City and Country, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Travel by Tea Towel

Doesn’t look like any of us are going to be traveling any time soon so I’m glad to have the vicarious opportunity via the tea towels. We have quite the drawer full – gifts over the years from Brit visitors and souvenirs bought on various trips to the UK and elsewhere. Each one has a story. And now so handy…

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Politics, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Sarah Parker Remond and the Cotton Workers of Lancashire

In a time of political darkness – when the ugly power of racism rears up – it is good to remember that we all stand on the shoulders of giants in the long struggle for human dignity and justice. Sarah Parker Remond lived in the 19th century. We need to know her story. She challenged the forces of evil on…

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Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb

The Romance of Gregory Corso: Cypress, Marble, Moon!

 “I hate poetry and all its fucking ambitious son-of-a-bitches who call me a showman because I act myself”. Gregory Corso  letter to Lawrence Ferlingetti, September 6th 1957. My poor life is so fucked up, what’s the meaning of it all? I don’t yet know, when I do find out i fear it will be too late.” Gregory Corso, letter to Allen…

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Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Traveler, there is no road

Traveler, there is no road Caminante, no hay camino Traveler, your footprints are the only road, nothing else. Traveler, there is no road; you make your own path as you walk. As you walk, you make your own road, and when you look back you see the path you will never travel again. Traveler, there is no road; only a…

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Art, Film, Photography, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Siracusa: “My sins are all mortal.”

Caravaggio is one of the bad boys in the history of art with a biography so outlandish it reads like fiction. When he arrived in Sicily in 1608 he was wanted for murder in Rome and had brawled his way across the Mediterranean. There a story of his entering a church in Messina where he was offered a bowl of…

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Art, Film, Photography, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Palermo: No Surface Left Unadorned

The Palatine Chapel is one of those must-see places if ever you have the chance.  It was commissioned by the enlightened Norman King Roger II (Ruggero) and  was consecrated on Palm Sunday 1140. It was designated a UNESCO World heritage site in 2015. It’s inside the palace of the Norman kings of Sicily that now serves as Sicily’s seat of the regional…

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Art, Film, Photography, Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Palermo: The Art of Learning

The Gallery of Modern Art is located inside the restored 15th century convent of Sant’Anna and has many works of art from the last 150 years. I always enjoy looking at depictions of schools and classrooms and I was very taken with this large painting – Gli Scolari  (The Schoolchildren) – by Felice Casorati. Five students and a teacher with symbols…

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Art, Film, Photography, Food, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Palermo: Markets and Mosaics

Palermo has three outdoor markets and we managed to hit all of them. Two we found by design while foraging for supplies and the third on our walk back from the Palentine Chapel and on our way to the completely over the top Chiesa del Gesù. So a few scenes from the market and then on to Montreale. Lots of…

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Art, Film, Photography, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Palermo: Puppets and Piazzas

It rarely snows in Palermo but I was pleased to see the universal winter snowflakes on the windows of the elementary school. Our apartment is near the Piazza Marina in the center of which is the Giardino Garibaldi where  enormous fig trees create what must be welcome shade in the summer. The largest tree in Europe was planted here in…

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Art, Film, Photography, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Palermo 2016 into 2017

On the back-end of bronchitis I’ve been hacking, wheezing and coughing my way through Palermo with the long-suffering travel mate. Here’s part of the first day. First impressions: Grit – the sort that swirls around your feet – , garbage and graffiti. Everything seems pitted and pocked and either under construction or crumbling. Narrow streets with washing hanging from the…

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Art, Film, Photography, RattleBag and Rhubarb

The Extra Mile

The Art History class took off for Italy last week. It’s well over 4,000 miles from Poughkeepsie to Zurich and on to Florence but here’s the extra mile: Wayne created these books – in Florentine red – one for every student. It’s for notes,sketches and reference on the trip. The sleeve at the back has a map of the city…

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