Happy New Year

on the top
Originally uploaded by renatela

Till what date can we say "happy new year" to the people we meet for the first time in a year? My late grandma used to say that you can do that till Easter, my Italian colleagues think it's acceptable only till the Epiphany on January 6, my Irish colleagues just answer me "many happy returns to you too" without any comment, so I continue.

Any new year's resolution? This year I have made none. Because the things I'd like to promise myself and to others are always the same and I can't get them done anyway.

Have you seen a real snow this winter? I had to climb high on the Italian mountain to see and to touch it, where I could taste the delicious polenta with mushrooms. But as usual there was 1 hour snow in Dublin as well without actually staying on the streets. Happy winter to everyone!

travelling by reading

surrounded by zebra
Originally uploaded by renatela

I know when it started. I was waiting for the flight at Dublin's airport and as usual went to the bookshop to check for some book to read while on the airplane. The first book that got into my hands was the one about travelling around Ireland by Pete McCarthy "McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery in Ireland"and I read it with a great pleasure. I didn't realize at that time that something remained in my heart, something warm and jumpy every time I thought about some other travels.
And then I went to Africa. And then I came back. And now I'm just about to finish another travel book by Paul Theroux "Dark Star Safari" and as you can imagine it's about Africa. I don't know where it will end - but I'm keen on buying another travel book.

fresh milk

fresh milk
Originally uploaded by renatela

irish drink a lot of milk. i see them happy with their freshly bought 500 ml milk containers in the canteen eating potatoes and meet and on the top just drinking the whole half liter of milk. i see empty milk containers dropped in the streets, i see them on the windows. if someone counted would probably be surprised to find out that milk bottles by their number in the streets, especially after a weekend, are almost equal competitors for beer bottles.

i piaceri della vita: sfogliare il libro

i piaceri della vita: sfogliare il libro
Originally uploaded by renatela

Ciao ragazzi, it took me a while to post something here. It happened many times that I was full of ideas and thoughts but never went that far to post them online.

Hey, I'm proudly presenting my new toy - Canon 400d SRL camera. I know that by using a better camera one is going to make definitely better photos, but I wish to try.

In these days I'm flying a lot, business and vacation reasons, so my only sincere companion is a book. I have just finished reading "Abortionist's Daughter" by Elisabeth Hyde and now reading "Dance Dance Dance" by Haruki Murakami (in Italian). I'm back to my Japanese period. Should check what my favorite Banana Yoshimoto has published recently. However, I was a bit sick of her interest in death.

That's all for now.

searching for the snow

So, the waiting is over and the date we write today has 2007 in it.

May this year help us all to start doing the things we really desire to do, to say words we never had an opportunity or courage to say, to learn and try something new... Well well well.

I thought this polaroid photo taken on the last day of December 2006 would be a nice way to start this year, photographically speaking of course:)

Need to organize my thoughts in order to put them here or somewhere else more regularly.

let's stay in contact.

How many different ways there are to pronounce a word “pear”?

Me and my Italian colleagues were in this Thai restaurant and were served by Irish looking girl. For the dessert she explained us that they have chocolate cake, strawberry cake and pear cake. We all asked for the pear one, but she didn’t understand or pretended not to and kept saying “pardon”… We tried to pronounce that damned word in all the possible ways we could, but honestly, when you have only 3 dessert choices… Finally the girl said, “oh, pear cake”. Of course! And that’s only one example of how Irish people don’t understand and don’t help the foreigners to be understood. In Italy this didn’t happen with me.

lined-up

today i didn't make any sky photo.

for the last couple of weeks every morning i saw some beautiful sky to photograph. today - NIENTE. maybe because of the hurricane-kind wind we had last night. so many trees have finished their life tonight.

everything is so chaotic and i have such a strong need of stability and arrangement.

do you know any spell to line-up one's life just like the wind did with these clouds?