outtie

I'm heading to Italy tomorrow with my sweetie. Whooo! Vacation. 2 weeks. Meeting up with the parents and sister.

Rome. Ravello. Venice. Verona. Pizza. Gnocchi. Gelato. Pecorino. Chianti. Oi bambino!

The first time I went to Rome, I was using a 35mm camera. The second time, I walked all over town until 2am, too excited to sleep. This time?

back to the big city

Last week I was given the opportunity to take 3 work days and go to a class about Rainwater Harvesting. I've never been sent anywhere for anything that a boss paid for, neither time to go or class fees. We learned so much about rainwater. I dream (literally) about rainwater and tanks and how we can all have safe, clean water without all those expensive pipes everywhere, or draining aquifers before than they can fill up again. All we need are tanks, and boy are there tanks. And I know, basically, how to plumb and treat the water coming off your rooftops. If I didn't want to move to some lonely prairie or sunny riverfront spot in a pine forest, I do now. Off the grid with my hair in braids.

My training was downtown. I walked from my house, all the way down Jackson Street, past little Saigon and past Asian Fusion restaurants and Dim Sum hangouts to the County building where all the toilets are flushed by rain caught on the roof and stored in the basement. The first day I walked and I was so on edge. Every person lurking under the freeway or hanging out in a doorway, was most certainly about to jump me or steal my bag. The hills seemed too steep, the cars seemed too fast and the noise hurt my ears. I got home and realized, I've been suburbanized. Too many months in my car, driving over an hour a day, insulated from other people and the noise they make. I got blisters on my feet and sore legs. By the end of the third day however, I was moving faster and easier and I wasn't afraid anymore. I was back to my urban self.

The other day I took a bus, and had a similar experience. I used to be packed elbow to elbow on the bus ride home, and I didn't care. I didn't love it, but it was just what I did. This time, everyone was bothering me. Long cell phone conversations in languages I didn't know, slow enterers and exiters, and the general feeling of being stuck in the window seat with a stranger blocking your way all weighed down on me, and I was cranky. Can't believe that I used to do that every day.

Today, I have just returned from Stonefest. A stone festival (obvi) where I spent the entire day chiseling, breaking, trimming, lifting, laying and settling 4" slabs of stone from Arkansas into a traditional stone beehive structure, a Clochán. My body hurts and my fingers are smashed, but I feel like a new woman. This whole, have your boss invest in you idea, is pretty great. I wonder if my dreams about rainfall calculations will turn into having a piece of stone break right where I want it to when I hit it with my rock hammer. BTW, the long pieces sticking out like shelves are steps, so you can finish the top of the structure.