Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Friendships


"There are different wells within your heart. 
Some fill with each good rain, 
Others are far too deep for that." 
~hafiz


This evening, as the cool gray dusk silently deepens to a navy blue night I find myself feeling happy, peaceful, and more healed than ever. Good memories of Carlton's warm morning marigold egg yolks in their terra-cotta shells waiting to be tapped and peeled away make me happy. And I am made peaceful by memories of olive dark water, shared with Sarah, as it went rushing white frothily rejoining the celery blue river past potato shaped rocks. These are the thoughts of a watercolor artist as she has been taught to be.  

I am rejoicing in receiving and in remembering but will soon be resuming my regularly scheduled life. More than this place or this time, I will take with me the people. The beautiful people I will now always cherish and be glad to have had their adventures coincide with my own.

Thank you Bill and Sarah (and now Lois too) for your constant care, your gentle manner, and your complete passion for what you each do. Seems when passions collide 'Heaven' is formed.

And thank you all, Charlotte, Peggy, Anna and Diane, and Loretta, Amanda, Penny, and Sue. Your warm hearts shown so brightly above your painterly talents. And oh the conversations, laughter, and the joy.

This trip has a few more days to go. There are monasteries and mountains to see, but I am ever mindful of the good graces in which I am living. And the miracle, for me, is as this moment continues to roll into the next, I can actually feel my broken heart mend even more than it already has. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For all of you I am truly grateful. I am missing you already.

Do you ever rejoice while taking stock of your day? Of your life? It truly is the best medicine.

Tag. You're it!


Friday, June 10, 2016

Florence, Italy


"...keep your mind and heart open. Growth occurs most readily when you are willing to RECEIVE." ~ Vedic text

I am all packed up! Been saying 
good-bye to Florence all day!

"The Duomo" Photographed lovingly at dawn.

Tomorrow I begin the Pisa portion of this potential adventure! I spent 5 hours in the Uffizi today! It was a magical time. 


This is a mythical character painting entitled, "Fortune." Oil on wooden panel cir. 1504 by Giovanni de Lorenzo Larciani. "Depicted is Fortune being lead across the sea by a dolphin, a symbol of rapidity and instability, while clutching a sail unfurling in the wind, an allusion to the voluble and uncertain nature of her path." Ain't she wild? Just one of the hundreds of treasures I discovered at this world class museum.

Sending everyone love from across the pond...

Lani (de Lorenzo) Chaves

PS - Today would have been my 16th wedding anniversary. Was a lovely way to celebrate!