GENOVA!

I flew over to Genova last Friday and immediately, upon arriving ... stories began to unfold.

It was a madly-busy, exquisitely-joyfilled 5-days.  And I couldn't reach the back-end of my website for some reason but honestly, I had no spare time. 

I stayed with the kindest friends out at Arenzano.  And I met their friend, the talented artist Giorgio Bormida.  Actually, I wanted to cook dinner for Francesca and Beppe before I left, and ended up cooking for Giorgio too.  It was only as I began dinner prep that I thought ... 'What have I done??!  Cooking isn't really my best thing'.  But they were all very kind.

I caught up with some of my favourite people there in the city but completely missed out on catching up with others.  It was lovely to catch up with Stefano, the owner/operator of Righicam, over lunch.  And with Francesca and Norma, from Le Gramole.

And then there was that 24 hours spent working with Diana, staying at B&B Baur with her and Micha.  It was sublime ... photographs and words to follow in the days to come.  I heard my first cuckoo as I sat by the open window in the morning.  And the views  ...

The kindness of Genovese strangers stunned me and ... well, it made me smile.  A lot really.  I met a lovely guy at a concert in Palazzo Ducale, who kindly explained all that was happening, to Outi and I.  But Outi and I is another whole story.

Meanwhile, here I am, just in from an 11-hour day of traveling.  It was a day that involved a train, a taxi, a plane from Genova to Rome, a bus to and from the plane, another plane to Brussels, then a bus and a tram home.

I shall return with photographs downloaded, with a mind rested and ready to tell you some stories.

Immersion ...

I'm finally putting together a presentation series of images taken in New Zealand.

We're seeing the Belgian Bloke's parents tomorrow.  It's Easter and they were curious to see where that son of theirs spent 5 weeks wandering.

It's easier to work on the photographs now that (perhaps) the last of the snow has fallen.  There was a light fall as I headed out into the night last night with my lovely Irish Fiona friend.  Irish is mentioned because I have this forever friend always referred to as, since I was 13, my friend Fiona.  That would be the New Zealand Fiona.

Anyway, I love this photograph.  I took it out on one of those Otago Peninsula roads that we wandered and it's my desktop background for now.

Mercury Bay, New Zealand

On that last day in New Zealand, I got up early and photographed the mist burning off  ... just wandering.

Then later, Peter and Christine, Michael too, dropped the boat in the water and took us out on Mercury Bay. 

A stunning day with good people.

Otago Peninsula, New Zealand

I used to live out here on the peninsula.  There are so many stunning stories to tell of the Albatross Colony, of penguin and seal colonies, of beaches and birdlife, of a coastline that leaves you looking out across an ocean that doesn't stop until it reaches South America ... some 6,000kms away.

Loved it.

The Road ...

I love this kind of view ...an empty road opening up in front of me.

Gert informed me that this song is mine, in those days as he watched me fill with the joy of that South Island roadtrip in the little red car.

I hate leaving, dislike saying goodbye, right up until that moment I'm on my way and then I am happiness-filled.

Leaving is one of those things I do best.  And out there, I usually stretch myself to the limit of what I can stand and beyond sometimes, then it's okay to come home again.

I'm not a wild thing, I'm just a smalltime wanderer who doesn't like to stand still for too long.

A Favourite Scene, New Zealand

There are tracks like this, leading to the beach, back home in any New Zealand summer.

That place where the delicate scent of the yellow lupin merges with the smell of the sea is fairly close to heaven ... or that's my idea of it all.