Peggy's Sunglasses

As I've mentioned before, I took the boys to Italy at Christmas after my husband died the summer before. And, as I've confessed, we were the stupidest visitors maybe in the history of Italian tourism. We knew nothing. We literally stumbled upon nearly everything. I'd say Innocents Abroad, but that gives us way too much credit.

Anyway, our first stop after landing in Milan was Venice ~ La Serenissima. Heaven!

The good thing about Venice, of which there are so many, is you can't get lost. Sure, you can wander aimlessly but unless you swim off, you will eventually get where you are going. Kindah nice.

During one of our wanderings, we stumbled upon the Guggenheim museum. So wonderful ~ even now it makes me breathless. 

As we fell over the threshold of the Guggenheim, we fell into a quirky, eccentric, amazing space filled with art by the titans of the 20th Century. The Guggenheim was featuring a Picasso studio retrospective in the first gallery. One of the very nice things about traveling with the boys was spending all day and night with them. More things to find out about your children. The Bear loves Picasso. We lingered in the gallery as we studied the pieces in detail.

After nearly closing the place down, we exited through the gift shop. Such totally fun and quirky things. Then ~ whoa! Sunglasses. Utterly cool ~ even, terrifyingly amazing. Batwing sunglasses. I'd say "retro" but well, they weren't retro when Peggy wore them. Well one thing lead to another and I bought a pair.

That's one of the great things about being older. Everyone quits giving you the eyebrow as you fully embrace the idiosyncratic, the personal. Singular describes it perfectly. I subscribe fully to being sui generis because (to quote the great Bill ~ Shakespeare, that is) I bear a charmed life.

It's grand!

Day 57 Everyday Grateful ~

Sunny and completely beautiful.

With global warming,

Seattle will soon be like Los Angeles in the '50's

 ~ blue skies, clean air. 

The forecast calls for six days of summer.

Amazing.

 http://www.guggenheimstore.org/pegusu.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2168640/Canaletto-drawing-Venice-sold-family-idea-true-value--2million.html

Oh, Venice! You Poor Dear! What Fresh Hell is This? No, This is Not Photoshopped!

Is there no justice? Is there no appreciation of beauty? Must it always be about money? While I generally disapprove of coarseness in discourse, the phase "turd in a punchbowl" does come to mind when I see a giant cruise ship in the Venice Lagoon.

As I've mentioned before, there seem to be two types of people in the world ~ those who can take or leave Venice and those (of us) who adore La Serenissima. There is no joy in the Serenissima camp right now.

So, I was reading the Daily Mail (my guilty pleasure) and was reminded again of the vulgarity of cruise ships, in general and in using Venice as a port-of-call, in particular. Jeez! I mean really! Look at the size of that monstrosity compared with the dome of San Marco. Creeps me out!

Apparently, there is even a move afoot to relocate the famous Venice fishmarket to accommodate the cruise lines.

It feels like all the things one might love about Venice and its pedestrian way of life is ruined with these hulking behemoths vomiting out 4500 passengers at a time. And, what do the Venetians and those tourists who came on foot get? Ruined skyline. Destroyed views. Destructive waves! Pollution! Merde!

Sounds like a petition drive is needed. And, wonders of wonders, there is one. Click on the link below if you, please pardon the expression, want to put your oar in the water.

Oh beautiful, beautiful Venice!

Day 43 Everyday Grateful ~

Drizzle. Drizzly. Drizzling.

More work on a lot of small projects

Hope the bunnies in the garden are staying dry!

A bit more atmospheric than I'd like in June,

but, lovely and green nonethelesss.

http://www.petizionionline.it/petizione/salviamo-un-pezzo-di-storia-di-venezia-no-alla-chiusura-del-mercato-del-pesce-di-rialto/3328

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2154779/A-giant-cruise-ship-endorsed-Sophia-Loren-swept-Venice-sparking-protests-spoilt-views-air-pollution.html

Shopping in Venice

When my sons and I went to Italy the first time, we were absolutely "Innocents Abroad." Gawd! It's painful now to think about how utterly clueless we were. 'Course, Rick had just died and we were fleeing Christmas in Seattle, so I guess we had an excuse.

We landed in Milan, stayed the night and took the train to Venice the next day.

Psst ~ The next time you go to Milan and take the train ~ look up when you get to the station. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. I know. I know. Yes, it was a salute to Fascist power under Mussolini but it is a wonderful mix of very strong Art Deco and thirty years of design ideas from the beginning of the project in 1906. Overlooking Mussolini and all his really terrible pals, it's a really wonderful train station.

When we got to Venice, it was dark, raining and Logan was sick. We stayed at Hotel Paganelli (Go there! Stay there!) overlooking all'isola di S. Giorgio. For people who knew nothing, we stumbled into paradise. The Bear has been living in Italy for over four years and he still stays at Hotel Paganelli when he goes to Venice and recommends it to friends.

There seems to be two kinds of people in the world ~ those who loathe Venice and those who adore it. I'm in the adoring camp. Serenissima! It rained like hell the entire time we were there. The water was literally jumping up six to twelve inches high as it percolated up through the cracks in the stones in the piazza (acqua alta); the city had put up elevated walkways all around the city; the wind was rattling the shutters. It was glorious!

Just to give you an idea of what aqua alta is all about, when you go through the San Marco Basilica, look at the floor. Acqua alta is the main reason the sublime mosaic floor looks like a washboard. An ankle breaker but, atmospheric as hell.

Mostly, we walked around. Since we were so completely stupid, most of our stay in Venice was tourism by braille. We literally fell over wonderful places. The Guggenheim Museum with its Picasso Studio retrospective for one.

But, if you are shopping in Venice, you need to know these things:

First: Fortuny. I have complete confidence that God's apartment in Heaven has Fortuny lighting, some wonderful tassels and maybe a throw or two. There isn't one thing in the Fortuny showroom that isn't utterly divine and perfect in every way. Bring your wallet. Expensive but every dollar will be well-spent.


Second: Murano glass. Two things: It's expensive and really, really beautiful. I recommend loving it there and buying it used / vintage in the US, if you can.

When Rick's parents went to Venice in the 50's, they came back with a little Murano chandelier which they put up in their dining room in Windermere. When they sold their home in Seattle, the little Murano chandelier came to live with us. It is entirely too small to be a ceiling fixture. So, I took it to Harold's Lighting in Wallingford and had Kim retrofit the stem for me.

In my mind, I thought of the little Murano chandelier as a lamp not a ceiling fixture. I had Kim give me a really long raw brass extension from the ceiling to the chandelier so it ends up sitting about where you would expect a lamp shade to be over a table. I just love it! It's the perfect solution for a very small Murano chandelier.

The second thing about Murano glass ~ jewelry. When my daughter-in-law went to visit friends in Dubai before the baby was born, the Bear and I went to Venice. He and I walked around being tourists. While he looked at gold coins to have made into cuff links (another wonderful story), I looked at the multi-strand, small glass bead necklaces in the shops along our path. This was true window shopping for me. Mostly because it felt like the necklaces were a million dollars. I couldn't even desire them, they were so expensive.

And, then in a very small shop, I saw a wonderful  gold-filled glass bead multi-strand necklace. Oooh, it was so lovely. The Bear scooped it up and bought it for me on the spot for my birthday. "Isn't a trip to Italy enough of a present?" I asked. "No, " he said. "You need something with a bow on it."

I love that boy!

Third: Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday / Carnevale masks. Carnevale di Venezia is the festival that leads up to Lent. It is street parties, masked balls, a riotous time had by all. If you are going to buy a mask in Venice, get a nice one. One worth lugging around for the rest of your trip. Stay away from the touristy places and get one you'll be glad to have when you get home. A friend brought me a wonderful leather mask painted in harlequin that I tucked into the base of a lamp in my dining room. And, hanging on the wall in my bathroom, a fantastic mask with a crown of playing cards with images of cats. Amazing.

The thing I love about Italy is how generous and friendly the people are. It really is La Dolce Vita twenty-four hours a day. Sure there was that whole unpleasantness with Mussolini and his band of thugs, but mostly all the men look like George Clooney; the women are beautiful, the food is wonderful (I'll tell you about wild Sardinian artichokes later); the art is jaw-dropping; Prosecco for breakfast, lunch and dinner and it doesn't even seem weird. I mean, really, this is a culture where buying a champagne sabre to open your Prosecco is not considered a gag gift!

Is that a great country or what!

So, if you're going to Venice . . . tuck a Donna Leon novel into your carry-on, go shopping, eat lots of good food, walk along the Riva degli Schiavoni, hang out in the Piazza San Marco (the living room of Europe), drink lots of red wine or Prosecco, get lost in the windy streets and have a wonderful time.

Day 28 Everyday Grateful ~ 
jobs checked off my list
great night's sleep.
Happy

http://www.fortuny.com/
http://www.venetiastudium.com/
http://www.hotelpaganelli.com/
http://www.donnaleon.net/
http://www.haroldslighting.com/

Not the $2000 Mirror

A few days ago, I received about six pounds of Restoration Hardware catalogues in the mail. Over the years, as a designer, I've purchased a number of items there. Not much of late. You remember the economic downturn? It definitely put a crimp in my Restoration Hardware budget.

But, I digress. So, I was leafing through the biggest of the three catalogues when I stopped. Whoa, that mirror looks kindah familiar. Mmmm, where have I seen it? OMG ~ it's my bathroom mirror ~ the one I bought a thousand years ago at Deluxe Junk in Fremont for a coupla hundred dollars.

Holy cow! The Restoration Hardware mirror is $2595. OK, OK, it's on sale for $2119. But, still not even in the same county as free.

 

Let's see ~ the same beautiful shape; the same polka-dotty edge banding; the same deep bevel. Mine is slightly smaller than the Restoration Hardware gem ~ about 10 inches shorter but still a complete showstopper. Oh, and mine did meet with what I would affectionately call an industrial accident when it was taken down to access the plumbing in the wall behind it and got knocked over by wrestling cats, but, other than that ~ bingo. A match. And, as I recall, about $1800 less than the Restoration Hardware beauty.

The lesson really is ~ keep your eyes open. If you do, you are likely to find a gem ~ they are out there.

Oh, and the little pink button tucked into the edge of the mirror? One day during my campaign for Congress (that's a story in itself), my campaign manager came in, walked over and never saying a word, pinned it on my lapel. I've had it every since. It's good to remind yourself every day how special you are in the universe. It's easy to forget.

Day 12 Everyday Grateful ~ spent the day on the lake

working on my video for Kickstarter.