I’ve become a big fan of Brandi Carlile this winter, having discovered her through her work with Tanya Tucker and her documentary on the singer.
I’ve been reading her memoir, Broken Horses, and when I read this passage, I completely related:
Brandi is right. I can remember right now the heavenly scent of the fur of my black quarter horse and how I loved to stroke his long, strong neck and study his big black eyes. I loved hanging from his neck too. When riding him, I loved his mane. Sometimes my dad would shave it off, but I loved it long. And I loved his forelock as well. If I had known then what I know now, I would have decorated my black horse, in the way they did in the European courts. It would have been a more humble version, but I would have loved it and my horse enjoyed all of my attention (we had a special bond, he and I) and I think he’s have borne it well.
A few years ago I had the good fortune to visit Morocco. I loved it and found my way back later for a second time. I’m hoping there will still be at least a 3rd time!
In the meantime, I can gaze at this lovely object I was lucky enough to bring home. It’s my first name in Arabic. I love it!
I have my name painted at the door of the Eiffel Tower by a Chinese artist! Don’t you as well?
This talented and enterprising Asian man (perhaps Chinese?) set up a small stand at the foot of the Tower and painted names for 5 Euro each. I stopped and watched him and joined in the fun.
Below, the letter L
Below, the letter a
The letter u
The letter r
The letter e
I am really partial to this, the double letter t
No, no, my favorite letter is this final a, in the shape of the Eiffel Tower!
I also commissioned him to create the name James for my son. I gave James his work of art for Christmas.
He had set up a stand near the foot of the Eiffel Tower. I commissioned him to paint two works, one of my son’s name and one of mine. It was fun to watch him create these colorful paintings with flowers, birds, and characters.
Today’s pst includes some of the other paintings housed within this fine museum in the center of Florence. See earlier post entitled True Confessions for info on why these pics are formatted as they are.
In roughly the center of Florence stands what is currently known as the title above, a small museum space in what used to be a 14th century convent. This little museum holds a major landmark of Italian Renaissance painting, Andrea del Castagno’s Last Supper fresco. Amazingly, Badari seems not to know of this work in his Lives if the Artists. That’s probably because it was housed in a female only convent and relatively unknown before the convent was suppressed in the 1860s.
The reason my photos in this post are not edited from my iPhone is because they were taken in Live mode and…it’s a long story. See my previous post entitled True Confessions.
The room conserved is the former refectory of the convent, which harbors the well-conserved The Last Supper, as well as Castagno’s Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels, originally above a door in the convent. The small museum also displays other fresco designs and works by Castagno, Neri di Bicci, Paolo Schiavo, and Raffaello da Montelupo.
Here are some pictures I took of these artworks and the museum in late 2019 while living in Florence.
I recently had some troubles with my laptop which necessitated a visit to the Apple Store. I will do just about anything to avoid going there. I’d rather go to the dentist.
But I went and got my issues resolved and, while there, signed up for a bunch of classes on all my devices. I’ve attended 2 so far.
The first class I went to was about taking photos on the iPhone. I do this every day of the week, every week of the month… I take a lot of pictures on my phone and I think, if I do say so myself, that I get some pretty outstanding shots.
However, I’ve never understood certain things about my photos on iPhone or the app. And, doggone it, the class cleared up those questions! Who’d a thunk it!
Live Photos. What are they? Why do I get them sometimes accidentally and other times I don’t. This was one of my questions. I learned the answers and also found out that the 3000+ Live Photos I’ve been storing on my devices and in the cloud was taking up a lot more space than my non-live photos. The Apple people recommended I save my Live Photos as regular photos, delete the original Live Photo, and save space while still having the image.
So, that’s what I’ve been spending a lot of time doing this month. It’s time-consuming, but I feel its necessary.
And, guess what! By so doing the above, I’m coming across a lot of photos I intended to post here but never did because it was the final months of 2019, pre-Covid, and I was traveling around Italy a lot and taking a ton of photos (some of them inadvertently Live), and never did anything with them. Even when Covid hit and I was locked in my apartment in Florence and bored. I shoulda done this then. Hindsight.
So, I’m going to be writing many posts over the next few weeks having to do with sights I’ve seen in Italy and France over the past few years. I hope you enjoy looking at them. I enjoyed living them, even if I am doing a lot of administrative work now to get them sorted!
get back, lauretta! 
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