... if I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.
Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space
One Small Italian Cat, in Liguria
I loved this cat but it seemed so confused ... wanting affection, and yet hissing when we tried to stroke it.
This was our last view of it. Sitting there, at the top of the stairs, watching us watching it.
A Small Roadtrip, in the Italian Riveria
Joey the Wondercar, Leah's valiant little Cinquecento, (Fiat 500) took us on a delicious road-trip yesterday. We wandered, really meandered, from Genova to Portofino and back again, with many stops along the way ... lunch, coffee, aperitivo.
That would be Leah, the Canadian blogger writing over at, Help I Live With My Italian Mother In Law.
The one who laughingly told me, that my camera gear was the only thing that saved me from a soaking yesterday.
This water came that close, as seen below ...
The Ligurian coastline is completely underrated, almost a secret, but I kind of like the peace of that.
And as you can see, if you know New Zealand ... it reminds me of home.
Everything was beautiful out there. Divine even, without exaggeration.
There was this confused feral cat, who stretched and smooched nearby but hissed if we reached out to stroke her. She was a beautiful creature.
And we met up with Leah's little dog soul-mate, and I whispered to him as I clicked the shutter.
And then?
Well, we found these hammocks, up in the olive grove, above Leah's house.
I have wanted a hammock my whole entire life. I had spent a few hours in one as a child and loved it. I thought I had died and gone heaven yesterday, up there on the top of the hill at Portofino, in the hammock hanging between two olive trees, as the sun started its slide into sunset.
And on the way home, walking back through the city, people called out and greeted me. And that's gold when you live in a country not your own.
It was a good day ...
Grazie mille, Leah.