

rush in to fill the vacuum left

by easy sleep;

as they parade

before my internal eyes

i'm taken with the question

'is this really unexpected

in the lot that belongs to man?'

the things that i deem good

or otherwise...

so i take them all for what they're worth

wrapping them in soul's quilted embrace

of gentle gratitude.please visit one single impression for more wonderful poetry...thank you Jess from Wayfaring Wanderer for the prompt "one word."

this 'n that

weather

spring & winter are currently battling it out in our area for domination (i hope spring wins...very soon!!). i take great comfort in today's equinox & the sun's return to my hemisphere (sorry, brad...you can have it back in 6 months!). this past week we have had high temperatures that are as unpredictable as a teenager's moods (sorry, boys!)...one day the high is 50F/10C, the next day it is 75F/24C.

therapy

when you get a text message at 10:30am on a thursday from your surfer-friend that reads "surf city pier in 30 minutes" if you can, you go...we could & we did!! & then we came home totally rejuvenated. best PE class evah!!internet fasting (as in no internet before 5pm during lent)...yeah, i've taken it in the solar plexus with this one. i have fallen into the cycle of using an entire pack of post-it notes each day to scribble all the online things i must accomplish after 5pm. then i find that at 5pm i am either running errands or preparing dinner, so the internet actual access is later. then i am tired. i can't read the day's post-it notes. & i start to fall asleep in front of my keyboard, telling myself i will take care of stuff tomorrow. all in all it has been a serious reorientation of time management coupled with an improvement in prioritizing. at lent's half way point i can honestly tell you that i miss the computer time more than i miss the chocolate!...but i will gladly enjoy both in due time :-)serendipity

mid week we were on our 5th or so day of constant cloud cover & it was one of the days that winter had an edge over spring for sure. at dusk it was windy but the rain had stopped & in my cabin fevered state, i grabbed my coat & headed out for a walk. as i rounded the bend of our street, through a clearing in the trees i could see the most incredible line of pink-orange sunset just along the horizon. the rest of the world retained its rainy-day grey, but against this, that sunset, no matter how tiny, was just amazing! & so worth bundling up & being cold.tonight

after a week of unbelievable busy-ness, i am posting this & then heading off to cuddle with D. & watch an italian flick. summer language classes are creeping up on me rather quickly & it is time to get back into my foreign film-watching groove...buon week-end a tutti!!!!

because my mind is working in short bursts...

~~why so quiet here? one word: facebook. for those who don't know, think 25 years of catching up with 30 or so people. 'nuff said.


~~also spent last weekend on retreat at mepkin abbey. no phones, TV's, computers...not a great cell signal. pure bliss for my over-active mind.


~~thanks for the language advice regarding last week's post. this week boyworld has adopted a new technique for dodging italian responses to my italian questions...responding in english that is heavily encased in a scottish brogue! (maybe the possum *should* be in control!)~~speaking of small animals...that prognosticator known as punxsutawny phil was wrong! spring is on its way. my daffodils said so! (all you yanks up north, take heart...it's coming!)~~prayers answered (thank you so much!)...fr. reggie is slowly healing. he has a long road to travel but he has also come a very long way!!

it's hard to keep a straight face when...

...a certain student (i'm not naming names) translates this~~

"Si, posso incontarLa oggi."

to this~~

"Yes, the possum is in control today."

(for those nodding in confused agreement, the less interesting yet correct translation is "Yes, I am able to meet you today." looks like we need a bit of a vocabulary review tomorrow!)

end of year meme...

thanks, michelle!! this sounds like a terrific way to say goodbye to a fabulous year before i embrace the new one. here goes...

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? take italian classes in italy!!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? yes i did & yes i will! (that is a whole other post!!)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die? quite a few acquaintances, a friend from years back, a very favorite high school teacher, & a dear neighbor.

5. What countries did you visit? italy, haiti, jamaica, grand caymen, italy, italy again, & costa rica!

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? i am having trouble finding something i lacked in 2008...seriously.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? the week of the girlfriend gaggle...:-) a week with my best girlfriends needs no answer to "why"!!!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? getting laundry done between travel excursions.

9. What was your biggest failure? grumbling about little things that don't matter...things usually forgotten the very next hour, day, week.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? thank God, no.

11. What was the best thing you bought? plane tickets!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? D.'s patience with all my travel, most of which did not include him.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? anyone who was mean to children or animals & anyone who lied.

14. Where did most of your money go? plane tickets again!! (fuel for our autos came in a very close 2nd!)

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? holding entire conversations in italian & actually understanding & being understood.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008? leona lewis's bleeding love that was sung by every single person (y'all know who you are!!!!) at the top of their lungs in our suburban on the way to the beach at midnight to see noctiluca ...although after 6 months of text messages, the gaggle of girlfriends just *might* have a differing opinion about that one! & no, i cannot post the song you are thinking about L., J. & Mrs. T.!!!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer? (a) happier all the time! (b) the very same (c) richer in love for sure!!!

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? slept on the transatlantic flights!

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? slept while at my travel destinations.

20. How did you spend Christmas? Christmas eve Mass with the family, gift exchanging Christmas morn, a bit o' surfing at the beach, & way too much indulging in brunch, dinner & baked goodies followed by a power nap that seemed to stretch right into bedtime!

21. Did you fall in love in 2008? over & over again, every single day.

22. What was your favorite TV program? the office (US version, though i also enjoyed a BBC episode or two)...bears, beets, battlestar galactica for all you fans out there!

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? awww, don't be hatin'

24. What was the best book you read? quo vadis

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? how to download songs from iTunes onto my iPod!!

26. What did you want and get? at the risk of sounding like a broken record...travel!!!

27. What did you want and not get? not a thing...

28. What was your favorite film of this year? into the wild (though it came out in 2007, i did not see it until this year)

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? i turned 42 & the day involved fabulous company, an awesome meal, a great wine, coffee, & chocolate!!!

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? my year was immeasurably satisfying as it was...

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? whatever fits into my backpack & looks good at my destination!

32. What kept you sane? my soul sisters!!!

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? johnny depp (get in line girls!!!) with a bit of edwin on the side!

34. What political issue stirred you the most? piacere doesn't do politics online!

35. Who did you miss? the soul sisters & my parents

36. Who was the best new person you met? all my blog buddies (+ chef christopher) i was blessed to meet in person!

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. let go & let God.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. "the moment i let go of it was the moment i got more than i could handle; the moment i jumped off of it was the moment i touched down." thank u by alanis morissette

that's all for me, folks! if you do this meme, please drop me a line so that i may enjoy your answers. ciao for now...

crossing off items on his list...

well, costa rica was good to Little Man (& his momma & sister too!). not only did he cross off the "to see" items on his list from last week, he was even able to check off his add-on's! what else did he want to experience?

4. toucans

5. & swimming in the pacific

but first, back to the original list...

#1. sloths were a very big deal on this journey. we saw 3 of them, all in the wild & both the 2 toed & 3 toed varieties, one quite close up!this guy lived up to his name as he literally creeped across that wire, making for a wonderful photo shoot & some dangerous traffic conditions on a curvy mountain road...#2. howler monkeys...would you believe we had more howler monkey action in the roma zoo last july than in the costa rican rainforest? but we did see (but sadly, did not hear!) one lonely guy in all his glory in manuel antonio national park...#3. a volcano...poas to be precise...after a walk through an enchanted cloud forest, we saw...

more clouds!

but for one very fleeting moment we could see the crater. you will have to take my word for it~ this is a view into the volcano...in spite of the dense cloud cover there is nothing quite like standing at the edge of something that immense with the wind howling & clouds rushing over you. eruptions?...no, thank you very much! (but our guide did park with the car facing the entrance for fast escapes...)

#4. toucans...not in the wild on this trip, but we did see 2 different types at la paz waterfall gardens. one guy was quite open to photo ops...very much the ham even though we had interrupted his napping attempt!...#5. the pacific ocean...after a hike through manuel antonio's rainforest, we spent a most appreciated afternoon swimming in this secluded cove& sunning (napping) on the beach with a friend...a little exploring for good measure...& finally, a spectacular sunset...my list??...it really did parallel Little Man's quite nicely! throw in a hike in the rainforest along waterfalls...with guide who spoke italian quite nicely & i am one happy girl!

we returned last night with a heartful of wonderful memories & bags full of coffees...(yes, at one point we were surrounded by coffee...i wish i could post the smells!!), but the best thing we brought home from costa rica...Baby Girl!!!...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

places we stayed on this trip...hotel mar y luna in quepos...room with 3 beds & a private bath (but cold showers!) that was a real budget friendly experience...

& hostel pangea in san jose...this was a really hip establishment with a rooftop restaurant, free internet & a pool (+ a hot shower one night!)...Baby Girl truly knows how to plan travel...she handled all our lodging, food & travel within costa rica, all on a sweet dime!

excused absences...

do you think my italian instructor will buy it if i call off due to travel in italia?? i hope so...because i'm thinking a week in italia trumps 2 classes in the US for sure! Little Man & i are off to the eternal city (& then some) after Thankgiving in PA with our extended family.

alas, Baby Girl is still in the rainforest for this holiday - hanging out, not with turkeys but with toucans (her research project)! she is home in less than a month & you know i cannot wait to see her!!

blogging might be a bit light until after friday (& pending my ability to find the internet POS in roma). may all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving this week have a wonderful holiday counting your blessings...

foreign language help...

if i write my italian lessons with a "fluent" pen, maybe i will be too! (ok, so i'm an optimist...)

it's the struggle that keeps you strong

2 nights ago i dreamt that i was standing in the midst of a tempest~ swirling about my calm center were pieces of paper with italian words written on them. no matter how hard i tried, i could not take ahold of a single one. my frustrations grew, & then, as often happens in sleep, i drifted to another place, unrelated. but when morning came, the vividness of that vocabulary/grammar dream that haunted me.normally, the study of anything has come easily to me throughout my entire life, including 4 years of spanish in high school & the study of latin on my own in adulthood. my momma told me that i used to sleepwalk, coming to her in the middle of the night & speaking to her in rapid-fire spanish (she couldn't say if my grammar was on, but she could identify the words). maybe the ease was helped by the fact that 5 days a week we were immersed in a classroom with an excellent teacher who allowed not a word of english from day one, nor would she communicate with me outside the classroom in english. it really was sink or swim with her!


whatever it was, it is embedded in my brain to such a degree that while traveling in italy i have been asked on multiple occasions if i am spanish...not american, spanish! go figure! last summer my instructor was forever correcting little spanish errors too (porque vs. perche...a never ending pronunciation battle for 2 weeks). my time in roma with her was a precious gift to me. & it was also an experience that gave me clarity of things beyond my basic grammar skills...i began to understand a frustration that i did not remember from previous language study.


of course i could recall technical things & use my resources to convey needs & hold a simple conversation, but i could not convey emotions beyond very simple things...i could not state my feelings...i could not express myself in a deeper way. i found that, for the first time in my life, i preferred to be silent. (those of you who know me in the real world, please do not laugh ;-)...for i know you believe that to be impossible!) & now i realize that in the beauty of that silence some deeper learning was taking place.


i was starting to grasp some nuances of this language that captivates me...i could hear the stressed syllables of words that had eluded me...i could hear word order in sentences. i also learned how humbling it can be to be 2 steps behind a speaker's words...to lose an important concept because i was translating 3 sentences behind what had just been said.


yesterday my oldest son noticed my exasperation & asked me about it...i told him that for the umpteenth time that day i had hit a wall in my understanding of italian. (verb tenses & prepositions have become the bane of my existence.)he wondered aloud why i would even attempt this. hmmmm...i love language. italian is incredibly beautiful...i never tire of hearing it spoken. i have been lulled to sleep by its lyrical enchantment. i cannot explain why it draws me to itself. really, i don't care...it is part of my path. & in talking with my son i realized that the challenge of this language for me personally is like a breath of the crisp fall air which surrounded me this morning. it invigorates my senses & the reward of returning to italy with a bit more skill in italian far outweighs my frustrations with expression...quite the opposite~~ it fuels me to apply myself even more. (this one's for you
Baby Girl, my language-immersed child...a little bit of home)...

postcards from home for Baby Girl...

dear Baby Girl,


autumn rolled in right on cue this week, something your tropical self probably isn't missing!we're hard pressed to get above 80 (it's almost wool sock weather for me!!)...& the wind!!! holy cow, it's incessant. Little Man is forecasting gale force stuff over the next few days based on the development of an off shore low pressure system .we'll see! i'm just trying not to get blown over...all that action in the atlantic makes for good things by the beach for surfers like your brother.he caught some serious rides on monday afternoon...i'm sure it's not quite the stuff from the pacific that you are privvy to, but it works for him.the school days are much like you would remember...Little Man is in the final battle between aeneas & turnus. Big Bro is on the cusp of the divine comedy (you know i can't wait for that again!). & i just finished my course...hitting the "send" button for that last paper was pure joy! i have exactly one week to indulge in some fiction (looking forward to this) before the next class begins.maybe i should re-read the secret life of bees in preparation for next month? speaking of books-into-movies, guess what comes to the big screen on friday...nights in rodanthe! you know how much we enjoyed watching them film on the beach. i'll let you know how it compares to the read.today's big news...it's back to the big city for my weekly italian classes!! the boys are marking time before next year's travel with their own italian lessons...with me at home (remember those days?).but i am getting rusty since july with verb tenses, & when i got the email informing of this year's classes, well, wild horses could not keep me away...well, maybe wild dogs! speaking of the canine species...you know your hounds are in mourning over your absence.it's really quite pathetic...they lie outside your bedroom door with the saddest of looks. (unless there is food to be had or a football to fetch)well, Baby Girl, it's really just ordinary time here & we wait expectantly for more tales from you, our intrepid traveler...tales of toucans & poison dart frogs & howler monkeys!


love your momma

guessing games & travel updates...

first a little game...who can guess the very first stop the 3 of us made upon our arrival in roma (not counting our apartment to drop the bags)? no hints will be given & D. is definitely not eligible to play...;-) leave your guess in the comments...

our weekend has been fabulous. friday we took the train to firenze& spent the weekend showing Mrs. T. all the awesome sights.

mr. meteorologist, Little Man, is on break from both weather (although at the moment he is scouting his radar websites in the internet point while i am typing this) & his italian classes (we left the books in roma...shhhhhh, don't tell our instructor ;-)later today we hop the train back to roma & tomorrow it is back to class! a presto!!

& we're off!!!

see y'all on the other side of the 'pond'! D., keep the homefires burning...ci vediamo, mio amore!