I just read Murder in Matera (because my friend from college lives there and was listed in the acknowledgments, and I am going back to visit her and her husband next month), and it tells the story of the author’s ancestor who immigrated to the US. Almost all of the book takes place in the 1800s in the very poor south of Italy, and I found myself thinking about how small was the orbit of the people who lived there, like what you mention here. And then I kept thinking about how jarring it would have been for her to leave and head to America. I do understand how oppressively difficult life was, which is why so many southern Italians immigrated. Still, to my modern mind, it’s hard to imagine going somewhere knowing almost nothing about the destination.
I just ordered Murder in Matera! It sounds like a fascinating read! And I know exactly what you mean… I was just recently talking to one of our daughters about how great it is to live during a time when we can pick up the phone and have long conversations with people who are far away. We talked about how incredibly difficult it would have been for the people in the past who moved somewhere else and never saw their families again. I can’t imagine the heartbreak of watching your child get on a ship and sail away… and vice versa!
Please let me know what you think! I am still taking the vitamins you recommended and I really do think they’ve made a difference. I still lose an unreasonable amount of hair, but I think it’s slowed down dramatically.
I felt the same when traveling in Europe. I love to see you and Steve having so much fun! And Debbie, my crew love Lucinda Williams (and Ken Follet for that matter). 😎. I think I’ll join you in reading those. 💗
That heart carved in the stone! Doesn’t that just transport you and cause us to wonder about the stone mason who did that? A young man who had a crush on someone, a newlywed thinking of his bride, or a recent widower mourning his wife? I love that. So happy that you had a wonderful time on your trip (and survived the cross country trip to Michigan, omg)!
Small luxuries for me are beautiful smells, from the wafting scent of a jasmine hedge to the clean and fresh smell of really well made soaps, shower gels with essential oils, fragrances that are distilled from nature. I know that scent intolerance is on the rise; as with gluten sensitivities, I think so much of that can be laid at the feet of artificially manipulated products that are chemically based.
And I am with Mira on the chef’s knife! I have one that was a gift from Richard and I use it all the time—it makes me happy to prepare good food with it 😊
I'm with you! The smell of soap and laundry detergent are among my favorite things in the world. I have found candles that make the whole room smell like fresh laundry and it's just the best. And a good chef's knife really does make a huge difference, doesn't it? Steve got me my first really good knife set years ago and I couldn't believe the difference! It would be hard to go back to shitty knives, that's for sure. 😂
I'm happy to know someone else who loved it as much as we did! I adore all of your must-haves... My mom made us a couple of quilts and I start every day snuggled up on the couch with one of them. I got into really good looseleaf tea last year and now I can't live without my nightly mug. Books! Always and forever. Same with the chef's knife. 100%
Loved this post, You packed a lot in it! I too often wonder about the people who lived somewhere before me, and I always bless a home before leaving it, in the hopes the new people will love the home as much as we did.
I am currently re-reading the Ken Follett -Pillars of the Earth series, and it is true that in Europe you can easily to feel like a moment in a large moment of time. Ive never seen that movie. But the experience your talking about reminds me of a Lucinda Williams Song- called "Side of the Road" which can literally transport me to rural America.
I read the first Pillars of the Earth book about a hundred years ago and was literally just thinking that I should re-read it and perhaps dive into the others in the series. So funny that you brought that book up! Do you like all the books in the series equally? I can't remember why I didn't move on to the others after finishing the first.
Goodness! There is so much in this newsletter. It’s filling my head and it’s only Saturday morning. Thank you.
As I started reading this, I remembered when we met for dinner that you discussed this movie. It was a brief discussion, I wrote down the name of the movie because it definitely resonated with my being. I think at some point I looked at the text message where I wrote down about the movie and it was incoherent to me. I am so glad you mentioned it again today.
So…a lot of this concept is a complete mindfuck. It’s like those moments where you have some sort of epiphany, yet you struggle to articulate it. It is just there.
Thinking about when those moments happen I wonder- is it because of the time and space I am in and am sharing across other times?
Is it like a crazy person having a moment of lucidity?
Then I went down a rabbit hole about all sorts of things.
Is it like a person with dementia who has a moment of clarity in the now?
Is it that I’m being fed or understanding or immersed…See I’m trying to find the words…
with energy from previous humans or experiences in the space I’m in at the moment? Yes, rabbit hole.
There is even so much more to this newsletter When you talked about the little things that you take with or feel like you can’t live without and asked what that would be for me… I was perplexed.
I think of the things in my house… And there are a lot – you’ve been here - I framed it in my head as “you can only take one thing with you, what’s it gonna be?”
I let my brain breeze around. I let my mind go. I didn’t want to focus on one thing and go “Oh I like that but I like this”… I let it come to me.
Sharon‘s pots. I would take one of Sharon‘s hand built pots.
I live here. I see how this process goes. I am in those pots. She is in those pots. She is inspired by the music that is playing while she builds. If she is stuck, she changes the music. Everything in that space – perhaps in other times before us – goes in to the pot. She is married to the pot until it is built. Committed to working on it every day, come Hell or high water,or the pot will not be able to be finished.
In essence, I would be taking all of the things from that time and space… from previous times and future times with me in the form of pot. A beautiful pot. Magical on so many levels.
I think I have to stop here, even though I want to talk about boiled potatoes before you fry them, which became another epiphany for me because of how I love science… And I love a good fried potato.
"In essence, I would be taking all of the things from that time and space… from previous times and future times with me in the form of pot." - That is such a beautiful way of expressing how the pots are more than just a thing she made. I have many things that I love, but they are just things. But the things that are deeply representative of the people we love are in a different category. And also, that's the kind of thing I think about when I look at old things... especially hand made things. Like the stone with the heart carved into it in the basement of the Louvre, I wonder who poured their life into that thing?
I just read Murder in Matera (because my friend from college lives there and was listed in the acknowledgments, and I am going back to visit her and her husband next month), and it tells the story of the author’s ancestor who immigrated to the US. Almost all of the book takes place in the 1800s in the very poor south of Italy, and I found myself thinking about how small was the orbit of the people who lived there, like what you mention here. And then I kept thinking about how jarring it would have been for her to leave and head to America. I do understand how oppressively difficult life was, which is why so many southern Italians immigrated. Still, to my modern mind, it’s hard to imagine going somewhere knowing almost nothing about the destination.
I just ordered Murder in Matera! It sounds like a fascinating read! And I know exactly what you mean… I was just recently talking to one of our daughters about how great it is to live during a time when we can pick up the phone and have long conversations with people who are far away. We talked about how incredibly difficult it would have been for the people in the past who moved somewhere else and never saw their families again. I can’t imagine the heartbreak of watching your child get on a ship and sail away… and vice versa!
I got piqued! Can’t wait to taste it and also drink from the fountain of youth
Please let me know what you think! I am still taking the vitamins you recommended and I really do think they’ve made a difference. I still lose an unreasonable amount of hair, but I think it’s slowed down dramatically.
I felt the same when traveling in Europe. I love to see you and Steve having so much fun! And Debbie, my crew love Lucinda Williams (and Ken Follet for that matter). 😎. I think I’ll join you in reading those. 💗
That heart carved in the stone! Doesn’t that just transport you and cause us to wonder about the stone mason who did that? A young man who had a crush on someone, a newlywed thinking of his bride, or a recent widower mourning his wife? I love that. So happy that you had a wonderful time on your trip (and survived the cross country trip to Michigan, omg)!
Yes!!! I had all those thoughts! I would love to know who that man was and what prompted him to carve those hearts. ❤️
Small luxuries for me are beautiful smells, from the wafting scent of a jasmine hedge to the clean and fresh smell of really well made soaps, shower gels with essential oils, fragrances that are distilled from nature. I know that scent intolerance is on the rise; as with gluten sensitivities, I think so much of that can be laid at the feet of artificially manipulated products that are chemically based.
And I am with Mira on the chef’s knife! I have one that was a gift from Richard and I use it all the time—it makes me happy to prepare good food with it 😊
I'm with you! The smell of soap and laundry detergent are among my favorite things in the world. I have found candles that make the whole room smell like fresh laundry and it's just the best. And a good chef's knife really does make a huge difference, doesn't it? Steve got me my first really good knife set years ago and I couldn't believe the difference! It would be hard to go back to shitty knives, that's for sure. 😂
We loved that movie. I thought it was brilliant.
And you've been visiting some of my favorite spaces.
I also love your RV adventures. We're in a much larger space, 768 square feet, and we love our comforts too. For me the biggest must haves are:
- cozy afghan
- looseleaf teas (assorted) and tea strainer
- books
- a good chef's knife
If I have those things I can probably make anything work out
I'm happy to know someone else who loved it as much as we did! I adore all of your must-haves... My mom made us a couple of quilts and I start every day snuggled up on the couch with one of them. I got into really good looseleaf tea last year and now I can't live without my nightly mug. Books! Always and forever. Same with the chef's knife. 100%
Loved this post, You packed a lot in it! I too often wonder about the people who lived somewhere before me, and I always bless a home before leaving it, in the hopes the new people will love the home as much as we did.
I am currently re-reading the Ken Follett -Pillars of the Earth series, and it is true that in Europe you can easily to feel like a moment in a large moment of time. Ive never seen that movie. But the experience your talking about reminds me of a Lucinda Williams Song- called "Side of the Road" which can literally transport me to rural America.
I read the first Pillars of the Earth book about a hundred years ago and was literally just thinking that I should re-read it and perhaps dive into the others in the series. So funny that you brought that book up! Do you like all the books in the series equally? I can't remember why I didn't move on to the others after finishing the first.
I just finished the prequel to Pillars and I had never read it- it was super good! Loved it-
Years ago I read the one after pillars but not the final one- now I’m going to read again in sequence!
I loved that you made me want to click an affiliate link also you echoed how I feel in Europe - we vare but a blip on this earth
Ha! That's awesome. And no surprise here that you know exactly what I mean.
Goodness! There is so much in this newsletter. It’s filling my head and it’s only Saturday morning. Thank you.
As I started reading this, I remembered when we met for dinner that you discussed this movie. It was a brief discussion, I wrote down the name of the movie because it definitely resonated with my being. I think at some point I looked at the text message where I wrote down about the movie and it was incoherent to me. I am so glad you mentioned it again today.
So…a lot of this concept is a complete mindfuck. It’s like those moments where you have some sort of epiphany, yet you struggle to articulate it. It is just there.
Thinking about when those moments happen I wonder- is it because of the time and space I am in and am sharing across other times?
Is it like a crazy person having a moment of lucidity?
Then I went down a rabbit hole about all sorts of things.
Is it like a person with dementia who has a moment of clarity in the now?
Is it that I’m being fed or understanding or immersed…See I’m trying to find the words…
with energy from previous humans or experiences in the space I’m in at the moment? Yes, rabbit hole.
There is even so much more to this newsletter When you talked about the little things that you take with or feel like you can’t live without and asked what that would be for me… I was perplexed.
I think of the things in my house… And there are a lot – you’ve been here - I framed it in my head as “you can only take one thing with you, what’s it gonna be?”
I let my brain breeze around. I let my mind go. I didn’t want to focus on one thing and go “Oh I like that but I like this”… I let it come to me.
Sharon‘s pots. I would take one of Sharon‘s hand built pots.
I live here. I see how this process goes. I am in those pots. She is in those pots. She is inspired by the music that is playing while she builds. If she is stuck, she changes the music. Everything in that space – perhaps in other times before us – goes in to the pot. She is married to the pot until it is built. Committed to working on it every day, come Hell or high water,or the pot will not be able to be finished.
In essence, I would be taking all of the things from that time and space… from previous times and future times with me in the form of pot. A beautiful pot. Magical on so many levels.
I think I have to stop here, even though I want to talk about boiled potatoes before you fry them, which became another epiphany for me because of how I love science… And I love a good fried potato.
"In essence, I would be taking all of the things from that time and space… from previous times and future times with me in the form of pot." - That is such a beautiful way of expressing how the pots are more than just a thing she made. I have many things that I love, but they are just things. But the things that are deeply representative of the people we love are in a different category. And also, that's the kind of thing I think about when I look at old things... especially hand made things. Like the stone with the heart carved into it in the basement of the Louvre, I wonder who poured their life into that thing?