Kim asked ...

Kim asked if I was in Genova yet ...

I so am.

I have this huge and uncontrollable smile on my face.  It started as I journeyed from Milan towards the mountains and Genova ... and I can't stop it.

I've been trying not to frighten anyone, with my madly happy face, as I run errands upon arrival.  I'm working on containing it within me, as a quiet bubble of joy. 

I have a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  I have an internet connection.   I have wine ...  and I'm still smiling.  It's like that.

I am back in this city I love so well.

All kinds of threats have been made if I return without completing the book this time ... and so I must.

But Kim, yes, I am back.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Night, when words fade and things come alive.
When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again.
When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Yes

You take something from everything. Everywhere has its own riches, it’s important to open yourself to them. Travelling is above all an attitude, a way of accepting new things.

Keren Ann, Singer.

Michael Schiller, Poet

I interviewed Michael Schiller over in my Interview section way back when ...

Tonight he announced that his book, Something in Another City, is available on iPad and iPhone.

Check it out.

Ratatouille

I have fallen quietly in love with ratatouille and I am currently caught up in the madness that is discovering 79 different ways to cook it ... without Gert noticing.

Tonight's variation was ratatouille lasagne, with chicken too.

It was stunning!

He's still laughing really.  I think we're both a little desperate after the long winter of grey skies, small sunshine hours and an extreme lack of yummy fresh vegetables ... or perhaps that foggy lack of clear-thinking that led to boring meals.

There's a Di newsletter in process, an exciting development with my book on Genova, a few more workshop possibilities, a big party in Brussels, and a return to Genova next week.  It's busy ... it's delicious.

Leiden, Holland

One of our guests left his super special headphones at our place over the weekend.  Monday found Gert with a day off, us still with another day of car rental, and there we were, searching for a destination.

Since I was small, the journey has pretty much been the destination ... a journey was surely called for and so, we drove 140kms to Leiden, in Holland, and returned Jacob's headphones to himself.

It was a lovely day out and Jacob was a gracious host.  We wandered the  tiny little Dutch streets with him, finding small treasure like the house below ... it was perhaps 4 metres wide. 

Jacob took us out for a most delightful lunch at De Stathouder, thank you to Shannon for the recommendation.