In each glamourous life, a little laundry must be done. So that’s why I’m sitting in a hot little laundromat called Lavapiumone in Bologna on a Monday night.
From the pictures it looked pretty nice. Clearly it was a promo shot. I was really supposed to go to LaveLave but somehow missed it altogether. It had seats. Continue reading
Watch the shadow cross the floor (sun in an empty room)
We don’t live here anymore (sun in an empty room)
Sun in an empty room, The Weakerthans
So our 190 boxes had been moved to the new house and it was time to go back and take one last look at where we used to live.
It had been pouring down rain all day. As I stepped into my old living room for the last time, the sun came out. It hit me that this would be the last time I’d see the sun slant across this floor. We don’t live here anymore. Continue reading
When I heard of the attacks in Paris, my heart broke. Is this what the civilized world had come to? Yet junior seemed unmoved.
While watching the CBC, tears streaming down my face, I worried about my friends, my friend’s friends, my family in DK, my family in Italy. Where would the cowardly acts of stupidity stop?
Junior says, “It’s not happening here, it’s not happening to people I know. I’ll save my tears for then, otherwise I’ll run out of tears.” I understand that. He’s watched me cry for almost a decade but I haven’t run out yet. Continue reading
There is a cemetery in Coriano, Italy. Mostly Canadians are buried there.
The battle of Coriano Ridge was hard won by the Canadians but it proved to be the turning point in the battle for Italy. As a Canadian, I never have learned about this battle, never even knew this cemetery existed.
It was an Italian I met by chance that insisted that I needed to go and see this cemetery. “You are Canadian! You must go!” he insisted. Continue reading
“Am I the only sane person here?!!? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”
Mugatu, Zoolander
I’ve been riding the transit system on the damp coast for about 2 decades (yikes!) now and I’ve come to realise that most people really are like lemmings – where one goes, others follow. And it doesn’t matter how foolhardy the act is, people will follow, not once stopping to think that perhaps they shouldn’t. Continue reading
I call the place I live the damp coast for a reason. It rains. A lot.
Winter is wet, Spring is wet. June is wet. We like to call it June-uary.
Normally our summers start in July, if we’re lucky. August can be dodgy; September and October are cool but usually lovely. I remember one November where it rained for 20 days solid.
But this year the sun started shining in April. And it hasn’t stopped since.
Something has changed. This year we are having an endless summer. Continue reading
Dreams Road Sign
You ask me what’s my pleasure,
A movie or a measure.
I’ll have a cup of tea
And tell you of my dreamin’
Dreamin’ is free.
Blondie (Dreamin’)
When I think of all the dreams I’ve had over the years, I wonder why some came true, some didn’t and some didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted. Continue reading
Here’s a glorious quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson about starting each day fresh, with a clean slate.
“Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense. Continue reading
