My Florentine Apartment in Via dei Macci

Assisi, Spa Resort

Street scene, Assisi

Benessere

http://www.nunassisi.com/

Spa Complex Assisi... ah Girls where are you...?

Mount Subasio, Assisi

 

Roman frescoes

Fresco in the church near the Spanish Steps, Rome.

When all is not as it seems

Rome by night

Trevi Fountain Roma

Italian Youth

Our Lady of Perpetual Soccour, Roma

Danza

Danza

Nursing Exam, Roma

Sadly, I did not succeed in passing the nursing exam in Rome this morning. I failed by 'one' point.

My heart feels heavy and aches a little. I know that it was ambitious and precarious, but my will was strong - and I stand by my will.

Even though I have wept at the outcome (my tears are from frustration - at the energy expended and the opportunites that remain beyond my grasp) I am deeply proud of the courage I  have shown, the trust I placed in myself and my abilities, and the depths I can go to, to follow my passion and pursue my dreams.

'What now...?' The question I had only circumnavigated.

Well, right now, I am trying to slow down and absorb the incredible experiences of the morning and to put my sadness and disappointment behind me. Then perhaps I'll go out for a latte and hibernate with a late afternoon a nap. Then later when I am ready to venture out onto the streets of Rome, I will try to ignite my senses with the aspects of Italy that fill my soul with light and hope.

There is a reason why today did not go as I had desired. Knowing why might appease my discomfort... but only God know's why.

I am thankful for being me. I am safe and free. I am blessed and loved. And I am truly thankful for the ability to dream, the "coeur" to follow my passions and the ability to "live" my dreams.

Risultati

L'Occupation

Hotel Qurinale, Roma

Room 203

and above my bed, is this painting (ironically) entitled "L'Occupation".

La Dolce Vita

In Rome I have enjoyed simply sitting in a local bar or cafe and absorbing the sights and sounds around me. I feel as though I'm watching a beautiful movie... only it is better because in some respects, I am a part of these scenes.

Outside Teatro Nazionale, Roma

If I catch a glimpse of myself in a gold edged mirror as I walk up the wrought iron balstraded staircase, I can barely believe that I am here and living this moment. Shivers traverse my spine when I acknowledge that this is the moment I dream't of. That these are the opportunites that I have hoped, prayed and strived for.

I am here. I am aware. I feel alive.

And with all my heart I pray that I will be successful in the exam on Thurday.

My study retreat in Rome

Preparations for the nursing exam have been constant and focused.

Eventhough I am tempted by the history, art, culture and sensations that lie beyond HQ's architectural facade, I am most appreciative of the decadence and beauty of my studious retreat. The staff have been attentive, accommodating and respectful of my need for space, time and solitude. I feel as though my every need is being attended to and all I need to do is to remain focused.

When the mind becomes weary I remind myself of this amazing opportunity and of all the rich possibilites that alie ahead.

Hotel Quirnale, Roma

Jules, first day in Italy!

Garden view.

My armorie filled with the treaures that will see me traverse many experiences during this journey in Italy.

Roma

It is just after midnight and my eye lids are getting heavy...

I arrived in Roma at 0630 am after a relaxing and comfortable 28hour flight, waited in the lounge of HQ whilst my suite was being prepared, went to my suite unpacked, showered and nestled into bed. Then with my jacket and shawl, I walked out into the crisp evening air for dinner at a Japanese restaurant, followed by a brief stroll through the streets of the Eternal City and then back to HQ to study with a late.

My mind is focused, my body slightly weary and my soul is light. In my heart I trust that there are wonderful things to come.

..and so ends the first day of my important so journ in Italy.

The horizon

Dear Jewels,

Just a brief note to let you know...

Tomorrow I am leaving for Italy to attend a nursing exam organised through the Ministero della Salute in Rome. Hopefully this will be the final stage of a four year journey to obtain international recognition of my nursing degrees and qualifications. The theory an practice exam is on Thursday March 31st, 2011. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

A blend of excitement, happiness and anticipation - for all that lies ahead - fills my mind and soul.

Look forward to being in touch again upon my return to Melbourne.

Warms regards,

x

Contemplation

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
the mind that is not baffled is not employed.
the impeded stream is the one that sings.

- wendell berry

Happy 40th Birthday Jamilla

Bella, Cherish, trust and enjoy the adventures that lie ahead.

Ministero della Salute

This afternoon I received an unexpected letter from the Ministero della Salute in Italy. The Ministero is requesting that I attend nursing theory and practice examinations in Rome at the end of March. The letter has given rise to mixed emotions. Mainly because after a long period of restlessness and searching, I finally feel content and relaxed and aalthough I am happy to return to Italy, this short so journ feels like it will create new turbulence.

I can only pray and hope that I will be able to successfully pass the examinations and that this path along the journey will see my dreams fulfill.

Simone de Beauvoir

"Art, literature and philosophy are attempts to found the world anew on a human freedom".

Evening light

This evening soon after I got home, I got changed into my pj's, opened the side door to my beach abode and lit the "Amalfi Coast" candle Bruno and Christy bought me for Christmas. As I sit and write at my computer, the cool sea air gently mixes with with floral notes of Frescia, Lavender and a touch of Thyme. These armoatic and inspiring scents vivdly remind me of romantic Medeterrian whitewashed villages clinging to mountainous cosatlines.

Grace

This afternoon, I looked after a mature women who has a painful degenerative condition. Despite her circumstances, M was engaging and had a positive yet pragmatic attitude. I found her attitude towards her circumstances inspiring.

Just before discharging her I received the following comment: "Your very positive and more therapeutic than a Valium. You've made me feel wonderful. Thank you"

What a gracious woman.

New Celebrations

A new year,

like a new bloom,

brings new hope.

Maybe it is the brightness of Summers' sun

that blinds us
but something about January

makes things seem

white, clean and unearthed.

Over the rim of her wine glass,
I caught a glimpse of hope and stillness
not anticipation or angst.

Just as light
transiently etches through muslin curtains,

everything and nothing changes
when love and light

enters and leaves our lives.

Dreams for 2011

* Nurture loving and life sustaining relationships.
* Learn to sail, wind surf or kite surf.
* Enjoy being in-love and being loved.
* Read more novels.
* Participate in a Japanese cooking class.
* Undertake a silver jewellery making course.
* Publish "Hold me with your heart" poetry book.
* Study Art Management/Art Consultancy course in Florence.
* Hike French Italian Alps.
* Attend Venice Art Biennial and the Industrial Design Show in Milan.
* Celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve in Italy.
* Successfully complete visa requirements to nurse and teach nursing in Italy.
* Live in Italy.
* Purchase racing bike, Vespa, snakeskin shoes and bag.
* Meditate, pray, believe and give thanks - regularly.
* Trust myself and my dreams.

Theme for 2011 - Pursuit of beauty and love

The sound of peace and hope

Merry Christmas

To those I love near & far,

I hope that we all have a peaceful and beautiful Christmas and that the year ahead brings us opportunities to "follow our bliss".

With love & affection.

x

Preparing for Christmas

Although I haven't been in the mood to participate in Christmas festivities this year, I am still maintaining some traditions... mince tarts or Panatone for breakfast, writing Christmas cards to friends & family, decorating my home, shopping for Christmas gifts with Mum at Chadstone, supporting the local fetes & community, adding another Christmas decoration to my collection, attending Christmas Carols & Midnight mass at St Francis in Melbourne on Christmas Eve... and planting the seed of hope for next year.

The Marriage of Figaro

Dear Mares,

It was lovely to be able to attend the Melbourne Operas' performance of The Marriage of Figaro together tonight.

It was an entertaining and delightful evening and a generous gift. Thank you.

With affection. Jules

Time to take time

It has taken time, coeur, compassion, and honesty to finally realise that a precious dream is not able to be fulfilled. This Epiphany has not broken my spirit; rather it has given me clarity and peace. Everything ventured has not been lost.

The "little adventure to Italy" I gave myself as a gift in 2007 changed the way I looked at life and the emotions and experiences of recent years have been an extension of that journey. They have been rich and have penetrated my soul with a depth and longevity I could not have imagined.

Since then, I disentangled myself from many things, because I was focused on my definition of happiness. However life doesn't deliver gifts pre ordered, complete and on a specific date. Rather part of the joy of life is about unravelling the mystery, finding the beauty and then adoring and preserving it.

A thread has unravelled from the tapestry I'd diligently and lovingly stitched and although I do not know the direction it is taking me in, I have finally found the coeur to flow wherever that is.

I hope and pray that in the near future, I can share this journey with someone special. That I find the faith, humility and honesty to fall in love again. To love deeply and fully.

Summer delights

Looking forward to more... balmy summer nights, riding along the bay, plunging defiantly into the ocean and swimming at dusk, meeting up with friends for dinner after work, sun kissed skin, curls entangled by the sea and salt air, fish and chips, cosies, floral dresses, chunky jewellery & beaded sandals, feeling carefree.. youthful.. untouched by previous seasons, emotions or unfulfilled dreams.

A new source of inspiration

'Dumbo Feathers' has a new Editor and after reading Patrick's comments I'm sure that this gorgeous magazine will continue to delight, inspire and unite creative hearts and minds.

My patron saint Joan Didion once wrote that "well tell ourselves stories in order to live." Stories have the power to build, and to heal that which is broken, lost or forgotten.

Dumbo will lead the way by continuing to do what it has always done best-to take things slowly and celebrates life's playfulnes and poetry, through stories of passion and courage. we're going to do our little bit more to tip the scales toward a world with a little more magic and beauty.

- Patrick

Swimming

Set in the western suburbs of Melbourne and on the surf beaches of the Great Ocean Road, Swimming is a novel that negotiates primarily in close-ups, taking the reader into the world of the protagonist, Kate Wilks: a swimmer, a teacher and writer. This is a poignant, emotional and psychological journey of a woman confronting several unplanned changes in mid life – childlessness, sexual betrayal and the desire for creative fulfilment.

Kate is in her early sixties when the novel opens. Kate’s days are divided between swimming, writing, and spending time with her lover George (a biker and journalist, almost fifteen years her junior) and with her friends, especially her best friend, Lynne, who has early onset Alzheimers.

A chance encounter with her ex-husband Tom, propels Kate back into a past cloaked in grief, in secrets and betrayals. From this point, the narrative shifts between Kate’s present life, and her past life partly documented in an unfinished manuscript titled, ‘Writing Sarah’. Written some twenty years ago, ‘Writing Sarah’, begins with Kate’s struggles to have a child. It is an exploration of her emotional state during those years, of her relationship with Tom, of his affair with Kate’s friend Mai, and the breakdown of their marriage.

Thirty years later a friendship develops between Mai’s daughter Leesa and Kate, and so Kate is forced to reassess her past; to think about what it means to be a woman that has never had a child; she is forced to confront the destructive aspects of her own nature.

Swimming is compelling new novel about female friendship, artistic creativity, and unexpected childlessness.

Novelist, Amanda Lohrey wrote: ‘Swimming is a charming and delicate work that very early establishes the weight and authority of voice . . . beautifully paced. There is a steady poise in the telling which I responded to, a mature sympathy that manifests in the writing as an impressive composure. All through there is a quiet conviction of tone, beautifully attuned to the moral and emotional complexities of the subject. The sea is a strong presence within the text…’

Hairspray

After dinner at The European, Mum and I attended the Musical Theatre "Hairspray" at Her Majesty's Theatre. Hairspray is set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, USA and is based upon the story of Tracy Turnblad. A teenager whose dream is to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance program. As the story unfolds Tracy not only wins a role on the show and transformed into an overnight celebrity, but she attracts the man of her dreams, and pilots a campaign to see the integration of black African Americans onto The Corny Collins Show.

The production was vibrant, the costumes colorful and the actors/dancers seemed to burst onto the stage with insatiable energy. A brilliant and entertaining experience.

A circuit breaker

After a couple of days hiking with friends along the wild and ruggard coast of Wilson's Prom and camping under a canopy of stars, I feel like I can think and breathe again.

Water

by Nectar And Light "i spend a lot of time meditating on water. it balances me - when i swim i feel incredibly at peace, anything that may be ailing me does not matter in those long moments. because of this, i find my self wholly inspired by water and attracted to art, music - anything that honors this element."

Nectar & Light: February 2010

The 'A-HA' moment

Thanks Pete for the following inspirational quote.

"What does it take to make that crucial first step towards transforming your life?

Sometimes just one moment can unleash the strength needed to make it happen."

Mademoiselle Audrey

Introducing my new cycling companion....

Although we have only known one another a few days, M.Audrey has already added air, light and pure joy to my life.

Namaste

Still waiting...

Unfortunately the waiting game continues. Although I have finally obtained international recognition of my nursing qualifications and academic degrees from the Italian Ministry of Health and the University in Florence; I am still waiting to be sent a work contract so that I can obtain a work permit.

Emotionally, I just want to get on a plane and return to Italy, but the rationale part of me knows that I must wait until my visas are in order.

It is a time of transition and a test of patience.

My life experiences have taught me that during transition times: aspects of our physical world change dramatically; emotional change occurs slowly and deeply; and the soul is etched intricately with enduring lines.

Alan Watts states that "the only way to make sense out of change is to plunge with it, move with it and join the dance." Personally, during this time of transition the anticipation of change turns some days into a real struggle. Making it hard to find refugee, sustenance and joy, particularly in

the things that have always nurtured and inspired me.

The mind and body is here (albeit weary and wanting) but the heart is elsewhere. This fragmentation depletes me. I am thankful for the beautiful life I've lived, the people who love and support me, the little pockets of beauty in the everyday, and much, much, more.... but... (that "but" echoes in my mind) I want to establish a life in Italy. To be able to live, work and love there. So when you think of me, please say a prayer....

Mariage a la Parisienne

Carla Coulson married Francesco (the love of her life) in a small ceremony at the Mairie in the 4th arrondissement, Paris.

Ahh... Congratulations to you both. What a dream come true.

Balance

I remember reading Elizabeth Gilbert's novel "Eat, Pray Love" whilst lying on a beach at Isola d'Elba (Summer 2007). Actually, I found a copy at Casini's and instantly fell in love with it, as it was the only novel I had found that had been written in English.

Tonight I went and saw the movie and absolutely loved it. The images, the dialogue, and the sentiments resonated with me.

Some memorable quotes from the movie:

"It's hard to believe that my life can fit into that small storage container..."

"If only you knew how many times people have said that. and how few have actually come back to reclaim their belongings."

"To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life."

"If you want to love, then love... if you want to miss me, then miss me. And send love and light each time you think of them".

To find the balance that you want, you must keep your feet grounded so firmly on earth that it's like you have four legs, instead of two. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart instead. That way you will know God."

Emperors Box - Katie Noonan & The Captains

Tonight Jamilla & I went to see Katie Noonan at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank Melbourne... Simply wonderful and I must share some of her inspiring, engimatic and beautifully poetic music.


Katie Noonan describes the Emperor's Box. "The lyrics to this song feel like they span years, but essentially it is about the passing of time, seeing my parents grow older, the evolution of parent and child relationships over time and how these relationships are like emperor's boxes - they keep opening up and revealing new layers. The song title seemed like a good title for the album also - in that I hoped it was a meaningful journey that kept on growing with time and revealing more layers."

One

It was raining when I left yoga this afternoon, so on my walk home I dropped into Readings in Acland Street St Kilda to look for some inspirational music and whilst there, I found this treasure. "One" by Victoria Alexander is wonderful. It is nuturing, affirming and full of grace.

..." If I think about the life I am now living I feel happy and privileged to have this life – not too much of anything and not too little either – and no pretense to be anything for anyone else. I believe in fate, the pursuit of beauty and making life enjoyable. When alone or otherwise".

A Classic Passion

I placed an order this afternoon for a classic European bicycle. Who knows what or when the future will unfold.. but in the interim I'll have the chance to ride with the wind in my hair and the sun on my face along the bay.

Architecture of your smile

i shut my eyes in order to see ...
- Gauguin

Sweet melancholy

I went to Italy tonight (well sort of..) Actually I went to Cinema Como in South Yarra to attend the Italian Film Festival.

Firstly I saw 'Ten Winters' which was beautifully filmed in Venice. Then I saw ' Sorry If I Want to Marry You'. A romantic comedy filmed around Rome, which even included a scene with Piazza Esedra.

Ahhh... I smiled. I laughed out loud. I wept. I imagined I was in Italy and... my soul ached to be there and near my Prince.

It was beautiful to be immersed in the sights and sounds of Italy - even if it was only for a few hours.

Thank YOU

for making my journey through life

a pleasurable

and very beautiful experience

Love going the distance