Manarola

Manarola is a magical little town on the Mediterranean Sea. The time we spent here was the best part of our trip. We climbed its hills, ate its wonderful pesto and pastries and swam in the lovely little cove. Many thanks to Kristen Wolden Nitz for suggesting we visit Cinque Terre.

Manarola is the second town in Cinque Terre. From south to north, they are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterosso. On this trip, we saw Riomaggiore (briefly) and Manarola. I guess we’ll have to go back to catch the rest.

I'm going to have to get a polarizing filter or figure out how to use GIMP to make the sky bluer. The above shot was taken in the early morning.

This is from the top of the town, looking down. Note the terraces for grapevines.

You can see the breakwater that protects the little harbor. When the weather gets rough, they lift the boats up up to the town with a winch.

This is where they grow grapes for wine. Someone calculated that there is more stone in the terraces of Cinque Terre than in the Great Wall of China. I have no way to verify this.

Cropped sunset

Manarola at night.

Overheard #165

"There are interesting things you can do when you integrate into the complex plane."

Via dell’ Amore

We traveled next to Cinque Terre, or Five Lands. They are small towns perched on the cliffs over the Mediterranean Sea. It was a gorgeous place, and I took a zillion pictures. In an effort to divide them into manageable blog posts, I’ll have one post on Via dell’Amore, one on the town of Manarola and one on the ocean.

The five towns were quite isolated until a railway line was built in the 1920s, and a trail was made between Riomaggiore, the first (southern most) town and its northern neighbor, Manarola. Landslides closed the path until after WWII when it was reopened and became a meeting place for boys and girls from the two towns. A journalist coined the name, and the path became Cinque Terre’s lover’s lane.

A hiking trail and a railroad now connect all five towns. Due to a landslide between Manarola (town #2) and Corniglia (town #3) and a railroad strike, we only saw Manarola. This was hardly a hardship, and we hope to return to see the rest.

Our first glimpse of Manarola as we walked along Via dell’ Amore from the train station in Riomaggiore.

These fences protect hikers from landslides.

A better view of the coast.

The rocks and retaining walls of Via dell’ Amore are covered with amorous graffiti. It is also traditional for couples to leave a small padlock attached to the fences as a token of undying love. This is the iconic statue for Via dell’ Amore, complete with padlocks. People also tie strings, bits of plastic bags or anything they can find to the fence.

We added a ribbon.

Sunset

Another sunset – because I can’t take this kind of shot in mid-Michigan.

Seagull

Lucca

The resort arranged a brief afternoon trip to Lucca. I’m sure there is more to this town than we had time to discover.

The town is still enclosed by its ancient wall and has expanded upward, not outward. From the streets, all you can see is tall, old buildings rising above you. In some places, even the wall isn’t visible.

Throughout history, Lucca has had three walls. The first was a rectangular structure built by the Romans. A larger stone wall was built in medieval times. When cannons were invented, the medieval wall was reinforced. The Lucchesi built a 100-foot wide mound of dirt faced with bricks and devoted a third of their income for a hundred years to its construction. As it turned out, none of the other city states ever attacked Lucca. Now the wall has been converted to a park with a bike path, lawns and trees. The rounded area you see in the picture was where they used to have cannons.

Lucca was known for its silk trade and wealthy merchants flaunted their affluence by building towers. At one time the Lucca had 160 towers. This is in a space enclosed by a wall with a circumference of only 2.5 miles. The most famous is Torre Guinigi. We had a hard time finding it because you can’t see it behind other the tall buildings. I had to take a picture into the sun, but it was the only glimpse I was likely to get. This tower has a rooftop garden, but we didn’t have time to take the tour.

A lovely old church.

The view from the train station while we waited to travel to Cinque Terre.

Overheard #164

"It’s outgrown its etymology."

Barga

The ancient town of Barga is a short drive from Il Ciocco, and the conference organizers arranged an afternoon trip to visit this ancient walled city. As we waited for the shuttle bus, my husband asked if I had my camera. I'd left it in the room! I ran up six flights of steps to retrieve it, forgetting about the altitude. (Gasp).

This cathedral is Barga's crowning glory.

Some of the windows are made of thin slices of marble, so the inside of the duomo was extremely dark. I learned later that you can pay a euro to turn on the lights and take pictures.

Having a wall around the town prevents urban sprawl. The cobblestone streets were delightfully shaded and cool on a hot September afternoon. We heard several music students practicing opera as we wandered around the town.

Click on the picture to see the detail in the carving.

Looking down a narrow street.

My next post will be about Lucca.

Il Ciocco

We went to Italy because my husband was asked to speak at a scientific conference held at the Il Ciocco resort in Tuscany.

I took a picture of the Maritime Alps through the airplane window although I didn't expect it to come out.

This is from our balcony. It was a bit hazy, but the views were breathtaking.

This is a nearby vinyard. If you click on the picture to enlarge, you'll be able to see solar panels behind the white building.

This old house picked up the glow from the setting sun.

The sun setting behind the mountains. The conference ran from Sunday evening through Friday morning. They held sessions in the mornings and evenings and let the scientists out in the afternoons to enjoy the resort, hike, or visit nearby towns. While the meettings were in session, I looked out over these views and worked on my newest novel.

The ancient town of Barga as seen from the terrace of Il Ciocco. My next post will show pictures from our excursion to Barga.

Overheard #163

"Napping is my superpower."

On My Way Home

The Paris airport allows 15 minutes of free Wi Fi, so here I am. It was a wonderful trip, and as soon as I dig my way out from under the laundry and get my photos organized, I'll be back to write about the details.

An Award!

Sue Bradford Edwards was kind enough to give my blog this award. I'm supposed to write about myself and nominate other bloggers. I'll do my homework when I return from Italy. In the meantime, I wanted to say how delighted I am.

(As a fun note, I logged on through Google Italia. When I spell-checked, it marked almost all of the words - because they're not Italian.  J)

Sunday

The palate is changing to green and gold. Fall is coming.

Overheard #162

"Morning walks are good for realizing what you might already know."

Intermittent Blogging

On Friday, I’m going to Italy. I’ve never been to Europe, and I can’t wait.

I won’t be blogging much for the next couple weeks. I have some photos scheduled for Sunday and an Overheard coming up on Friday, but I suspect my posts will be haphazard for a while. I hope to have lots of pictures and stories when I get back.

Random Acts of Publicity and the Royal Family of Montmaray

 A Brief History of Montmaray and The FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper (Alfred A. Knopf) describe the fictional royal family of the imaginary island kingdom of Montmaray. The first two books in the series take place in the turbulent period between the World Wars. If you’re a Dorothy L. Sayers fan, this series will bring back fond memories of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. The British upper classes happily ignored the political upheaval and the suffering of the poor in favor of tea parties and debutant balls.

Cooper has created a fascinating cast of characters. The setting is rich and the history fascinating. I’m looking forward to the third book in the series.

The first two books in the Montmaray Journal series were recommended to me by Amy Huntley. Check out her webpage and blog, and definitely read her book, The Everafter.

Sunday

I love the color blue.

Overheard #161

"It takes no courage to do something you’re an expert at."

Music v. The Environment

Tonight on NPR, they described a Justice Department raid on the Gibson guitar factory for illegal use of endangered woods, specifically ebony and rosewood from Madagascar. Protecting the world’s rainforests is of critical importance. On the other hand, these guitars must look beautiful and sound wonderful. I wish I knew more about the type of wood used to make guitars. Apparently, some of these same laws apply to vintage instruments that were made before environmental laws were passed. In the early 1970s, I played an ebony clarinet and have no idea where the wood came from. It’s an interesting controversy.

I was positive the lead-out music would be Norwegian Wood by the Beatles. Nope. It was My Guitar Gently Weeps. If you’ve never heard that song on ukulele, click here.

Sunday

Update

It’s been a month since the crit group retreat, and I’ve done almost no writing. Yeah, I did some research for a new project until I got stumped with a logical conundrum in the plot. I also submitted a manuscript (SSA) to The Whole NovelWorkshop put on by the Highlights Foundation. To my surprise, it was accepted. I’m excited to be spending a week in Honesdale and looking forward to expert mentorship on my project.

The last month has been a busy time. We traveled to Washington DC then Vancouver for family weddings. I’ve been helping Jeremy with his college applications, and outfitting Sam’s new college apartment. My volunteer responsibilities for the band and choir have been huge. However, this is my last year as a high school mom.

Today I started revising SSA one more time before I have to send it to Carolyn Coman or Stephen Roxburgh for the Whole Novel Workshop. Next week, I must clear several more hours and finish this draft.

Overheard #160

"You could always eat the inner bark of trees."

Sunday

I went to the Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Art and photographed spider webs. It had rained earlier.

Overheard #159

"When times are bad, prepare for when they're good."

The Spy Museum

I had a great time at The Spy Museum in Washington DC! I studied each display and read every plaque, but have no photographs because cameras are not allowed inside. The tour starts with basic surveillance techniques, like dead drops and spotting hidden cameras. There is an excellent video on how to pick a lock, and a wonderful display of recording devices. Micro-technology has certainly improved over the years.

The section on codes is well-done, and I got to see an Enigma machine. I would have liked to see a diagram of the scrambling circuitry, but perhaps that is too technical for the target audience. The historical rooms are fascinating, and I’m eager to read more about the spies of the American Revolution and Civil War. The story of the tunnel under the Berlin Wall is also something that I’ll have to investigate further.

Even though I spent four hours at the museum, I could easily go back and learn more. After some internal debate, I decided not to buy a SPY GIRL T-shirt. It would blow my cover.

Sunday

I love them not.

Overheard #158

"They call me mellow death metal."

The Company We Keep

The Company We Keep: a husband-and-wife true-life spy story

by Robert Baer and Dayna Baer

Crown Publishers, 2011

If you want to know how CIA operatives spend their days, read this book.



I have more spy stuff coming. Several more espionage-related books are on my to-read list. On Friday, I’ll visit the Spy Museum in Washington DC.

Sunday

At last, some nature photos

  a white-faced meadowhawk with sun on his wings

They seem to like to arch their wings forward.

I tried to consider negative space when I cropped these pictures. 

Overheard #157

"There are only three ways to really get to know a person: marry them, spy on them, or play Scrabble with them."

Writing Retreat and Band Camp

The World’s Greatest Critique Group spent four days at a retreat center in Saugatuck. When I left home, I was unsure what I would work on. I started with a sequel to SSA, but my plan for this book didn’t fit well with the novel format I learned from Martha Alderson’s Blockbuster Plot series, so I put it aside for now. I switched to a new project and didn’t expect to get far, but ideas came, and I ended up with a plot plan, twelve chapters outlined and one chapter written.

On Monday morning, I headed out to band camp. For incoming freshmen, band camp is their first high school experience. Watching the transition from the middle school to the high school mind set is fascinating, and the reason why I’ve written a couple manuscripts with 14-year-old protagonists. I’ve also written novels with 17-year-old protagonists. Perhaps that’s because some of the seniors enjoy being at the top of the heap while others are ready to move on.

Photographic Evidence of Our Writing Retreat

The retreat was terrific. I'll write more about it when I finish my volunteer duty at Band Camp.

Overheard #156

"All you need is the curiosity you were born with."

Retreat

The Fourth Annual Writing Retreat of the World’s Greatest Critique Group starts tomorrow. But first, I need to:

• Decide what I’m going to work on at the retreat. G&CBS is currently being queried. SSA will soon join it. The project I’m most interested in is a sequel to SSA, but it’s silly to spend any more time on this idea before it gets a glimmer of interest. I have a couple other projects sketched out, but I’m not committed to either yet.
• Find Sam a place to live. His housing plans fell through, and at this point in the summer, student apartments in Ann Arbor are scarce. We may have landed an efficiency on the east side of town.

I’ve been hard at work organizing choir uniforms. Over 200 students participate in vocal music at our high school, and they all need concert uniforms. Because it’s easier to organize the uniforms than the kids, we label every hanger and arrange the uniforms by size. We’ve finished the pants, jackets and vests; the dresses remain.

Band camp starts on Monday. 8:00AM to 9:00PM six days running. I’m helping out on two days. This is valuable writing experience because I get to interact with lots of kids.

Overheard #155

"Seemingly, everyone who made a significant contribution to mathematics was completely insane."

Negative Space

“Negative space isn’t the absence of space but rather the space that defines the positive space.” [link]

This is my Aunt Bibi’s bird. It’s all about negative space. The sweep of the neck and the curve of the back enhance image.

As a former scientist, I’m fascinated with biological design and tend to do a lot of macro photography. For macro shots, there’s a trade off between zooming in for detail and zooming out to improve the composition of the picture. I posted this flower a couple weeks ago. The close up (with minimal negative space) shows textures and the play of light through the petals.

Backing off the flower increases the negative space and gives a sense of the wider world of the garden. 

It's a trade off.

Overheard #154

"It's not for the faint of heart. It's for the faint of mind."

Songwriting, Malware and Writing Days, Oh My

I had intended to write a thoughtful post on negative space this week with examples from my photography and applications to writing. Then Jeremy decided his band needed a songwriting room. He and Neil (drummer) cleared out another corner of our basement, picked up some salvage furniture and carpeting at MSU, and created a cute and comfortable space. That corner of the basement had been used to store a lot of stuff, but I’ve now relocated our tax return files and trashed or recycled a lot of stuff that should have been gotten rid of years ago.

Just as the basement issue was getting under control, my PC got another malware infection and had to go back to the computer hospital. All of my photo-editing software is on that computer, so Sunday’s nature photo is unlikely to happen this week.

Some members of The World’s Greatest Critique Group have planned writing days for today and Friday. To heck with all these other issues. I’m going to finish revisions this week.

Sunday

sunlight through petals

Another view of the same plant.

macro lily

The blurry green leaves in the first two pictures bother me, but my husband tells me they are negative space and therefore okay. Negative space is something I need to learn more about.

Conversations About Art and Photography

My friend, Susan Miller, is posting a painting almost every week on her blog. Check them out. Susan is a fantastic artist. I mentioned to another friend (and another fantastic artist), Ruth McNally Barshaw how impressed I was with this goal of creating a painting a week because I often have trouble getting a photograph each week to post on my blog. Ruth was surprised.

Why is it a challenge to take one photograph a week?

1. I need to find something to photograph. If I photograph the beautiful lilies in my garden, it will look exactly like a million other pictures of lilies.

2. For every photograph I post, I often take ten or twenty frames that didn’t work out.

3. I’m still learning to use my camera. It’s a complicated computer, and I don’t know everything it can do.

4. I often don’t know what I’ve taken until I view the picture on a big screen. A few weeks ago, I was concentrating getting an unusual red bug in focus before he flew away. I didn’t know until later that I’d captured the optical illusion of a giant shadow caused by the leaf’s shadow superimposed on his.

Overheard #153

"Pictures aren’t proofs."

(in case you thought seeing is believing)

Sunday

Cottonwood fluff on a crabapple 

 on a rosebud

in a spiderweb

Overheard #152

"What’s the point of being in charge if everyone gets a vote?"