This weekend we went to Genova (aka Genoa), on the Mediterranean Sea, about 2 hours from here. It was an interesting port town, with a large medieval and rennaisance historic city center. This image is from Boccadasse, a small fishing hamlet down the coast from the city center. It was an interesting little village with colored buidings, narrow alleys up and down the steep hills leading to the sea. Going to a place like this is such a delight, when you have no preconceived ideas and never know what you might find. Things are often much better without expectations, don’t you think?
Love Books
A children’s book store in Padova.
I love books. I love to read all types of books (as evidenced by yesterday’s post). I love libraries so I don’t have to buy books! I still love bookstores and browsing. Even though I don’t read Italian, I still wander into bookstores and look around.
Taking a Look
This is from one of the first art exhibits we went to here. It was in Monza and was all of these old prints, some dating back to the 1400’s. One of our first “wow” experiences with how old everything is here, and before I knew that you weren’t supposed to take pictures!
Sometimes it’s just Pretty
That’s what I think of this photo of Bellagio on Lake Como. Just pretty. Pretty day, pretty flowers, pretty mountains, pretty town. It’s nice to just appreciate something pretty, so today here is my gift to you – this image!
There is a note on a 3×5 card on my magnet board I’ve had there for a while – “There is one action I can take for my creativity daily. What is it for today?” It’s a reminder that even when life is overwhelming, work is totally busy, I’m not having a lot of personal time for stuff I would like to do… there is one thing I can do each day for my creativity. And if I do that one thing, however small, I remain more centered, happy and true to myself because expressing my creativity is something that is a need for me in my life.
What I’ve realized in the last few days is that this photo a day effort has become this “one thing” for me in a lot of ways. Every day, I’m picking out a photo and reflecting on it a bit. I enjoy that, because it’s amazing what surprising things sometimes come out by just writing about an image. I get to share it with whoever reads this blog, which I enjoy as well. And it inspires me in other ways – to do a painting of an image that strikes me, to look for more pictures to share, to keep taking photos as we go on our adventures, to refine my eye as I progress in my photography.
So, thanks for being part of my little creative adventure here! I hope that you can also find one little thing today that inspires you.
It’s the Real Thing
Coke. And thankfully, it’s the European thing, since we don’t like Pepsi. I like this image from Pavia for the overall composition, and the image of the Coke logo (which is everywhere here) along with Patrick studying the map (which is a regular occurence as we travel around). Just kind of symbolic of our time here.
I almost forgot the update today! Patrick just reminded me. Darn those earlier meetings at work, messing up my mornings. 🙂
Happy Monday
This picture just exudes optimism to me. It is beautiful morning in Venice. The sun is shining, the reflections are beautiful and the photo just seems to say, “It’s going to be a great day.”
This morning I was reading about optimism as a habit. Like being happy, optimism can be a learned behavior. Of course, some of us have a natural bent toward the glass being half full, but that doesn’t mean if you don’t that you can’t see things that way. Because being an optimist means that you are open possibilities and solutions that are out there, instead of shutting yourself into a box with no way out. Today I’m choosing optimism. It’s going to be a great day!