Italy-Sorrento

November 19, 2019 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

It takes approximately four hours to travel by road from Rome to Sorrento. To get in and out of Sorrento, the highway goes through three tunnels, one of which is more than three miles long. Like all cities along this area of coastline, Sorrento is a city where many of the buildings hang off the edge of cliffs above the water.

This part of the primary street off the main square is full of shops and pedestrian only. Christmas decorations were already being installed. From the time we arrived until we left, the giant metal tree in the middle of the main square went from just metal to covered with greenery to the installation of lights.

A typical side street off the main street seen in the first photo. Sorrento is the perfect place for those who like shopping in all sorts of little shops or enjoy hanging out in restaurants, many of which are open air along the street, sipping cappuccino.

From the main street, we walked out to a cliff park overlooking the sea.

This photo, taken from the same spot as the previous photo, shows Mt. Vesuvius in the distance. Cities below the mountain include Naples and Pompeii. Several thousand people also live on the slopes of Vesuvius.

Again taken from the same spot, looking in the opposite direction, this photo shows the steepness of the cliffs around Sorrento. Houses, vineyards, businesses, olive and lemon groves hang off the edges. The volcanic soil here is very rich and conducive to intense, successful farming. This is lemon country where limoncello is very popular.

A few feet from the overlook, we visited a very old church courtyard. Very old is relative everywhere in Italy. New can be several hundreds of years old. I kept thinking about the US and question whether anything we have built now or even at the beginning of the country will last as long as much of what I saw in Italy.

Italy–Rome

November 18, 2019 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

Where have I been? Italy, on a trip planned for months, a trip with friends and family centered around a group of women writers with The Story Circle Network, a group focused on women telling their stories. Yes, we had classes and wrote every day. When we were not writing, we discovered a little part of Italy. The first half day we strolled through ancient Rome, starting with the Coliseum.

To the left of the Coliseum stands this arch–see a bit of the Coliseum on the right side of this photo.

The Coliseum is so large that it is impossible to take of photo of all of it at once. We were there on a holiday. There was a long line of people waiting to get inside. We did not go inside.

The arch in the first photo seen from the side.

On the other side of the Coliseum facing down a wide pedestrian only boulevard. Many of the following photos were taken along this boulevard. The trees in these photos are umbrella pines. They are everywhere in Rome and other parts of Italy south of Rome.

My daughter and grandson strolling along with friends in the background.

One of the things I found most enjoyable strolling along were the street musicians: One played classical guitar music, farther down the boulevard another was playing popular music while another man danced to it. I wanted to stop and dance along but everyone was walking fast away from me. Getting lost in Rome did not seem to be a great idea.

While sauntering along, I turned around and took a photo of the Coliseum in the distance.

In one short walk in Rome, I saw so many things from thousands of years of history, it was hard to fathom.

Away from the boulevard and walking toward Trevi Fountain, we saw this memorial. It was a rainy, stormy day. I kept thinking it is going to rain but it didn’t. In many places, the ancient, the not so ancient, and the new could all be seen in one place.

And, of course, one of the most famous places in Rome. We found a little restaurant near here. I had my first Italian cappuccino and a delectable desert which I tried to find everywhere else we went but did not. It was in a little cup, 2/3 was a creamy bottom, 1/3 was berries on top.

Walking along another route. I seem to have a little problem taking photos, walking, and keeping my fingers away from the iPAD mini frame while taking some of these photos. So much seen in a mere half day in Rome. Shortly after lunch, visiting the Trivi Fountain, and passing by the above monument, we headed on the four hour road trip to Sorrento.

I could not resist taking a video of the lush emerald Italian countryside south of Rome.

Early Blizzard

October 24, 2019 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

Yesterday 71 degrees

Balmy autumn day.

Today 31 degrees

Early blizzard continues.

October Rain in Semi-arid Country

October 1, 2019 / Juliana Lightle / 4 Comments

In the Panhandle of Texas residents greet rain with joy. We rarely get enough and when it does rain, usually it brings lightning, thunder, sometimes hail, wind, downpours. Today was different. When I arrived home, I heard the waterfall running, saw droplets on the evergreens and flowers, saw flashes of sunshine.

Autumn Flowers

September 26, 2019September 26, 2019 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

Purple and gold

carpet emerald grass

from recent rains

Note: I live on a canyon rim near Amarillo, Texas. One story as to now Amarillo acquired its name is from the fact that in the both the spring and fall, the countryside is carpeted with yellow flowers.

Summer Skies

September 3, 2019 / Juliana Lightle / 2 Comments

Sunday Sunrise Â©Dawn Wink

California Dreaming–Part Two

August 15, 2019August 15, 2019 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

My friends and I spent the last two days of my California sojourn driving to and staying in San Francisco where they have an apartment. I had not been in this part of San Francisco before and some things there surprised me. Next to their apartment building resides a grocery where we went shopping for some salad items and cheese. Much to my astonishment most prices were no greater than in Amarillo Texas, near where I live. Some items were cheaper. Who would have thought? Not me.

On the road to San Francisco.

The view from their apartment.

The purpose of our going to San Francisco rather than staying near Carmel was to see the new opera, “if I were you”, commissioned by Merola Opera. It is a modern retelling of the Faust story. The devil is female and much to my astonishment sung/acted by a young woman, Cara Collins, from Amarillo, Texas. The director, a good friend of my hosts, informed me that Cara’s teacher, Mary Jane Johnson who is famous throughout the opera world, was there also. That saying about how small the world is seemed all too true.

After the opera several of us went to a French restaurant where the waiter spoke several languages. I felt a bit envious.

After breakfast the next morning, we took a walk to Alamo Square and to The Mill, a famous coffee shop.

A view of City Hall through the trees.

Above: the Painted Ladies.

Latte at The Mill.

Then off to my flight home.

California Dreaming–Part One

August 10, 2019 / Juliana Lightle / 2 Comments

Not dreaming, real. My college roommate and husband (we all went to Grinnell College in Iowa together) moved to California a number of years ago. We take turns visiting each other at least once a year or take a trip somewhere together. This year was my turn to visit them. First, I stayed at their house near Carmel.

Taken later in the day after the fog lifted. They live where fog creeps in during the night and burns off slowly.

Late one morning we drove to Big Sur for lunch at Nepenthe. The name really fits. It is Greek for pain free or painless. Definitely this place makes everyone feel wonderful, especially the views.

Succulent heaven resides in this area and around San Francisco. Here are photos of a few near the shop below the restaurant.

On another day, we drove through the Salinas Valley to Salinas to visit the house where John Steinbeck lived and the John Steinbeck Museum. The following views show fields along the way. This is lettuce country. The majority of the lettuce consumed in the US grows in this valley.

Taken from the car window.

The following is a photo of the John Steinbeck House.

Volunteers dressed in costumes of the time serve a lovely lunch.

From an elevation nearly sea level, another day we drove on a gravel road up into the mountains above Carmel Valley to an elevation of 5000 ft. About half way to the monastery at the end of the road, the road enters Los Padres National Forest.

The pine trees in this area bear huge pine cones. The tree here and a similar one in the previous photo possess unique trunks, limbs, and foliage. I never learned the species of either. There is a parking area and some hiking trails. While not particularly difficult, the trail we took goes up and down and can be a bit steep in places. The views are spectacular.

Summer Reading

July 21, 2019 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

Last year I joined Now Read This, the online bookclub sponsored by PBS and The New York Times. Why did I join? To expand my exposure to books I might not otherwise read, to learn, to explore, to interact with others reading the same books.

I rarely read fantasy or science fiction. This summer has become an exception. The June choice, The Fifth Season by Jemisin, won the Hugo in 2016. The other two books in the trilogy won in 2017 and 2018. I wanted to know what happened to the characters so I read them all. The spine says Fantasy. I think they are more science fiction. Even people who claimed they did not like either fantasy or science fiction became like me and read them all. This series tells a futuristic tale extremely applicable to events, both social and political, in the world today, how prejudice kills both overtly and covertly, how fear of those who are different affect everyone, what it costs to live in a world where certain attitudes exist.

It took me two days to finish the July title even with chores, touchup house painting, all the things teachers attempt to do during summer break. Although I had previously read at least three books by Luis Alberto Urrea, I had not read this one, The House of Broken Angels about a family who lives back and forth across the border–San Diego and Tijuana. It is a tragic-comedy about the endurance, hopes, dreams, cooking, living of several generations. His non-fiction book, The Devil’s Highway, is a must read for those who want to understand what occurs along the US-Mexico borderlands.

In the midst of all this, I went back and reread Ursula LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. Wow, no wonder it caused a stir when it was published in the 1960s: a whole country where everyone switches back and forth between male and female and those who cannot do this are considered perverts. Additionally, the main character is described as having very dark brown skin and those who do not behave exactly as they should or politically protest are sent off to a stark camp where they work in excessive cold and eventually die.

Then I read an article about Toni Morrison and authors who do not write for people based on a certain audience, e.g. black, white. They write about what they know, what they feel, for a different purpose. One book listed was Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, a fantasy, all of which takes place in what we now think of as Nigeria. It has not one single white character in it. I kept thinking, wow. I read a lot of literature from Africa, Middle East, and Latin America. Most of the time, for better or worse, characters from other cultures show up, usually European and usually for the worse. Not in this one. If you go to a book store looking for it, look in Young Adult. Jemisin’s can be found in Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy. When I mentioned to someone I could not tell why some are categorized one way and some another, I was told there is less graphic sex in YA. Really? I cannot tell the difference.

Next on my list? I annually act as a judge in a literary contest. Three novels arrived in yesterday’s mail. Guess I need to get busy.