the daily bailey alexander

"A European Odyssey; how a boxer's daughter found grace"

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walking along Lake Garda

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Flora in Riva del Garda

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#youareloved #expats #failure #success

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As the Italian nurse said, "We have not have the best high-tech, but we have heart"

Must be #Italy

#Medicare

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Muv's last sketch, drawn a few months before she left left us in 2008. A lifetime of great health but then leukemia came, and fast. I flew home, we spent her final two weeks together. She was ready to pay the bill, offering me lesson in death. After a life well spent.

She drew this on her 76th birthday, mailed it to two close friends who shared that day. And me, in Paris. It was clue, Muv could be covert.

The subject might be a Russian princess, perhaps, she loved to do her own interpretation of a fashion shot seen in Vogue, from some country but it's my mother's hair, it's her, her spirit stepping into heaven. She was deeply private about her faith, when we spent a month in Europe after her son died; Italy acted like a balm.

No wonder I ended up here...

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growing peonies in piemonte

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that moment

#gelato #Italy #cafeflora #Lakegarda #anticipation

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the small moments with Gigi, Gastone and the Goddess

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“It was a new frontier, and its land inspired daily exploration. In Piemonte the ground was so solid it triggered insect-like determination. My goals received enthusiastic attention, although I didn’t immerse myself into the local dialect. If my basic Italian needed attention, which it did, I opted to pour every ounce of energy into our land.

I grew my own vegetables and harvested enough for a family of twelve. I planted so many roses my life was spent on my knees weeding various gardens. After a few years I grew a bit weary and a bit bored with the vegetables, so I decided to replace them with three hundred saffron bulbs.

I assumed you could grow anything in Piemonte, what with its magical soil, but I knew nothing about saffron. I had the soil tested, but I didn’t know where to find the saffron. Everyone loves Sardinia, so I found a contact, waited, and the bulbs arrived.

To plant three hundred bulbs underneath the late summer sun was labor intensive, but once they were planted all I had to do was wait. And water. For such a small plant it was awfully exciting. I never thought they’d show up.

But they did..."

Excerpt From Personal Legends of Piemonte

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Life on an Italian street

Maybe the buds are coming out earlier on the tigli trees - cannot wait for the sun to warm up - everything

Gastone mid April in '22 Gigi, today

#spring #tigli #lindon #Italy #expats

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“Anna’s home includes a husband and a library, each created by her mother-in-law long ago. They are now part of Anna’s enchantments. Her library offers a treasure trove of found objects and, beyond her desk, a small window providing a view as far as the gaze would like to go.

Outside the front door wisteria winds its way all the way down the stairs. Inside, all four walls are lined with books and in between and beneath the window and in front of the low tables situated here and there sit icons and images from all over the world. Tibetan medallions. Katana swords. And some of the largest and most carefully positioned crystals my eyes have ever seen.

Anna isn’t just a hunter and gatherer; she is a sophisticate and learned soul. Her books are read and worn, and I suppose after becoming sufficiently advanced in the world’s religions she has realized that energy and spirits are key. Or ki, as they say in Japanese. Anna’s curious about everything and everyone gravitates toward her."

Anna Fila Robattino

Excerpt From

Personal Legends of Piemonte

Bailey Alexander

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“Anna’s walking tours are famous. Friends and students arrive from far and wide to take part in these two-hour adventures. They begin in spring and continue through late autumn. Some people carry notebooks and take copious notes, while others prefer a refresher course on what they were taught growing up.

It would appear many Piemontesi are aware of their land’s biodiversity. Trundling along my daily errands I see the locals on the side of the road, their knees deep in high grass, happily exploring and picking herbs and flowers while on a casual hike or when walking off lunch or dinner.

No matter our motives, we are a happy gang following Anna, exploring the forest with its pungent smells—rosemary in abundance, along with mint, strawberries, and cherries, and maybe a whiff of génépi floating down from above. Anna stops constantly. She prefers to inspect everything below lest she miss one of her precious superheroes. This gives us time to pick more specimens as she talks. We smell and listen, then carefully place our newfound herbs in brown paper bags like precious jewels.”

Want to know anything about herbs, just ask:

Anna Fila Robattino

Excerpt From

Personal Legends of Piemonte

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March does have its own magic

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oh please spring, is that you out there

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“I just let the interior of the city give me clues to a personality as I walked along her long, broad, inviting boulevards, cutting through vast parks and statues floating everywhere, like goddesses protecting their city, applying a sympathetic vibe.”

Excerpt From "A European Odyssey: How A Boxer’s Daughter Found Grace"

Statue of Eliška Krásnohorská a Czech feminist author. 1847-1926

Sculpture created by Karla Vobišová-Žáková:Czechia's first female professional sculptor in 1931.

foto taken 3.3.12

#Prague #Goddesses