Uncategorized, Venetian-ness

Always looking

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I’m working on a new post, but meanwhile I thought I’d share some glimpses from the past few weeks:

On the last day of March we had an invigorating ten minutes of crashing hailstones. I’d have photographed the fabulous foam they raised in hitting the canal outside, but I was afraid that my little camera would suffer from the bombardment.
There were a few workmen nearby the morning I passed, so I very approximately assumed that these apples were part of their lunch menu. Though why the fruit seemed better on the ledge than in a bag will never be explained.
The next day, two apples were gone. And so were the workmen, though they hadn’t removed the floorboards, or whatever those wooden hatches are called that cover drying street-mortar. The only theory that completely explains this is aliens. Or the mentally precarious guy who lives in the house in the background. I was tempted to ask him about the apples, then decided I’d like to continue to enjoy the day.
And speaking of things sitting all alone with no reasonable context, there’s the can placed by an occult hand out in the middle of the innocent, unoffending street. If the Biennale had opened I’d know it was art. As it is, no telling.
Down a very short and narrow side street far across town I discovered a bolt that puts the average lock to shame. Count of Monte Cristo, anyone?
And why have I never noticed this unusual script before? One reason: I rarely pass through Campo San Zan Degola’. But this jumped out at me the other day. Gosh – the year the Order of Alexander Nevsky was founded.
Fog creates problems if you need to get to where the vaporetto isn’t going, but when the sun comes out there are all sorts of lovely surprises.

 

 

 

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  2. ”then [I] decided I’d like to continue to enjoy the day”. Absolutely wonderful. Thanks for another great post. Wonderful pictures as well. You notice things that I think few people have the time to these days and I, for one, am grateful for that. Call it “mindfulness “ if you want but it gives some perspective to the hustle and bustle of, let’s say Stockholm.

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    1. Thanks, Andreas. “Just looking” has to be one of the most important things we can do (right up there with “just listening,” actually). My mother used to make a game of looking for new things along the same old everyday streets in our town — she might have been staving off boredom — and she always found something. I give her huge amounts of credit if I manage to notice things. By the way, it also worked extremely well when I was living in New York (speaking of hustle and bustle). You should try it, I think you’d be surprised what you’ll discover if you make it your mission.

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