October 7, 2016 at 4:19 pm (Artists and Writers, destinations, Family, Places, postaday, Publishers, Traveling, Venice, Women Writers)
Tags: Calyx Press, Fridays, Italy, Margarita Donnelly, memories, nostalgia, postaday, postaweek, Venice, Wordpress
More from the watershed trip self took with Margarita Donnelly (founder and managing editor of Calyx Press) in April/May 2013, less than two years before she succumbed to cancer. We rented a small two-bedroom apartment in Ca’ San Toma, Venice. Margarita’s adventurous spirit far exceeded self’s.

The Bridge of Sighs, April 2013: View From the Doge’s Palace

San Marco Square on a Rainy April Day

Self on the Rialto Bridge, April 2013: Margarita must have taken the picture. Even though self’s face isn’t visible, she really likes this picture for the mysterious red umbrella.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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October 3, 2016 at 4:01 pm (destinations, Links, Places, postaday, Traveling, Venice)
Tags: Italy, Margarita Donnelly, memories, Mondays, postaday, postaweek, Venice, Wordpress
- For this challenge, show us what nostalgia means to you — perhaps a moment or scene that makes you feel wistful, happy, sad, or somehow longing for the past.
— Jeff Golenski, The Daily Post
Self went with Margarita Donnelly to Venice in April 2013. Margarita was battling breast cancer. She passed away in December 2014.
What self remembers of that trip was that she was always getting lost. The streets of Venice are labyrinthine.
These pictures have a melancholy feel. Her Venice is more the Don’t Look Now Venice instead of the hectic, tourist-packed place it really is.

This was self’s second trip. The first time was when she was 11:


Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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June 27, 2016 at 9:29 pm (Artists and Writers, Family, postaday, Traveling, Women Writers)
Tags: England, memories, Mondays, Oxford, postaday, postaweek, San Francisco, Venice, Wordpress
“. . . give us subjects that are in tune with each other.”
— Michelle W., The Daily Post

San Marco Square, Venice: November 2015

San Francisco: October 2015

Joan McGavin, Jenny Lewis, and Jenny’s Granddaughter Abigail in Oxford, UK: July 2015
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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April 2, 2016 at 12:23 am (Places, postaday, Traveling, Venice)
Tags: Fridays, memories, New York, postaday, postaweek, travel, Venice, Wordpress
The Daily Post Photo Challenge this week: LANDSCAPE.
- “Show us your best establishing shot, out in nature or in an urban setting.”
Here are shots of two of self’s favorite cities: New York and Venice.

Late Afternoon, Heading Into Manhattan By Train, September 2015

Manhattan, November 2015

San Marco Square, Venice, November 2015
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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March 5, 2016 at 6:02 pm (Family, Links, Niece, postaday, Traveling, Venice)
Tags: Italy, postaday, postaweek, restaurants, Saturdays, travel, Venice, Wordpress
The Daily Post Photo Challenge for the week is HARMONY.
My take: “A blissful state of contentment. Only achieved when mind/body/emotions are in a state of peaceful awareness.”
First Photo: Venice, November 2015
Second and Third Photos: Tuscany, November 2015

Self and Irene, Café Florian, San Marco Square, Venice: November, 2015

View From a Vineyard in Tuscany, November 2015

More of Tuscany: November 2015
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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March 5, 2016 at 5:19 am (Artists and Writers, Books, destinations, Family, Niece, postaday, Traveling, Venice)
Tags: art, fairy tales, Fridays, Italy, Mendocino, postaday, postaweek, travel, Venice, Wordpress
This week’s Daily Post Photo Challenge is HARMONY: “the quality of forming a pleasing and consistent whole.” So here are three attempts to illustrate the quality: the first two are examples of harmonies of color. The last is an example of harmony of shape.
First, an illustration from a child’s picture book: Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Wild Swans,” illustrated by Susan Jeffers. The subject is Elise, lying in the forest. Her gown is green, and other shades of green are all around her:

A Susan Jeffers Illustration for Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Wild Swans”
Next, a handmade book by an Artist-in-Residence at the Mendocino Art Center, Mary-Ellen Campbell. Self loves the delicate (tonal) harmonies and shadings:

One of Mary-Ellen Campbell’s Handmade Books. She is having her own solo exhibit at the Mendocino Art Center, April 1 – 30, 2016.
Finally, from a quickie trip to Italy that self and her niece Irene took last November, the immortal La Serenisima, Venice:

San Marco Square, Venice, November 2015: The curves are repeated in the windows the lampposts, the round tables, the aluminum chairs, and the bowl of ice cream in the foreground.
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February 2, 2016 at 12:53 am (Places, postaday, Traveling, Venice)
Tags: memories, photography, postaday, postaweek, travel, Venice, Wordpress
The Daily Post Photo Challenge this week is VIBRANT.
Self thinks the photos below, which she took in Venice in November 2015, vividly fit the bill:

Throng, San Marco Square, Venice: November 2015

Red Coat Woman, San Marco Square, Venice: November 2015

Sidewalk Café, San Marco Square, Venice: November 2015
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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January 23, 2016 at 1:39 am (Family, postaday, Relatives, Traveling, Venice, Weather)
Tags: Fridays, Italy, memories, postaday, postaweek, Venice, Wordpress
This week, the WordPress Daily Post Photo Challenge is OPTIMISTIC.
“How do you fuel the fires of optimism?”
Self’s answer is: by traveling. Because traveling makes self rely on a very specific skill set: adventurousness, curiosity, and determination.
And every time she goes on a trip, she has reason to confirm that she still possesses each of those qualities, in spades.
Here, a picture from a recent trip self and her niece, Irene, took to Italy.
The entire trip was Irene’s idea. Self cannot thank her enough. We used Florence as home base and explored outward.

San Marco Square, Venice: November 2015

Irene and Self! San Gimidgiano, Italy, November 2015
It never rained, not once. The weather was perfect: sunny and warm. Almost T-shirt weather!
Irene is a woman of great energy and positive drive. A great traveling companion.

Oh what a perfect time was had by all! Florence, Italy, November 2015
That trip was surely one of self’s best trips, ever!
Stay tuned.
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December 25, 2015 at 2:11 am (Links, Places, postaday, Traveling, Venice)
Tags: Florence, indulgences, Italy, memories, postaday, travel, Venice
Self likes the way the last Daily Post Photo Challenge Prompt for 2015 (NOW) made her focus on pictures that weren’t necessarily well-composed, that weren’t what she normally thinks of as “good” but which unmistakably captured/evoked a place or person or thing that exists in the moment:

Venice, From a Vaporetto, November 2015: One day, this city will sink into the sea.

And now, a street: Florence, November 2015

On the Punta Vecchio in Florence: November 2015
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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December 22, 2015 at 7:50 am (Links, postaday)
Tags: Florence, Italy, Mondays, New York, postaday, restaurants, Venice
The WordPress Photo Challenge this week is GATHERINGS.
First: a gathering of tables glimpsed on New York’s High Line, a few days ago.

Outdoor Seating at Terroir, a Restaurant on the High Line

An Outdoor Café in San Marco Square, Venice: early November, 2015

The plaza in front of the Santa Maria dei Fiori in Florence: early November, 2015
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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