Outside the window is the
sweetest old dog in Italy, I swear. I have seen him for several trips now
always at the same place in front of the paper store. He is getting on in years, with that white snout and is very
slow to get up, staggers a few feet and then collapsing into a fury heap, to
watch the parade of pilgrims heading down the hill to the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi. He watches the Filipino
My watercolor of the dog in Assissi. |
He watches the irreverent tourists, in tank tops,
and way too short shorts, slurping gelatos around the central fountain, shy
boys eyeing the beautiful young Italian women. I want to shout them a warning, “Before you become too
infatuated take a look at their mothers – dumpy, overweight, dour women, many
in mourning black".
I head inside the paper shop
and am engulfed in the smell of paper and leather. The handmade journals of beautiful paper, exquisite binding
and gold letters on covers are so soft to the touch. I admire the Murano glass pen handles, silver plated
inkwells, embossed stationary, deckle edged sketchbooks and lovely little thank
you cards with “Grazie” written in a beautiful script. I long to fill my bag with such treasures
but most of them come with a dear price, so all I can do is admire the
manufacturing craftsmanship that only the Italians can do. Such elegance, such superb taste is all
things made of paper. I salivate over
the lovely little books with accordion pages printed with tiny images of
Italian scenes. If I had one I
would make friends wear white gloves to look at them. I suspect they are a limited edition by a local artist,
painstakingly printing, and each one by hand. I want to sweep up an armful to take back to friends.
What a fun blog title and a wonderful variety of offerings--and that's just after three postings! I'm going to enjoy reading and seeing your work on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the launch of your blog! Am savoring each word and image.
ReplyDeleteVery much practiced and mingled dogs are substantially less prone to add to neighborhood aggravations like unending yapping or demonstrating hostility to different dogs. flea control for cats
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