wondering

Back in Montreal, snow is falling and it is good to hear the Christmas tunes en Francais sur le plateau... wondering why I have this series of malfortuna... the latest news of the need for an operation and potential placement of a metal piece on my art making wrist....Could it be karma for previous lives, transgressions of the ancestors? Wondering how I shall move through this period, accept it without judgement or sadness, and simply be...Santa Rita give me strength...

slowed down

Well having broken my left wrist in a fall down a flight of stairs, I am slowed down from my usual pace. Being a left handed artist, it is extremely unsettling not to be able to DO..... realizing how much we take our abilities for granted....now i am limited to thinking and dreaming and re thinking my next moves, considering how best to handle this latest pickle in which i find myself.... if nothing else I can draw on the lesson of patience that I have learned over these last years living in Italy.

All Souls Day

Here in Italia this is an important day to remember our ancestors and those who have gone before. I think of my dear grandparents. Marie Roselyn Kelly who came from Ireland as a brave young lady of thirteen , to make a new life in Canada. She married Gordon Baker Smith, a big barrel of a man who worked his whole life at the Goodyear Tire plant in Toronto, and my grandfather Bernhard Carl Axelson, who worked so hard all his life to provide for his dear sweet daughter, my mother and his wife Ada May. Their love and efforts are not forgotten in these days of my opportunities and gifts; as I weave my way through a life of adventure, travel and discovery. I thank them on this day of all souls, for all they have given and their care and love that I continue to feel in my own time here on this planet. Grazie.

Una bellissima giornata!

The sun was shining today, gloriously warm. Working in my little garden , I felt at peace. Lots of traveling lately, and wondering and questioning and now I am here fully once again, considering the possibilities and watching for signs. Looking forward to beginning my studies in computer animation next week in Firenze....

From the opera Brundebar

I heard this on the radio the other day; a piece of the lyrics from this opera that was created and performed by the young children in a Nazi death camp. It speaks to the issues of homeless children and the situation for so many of the poor and the dispossessed of our world.
"We are all in the dumps
For diamonds are trumps.
The babies are bit
The moons in a fit
The kittens are gone to Saint Pauls
And the houses are built without walls.

Back in Italia

I had a lovely journey to Canada, and spent time in Montreal, a vibrant city full of culture and diversity. It is already getting chilly there, but it was lovely, bright and crisp. Seeing the leaves changing colours and walking in the bright sunshine was delightful. I am pleased to report a new base there "sur la plateau" and was able to transfer my objects to a great little apartment with cosy wood and a wrought iron spiral staircase at the west side and another stair of iron to the east, to reach what feels like a tree house, up among the yellow leaves of the catelpa tree. Cristoph Colomb the street, is near Laurier park. In fact Montreal is full of parks, including the Mont Royal park with my favourite sculpture of a huge angel balancing on a small sphere, with a hand reaching out to "salutare la gente" and the other hand ready to bestow a crown of laurels on some poet or artist who walks near. There are four tremendous lions below her one at each corner of the monument. It is a grand piece.

Still it is nice to return to the very quiet and less populated streets of Assisi. My garden has brought forth quantities of green beans in my absence, but my little watermelon did not get much bigger....
Auguri a tutti, and now a nnew phase begins.

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?  from my friend Bronwyn Cornelius

Da Vero

We can live beautifully with the force of imagination.

Buona Domenica Tutti

Artists and  Scientists are the watchful ones of the human race.

Settembre, Adesso tutto diverso.I see the corners and edges, looking for possibilities; ever watchful for signs.  The way is present, it is only the ability to see that we must cultivate.  Breath, open our awareness on all levels, to gather a glimpse of the precious potentiality innate in all of us....to see deeply, from the inside, where the spirit is resting.