This Past Week

Annamaria on Monday

Like a lot of the world, I have been keping track of headlines, but since I have decided to limit my news consumption, this past week, instead of watching it on TV, I kept in touch with my friends in LA to make sure they were okay.  They are sad for what is happening to the their city and their friends, but my loved ones, I am grateful to say, are okay.

I have also paid close attention to the eulogies for Jimmy Carter, since I have been a huge admirer of his presidency and his charitable work.  Other than that, I have - I am delighted to say, spent a lot of time working on Vera&Tolliver #5, which is still in its first draft stage.

Here is a report on what else I have been up to this week. Unfortunately, it will not read the way I wanted it to.  With great difficulty, I lined up all my pictures in chronological order.  It wasn't until I uploaded them that I remembered, or to be honest was reminded, that Blogger much prefers randomness to orderliness.  So here is my week in random order.  I have already spent more than an hour getting the photos onto my laptop from my phone.  You see, the tech gods have refused to believe that I have permission to share anything that is on my phone with my computer. And vice-versa. “You do not have permission to…” the gods say to many things I think ought to be easy  

On the other hand, things for me are not all bad.  For instance, lucky me, here is where I sit when I work here in Florence:

Once in a while, sitting in that chair I am distracted by something out on the terrace.  A couple of days ago, it was a bird.  It was obviously a pigeon, but not of the sort one ordinarily sees here in the historic center.  This bird was aristocratic in his looks and demeanor, walking slowly and erectly.  I took this shot and looked him up in my bird app. Uncommon creature that he is, he is called a Common Wood Pigeon.  I shared the photo with Stan and told him that, according to the app, Italy is not his territory.  Stan declared that he is a tourist!    

Chuch of Ognisanti:

Giotto's crucifix, beautifully restored

Botticelli's Fresco of Saint Augustin

The nave of this jewel. 

Last week I reposted a blog about the feast of The Epiphany, with photos of the traditional parade of years past.  This year the Florentines decided to forgo that Renaissance costumes and the band.  Instead, we had a visit from La Befana, who appeared on the roof of the Palazzo Vecchio, descended in a huge cherry picker, and distributed lots and lots of candies and little gifts to the children who crowded the square.

It wasn't until I got close that I learned that La Befana was being played by a man with a mustache and beard.  I think that must have had something to do with the cherry picker trip.  But I wonder what the little children made of the female witch with a beard.

I really wish this last section of the blog was chronological, so please take a look at all the pictures, and then I will explain.

These are photos taken during a visit to the new costume and fashion museum in Palazzo Pitti. The building itself is extraordinary. To get an idea of its massive size, take a look at the photo just above.  See that doorway just about in the middle that shows up as black. A close-up of that is in the next picture above. 

The clothing from the past on display in the museum can certainly be seen as works of art.  The workmanship and designs are beautiful and very impressive.  But this visit confirmed an idea that I have been pondering for sometime now.  It seems to me that women's fashion, and the expectation of what a well-dressed women looks like, are part of the subjugation of the female sex. When a man walks into a room, a man walks into a room.  But when a woman walks into a room, people are supposed to see a dress walking into a room.  Yes, I am sorry to say, and I apologise for this, that my politics made the enjoyment of the art of women's clothing design less than it could otherwise have been.

I apologise also for the sloppy way this blog will look to MIE readers.  I have waisted way too much time trying left-justify the text.  No dice!

It is now 5:45 in the evening, and I have been at this since 10 o'clock this morning.  I hope that you will believe me that only part of the problem is my own capability to do a perfect job.  To me, at least, a lot of the blame goes to the designers of Blogger.  And a lot is because of the incredibly widespread increasing complication of technology in general. They are constantly changing apps, making what used to be fairly simple, too me anyway, incomprehensible.