Alyx Dellamonica’s photostream on Flickr.
The most recent pics I’ve uploaded are from the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento. (http://www.valleyofthetemples.com/English.htm). It was a magical place, filled with temples to deities both female and male, and during the four hours we were there we saw cool ruins, new art, birds (Raptors! Desert grey shrikes! Pigeons! Um….)
We had rain, wind, sunshine, and a full bow double rainbow that afternoon. There was just no end to the magic.
Since we’ve been home, Rumble has been profoundly determined to get some snuggles out of either me or Kelly at least every three or so hours, which means a rather aggressive wake-up call at two in the morning. This has enhanced the difficulties of jetlag exponentially, and he’s decided he doesn’t care much for our usual deterrents–the squirt bottle, for example.
He’ll settle down and start taking us for granted soon, I know, but in the meantime there’s a bit of an exciting sleep deprivation issue here at Chez Dua.
Still, it’s nice to be loved, right?
In 2001, before we left for Greece with Snuffy, I bought one of those fleece blankets they make from recycled pop bottles, and wedged it into my backpack with a bunch of other warm-weather gear that I thought might be superfluous.
It turned out it wasn’t a bad idea at all. We were there in April and May, on the cusp of summer, and there were some scorching days but also more than a few really chilly ones.
This year, to celebrate the blanket’s tenth birthday, I took it back to Europe… and left it there. Hopefully someone will give it a good home. Kelly and I decided to travel light, you see–in fact, we took carry on luggage only. Our wee bags were pretty crammed when we left, and part of the plan was to jettison some old clothes and other items if we acquired new items or souvenirs.
The blanket made it all the way back to Rome before it got the boot. It was an odd but nevertheless satisfying sacrifice. And before we let it go, I asked Kelly to pose for a good-bye shot.
The working title is “The Boy who would not be Enchanted”
I had seen a wood-cut of the Moscasipay harbour once, and there is an old painting of the lighthouse in one of my cousin’s shops. Neither picture prepared me for the size of that porcelain man, for the shock of meeting his glazed, lake-blue eyes and feeling the Worldclock beneath him, the resonant tick-tock-tick blanketed in the normal sound of sea and wind, a rhythm, not really heard, that nevertheless came up through the timbers of Nightjar and seemed to find fault with the speed of my pulse.
Alyx Dellamonica’s photostream on Flickr.
I am continuing to put trip photos up in my Flickr gallery at a rate of about sixty a day. Right now, I’m revisiting at the beginning of the trip–so part of me is, happily, still in Rome. Here’s the latest selection.
photo by Kristy Boyce
The Color of Paradox
The Cage
