Cold blood

[Spring sky in Yorkshire - although it is not officially spring yet!]

I’m cold. So cold. The central heating is on. I’m wrapped in a warm blanket and I’m thinking of getting a hot water bottle. But I’m too cold to go downstairs. I spent all morning on a football pitch watching my daughter playing. The wind was freezing and there was no sign of the sun. Maybe that’s the reason why I’m so cold now. I think the cold wind has penetrated deep into my bones and I cannot get rid of it. After so many years living in England I got used t everything - rain, mist, fog, snow etc. but I will never get used to the wind. The freezing wind. My husband - English of course – keeps on repeating that Britain is an island, what do I expect? I expect cold autumns and winters but spring? It’s the middle of March, some lovely flowers are already blossoming, so why is it still so cold???
The most ridiculous and typical Yorkshire weather forecast is when they say: today’s temperature is 10 but feels like -10!!! What does it mean? It simply means that the wind is blowing away all the sun’s hard work… So cold. So sad.
Sorry for the ranting, but tonight I just feel envious of everybody living south of Yorkshire!
Got to get the hot water bottle out now and a cup of decaf tea!!!

Italian Art

(white fly - oil on canvas)

After football this morning my daughter and I went to the centre of York to the opening of my friend Giuliana's art exhibition at the Pyramid Gallery in York. The exhibition is held in a beautiful XIV century building in Stonegate and we felt a bit embarrassed as we were partly covered in mud from the football pitch. Giuliana is a great Italian artist who's lived for over 25 years in the UK. She paints watercolours, oils and monoprints inspired to her childhood memories in Tuscany and reminiscent of her father’s mosaic studio. She also gets her inspiration from the Yorkshire coast and countryside and she’s experimenting with new media.

(sea blue - watercolor)

I fell in love with Giuliana's work, even before meeting her. We had just moved to England and I was feeling very homesick, especially because of the miserable spring weather. During a weekend visit in the lovely village of Helmsley, we got caught by a sudden shower and we sheltered in a small art gallery. Some of Giuliana’s paintings were exhibited there, among them this fantastic oil painting below.

(Oil painting with hand painted frame. It is inspired by the Florence flood in 1966 - I think - and the two acrobats on the left represent the people’s hard work and ‘juggling’ to get their homes and city back on track again)

Although my husband and I have totally different tastes with regard to art, we immediately agreed on this. To cut a long story short we bought the painting, managed to track down Giuliana to buy some more directly from her and we were so lucky that together with some beautiful art works we also found some great friends in Giuliana and her husband Gordon.

My living room looks like a small gallery of Giuliana's works! Here is a watercoulour of my beloved Venezia:

Please find some samples of Giuliana’s newest work below:

(Ligurian summer, oil on canvas)

(forest breeze - mixed media, with beach sand)

(Tuscan blue, watercolor)

(poppy field, watercolor)

(ancient path, watercolor)

(Tuscan memories, mixed media with sand and mosaics)

If you wish to see more, please visit Giuliana's website at www.giulianalazzerini.com)

I Love the Moon

Since I was a child I always been fascinated by the Moon. As far as I can remember I wanted to become an astronaut. When I realized it was not possible I wanted to study astronomy until I found out that at University you spend most of your time studying maths and physics rather than in front of a telescope. And that was not for me.

Still the Moon remains my passion and my object of interest. A couple of days/nights ago a beautiful phenomenon occurred involving the Moon and planet Venus: a conjunction. A conjunction is the name given to occasions when two or more celestial bodies come close to one-another in the sky. They are never physically close, of course - conjunctions are simply a "line-of-sight" effect when objects just happen to be in the same area of sky as seen from Earth

My friend Roberto was so clever to be able to capture it over my hometown sky in Italy. See his pictures above and below.

And more or less at the same time the lovely Juliet of Crafty Green Poet posted this beautiful poem about the Moon, my dear Moon.

marzipan moon rises slowly

through rusting clouds

shrinking herself paler

until she sits white

high in the sky

the lights of a plane

flash on and off

below her.

Thanks Roberto and thanks Juliet. These are what I call the small joys of life...

Help! I need a caffeine fix!

I don’t drink lots of coffee and I don’t like it plain - just give me macchiato, cappuccino and latte every time and I’m happy – so I did not expect this kind of withdrawal symptoms. I’m used to headaches so that’s not so bad.

The biggest thing I’ve noticed is the overwhelming sleepiness. I just can’t get enough sleep. As a devout coffee drinker, I accepted the fact that I would never have the most normal sleeping patterns and I accept that. I got work done. I am a night owl and I enjoy that. Now it seems as though I cannot stay awake past 10 pm without wanting to doze off or read a book without getting very tired.

I know it seems like for someone who hasn’t had coffee in six days (and counting) these are some pretty broad statements, but caffeine withdrawal is, from what I understand, a very quick thing to take full effect.
I don’t know how I’m going to manage until Easter day, especially as during my last week of coffee abstinence I will be in Italy where I usually spend most of my time visiting friends and family (who offer you espressos all the time and get offended if you decline them!) or meeting them in our favourite coffee bar!

To cheer myself up I took some photos of the first flowers in my garden. I think they are pretty nice, especially as I haven’t looked after them or even planted them, at least not since a very long time!

What are you giving up for Lent?

‘Giving up’ is all based on the story of Jesus fasting for 40 days in the wilderness before beginning his public ministry. Lent is 40 days of preparation for Easter, a time for soul-searching and repentance.

I was raised Catholic, so every year my mom would make me give up stuff for Lent. I always tried to give up homework or vegetables, but since she wouldn't let me get away with that I ended up going without sweets, chocolate or something like that.

Now that I’m older and wiser (???), I could see practicing Lent even if you're not Catholic, just as a way to appreciate things you take for granted...or perhaps as a way to find out there are some things in your life that you just didn't need as bad as you always thought you did.

So what would you give up for Lent?

(This is my hint...)

Happy Mardi Gras!

In England, (and the rest of the UK) the Tuesday before Lent is known as Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday). On that day it is traditional to eat pancakes, toss pancakes and take part in pancake races.

The origins of eating pancakes arose from Christians who observe Lent and wanted to use up all the rich foods in their cupboards before Lent. During Lent eggs, sugar and butter were not allowed so these ingredients were used to make pancakes.

A different way to spend the day is in Scarborough, Yorkshire, where everyone assembles on the promenade to skip. Long ropes are stretched across the road and there maybe be ten or more people skipping on one rope.

The origins of this customs are not known but skipping was once a magical game, associated with the sowing and spouting of seeds, which may have been played on barrows (burial mounds) during the Middle Ages.

What do you think, skipping or rather eating pancakes????

Carnevale

Carnevale (Carnival), has been celebrated for centuries throughout Italy. The word may well derive from carne vale - 'farewell to meat' - which would explain the function of the celebration: an opportunity to indulge and use up such treats before the start of Lent (like an extended Pancake Day).

In modern Italy Carnevale is generally a time for children, who are led, carried and wheeled around town dressed in costumes - from cute fluffy animal suits to musketeers and Harry Potters, leaving a trail of confetti, sweets and 'silly string' littering streets and piazzas. Sometimes the celebrations extend to organised events for the whole community, but on the whole it's not a very important time for adults.

In Venice, however, the tourist board and hoteliers hit upon a fantastic money-earner in the 1980s when they revived a picturesque version of Venice's past. In Venice it's the grown-ups who have most of the fun, with masked balls, costume parades and a slightly antiseptic nostalgia for more decadent times.

The Venice Carnival began in 1039, and after 1162 was officially used as a symbolic welcoming of entry for rulers of the city upon their return, for example after victory in the war against Ulrico, Patriarch of Aquileia. Later the carnival also was an occasion in medieval times for processions celebrating marriages. Although generally for the upper classes, the masquerade balls transfigured into a more public affair in the 16th century when people donned the colourful masks to free themselves from judging neighbours, all of whom knew each other in such a small city. Too much decadence throughout the middle ages meant that the wearing of the masks became strictly limited to the ‘Carnevale’, as at one stage masks were worn on a daily basis but later banned, and so traditionally the carnival represents the last acceptable opulence binge annually before Lent.

However much the modern Carnival may be contrived for tourists, it's undeniably atmospheric to walk down a lane in Venice and pass cloaked and masked figures. The tourist board and hotels urge their guests to participate by wearing at least a mask as they tour the town. It can be an exciting time for children: as long as the masks don't scare them, there are plenty of opportunities for fun. The city is very busy, particularly during the two Carnival weekends, and there is a genuinely festive atmosphere.

Costumes and masks largely provide the grandeur and mystique to the Carnival. Costumes in calle, campelli, lace, brocade, velvet and satins are elaborate, rich, detailed and evoke a magical feeling. These costumes combined with an appropriate mask allow the wearer to escape into a world where he can live his fantasy.

Costumes fall into two types the carnival costume and the historical costume, both allow one to indulge in an orgy of elaborate and rich dressing. Masks like the Bauta, were used by both men and women but not girls of marriageable age. The mask comes with a small cloak over the shoulders and a witch style hat and a large black cloak.

However much the modern Carnival may be contrived for tourists, it's undeniably atmospheric to walk down a lane in Venice and pass cloaked and masked figures. The tourist board and hotels urge their guests to participate by wearing at least a mask as they tour the town. It can be an exciting time for children: as long as the masks don't scare them, there are plenty of opportunities for fun. The city is very busy, particularly during the two Carnival weekends, and there is a genuinely festive atmosphere.

The hedonistic extravagance that has always been synonymous with the Venice Carnival still lives on today through the beauty of the mastered fashion and appreciation of arts in general.

Sorry if I sound like sponsored by the Venice Tourist Board (!!!), but the Carnevale di Venezia is such a unique event that you should experience it at least once in your life!

(Photos kindly provided by my "reporter-in-location", the lovely Giusy)