A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With ... Too Much Luggage

Inspired by Diana many bloggers have been taking time on Fridays to think about things that we're grateful for. This week, I've been thinking, with much gratitude, about my yoga classes. Now, I'm not very good at yoga. I'm not naturally flexible and as I approach 50, I seem to be getting a bit less flexible all the time. I work out at the gym five days a week, but I've focused most of my attention on cardio with some weight training.

However, I'm coming to realize that I need more balance, in every sense of the word. So last year, I began to drop into yoga classes. Not often, perhaps once a week. This week, for a change, I tried a hot yoga class and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I don't really like heat, and at 90 minutes and about 100 degrees F, it's pretty intense.

Yet I found the heat also helped me move into poses and hold them more easily. Strangely, it was also really relaxing, perhaps because I was so focused on how hot the room was, that I forgot about everything else!

The more yoga I practice, the more I can feel my shoulders and arms, and my core becoming stronger. Which is important; I'm not trying to cheat age, but I would like to be strong enough to stay healthy and be able to lift a heavy suitcase (is there any other kind?) onto a Trenitalia train for many more years to come!

BTW, this photo is from the Dominion Post in New Zealand showing a five-year-old trying the 'basket' pose.

Okay, so it has a been a while since I wrote headlines for a living. But unlike a lot of tabloid headlines, this one is kind of true.

Restoration experts at the National Gallery of Canada have fixed up and fit together four very large fragments of this major altarpiece, originally painted by Paolo Vernoese around 1563 near Venice. Last weekend, I finally saw the restored and reunited Petrobelli Altarpiece on display at the National Gallery and it's a wondrous sight.

The Gallery has also done a smashing job on its website, carefully explaining -- in video and text -- the history of this beautiful work, how it came to be broken up and sold in pieces during the 18th century, and all of the careful restoration work as well as the efforts to piece it all back together, more than 200 years later.

Here's a link to the Gallery website, and to videos including a very interesting demonstration and explanation by Stephen Gritt, Chief Conservator at the National Gallery, of the physical history behind one very large fragment of Veronese’s work, The Dead Christ Supported by Angels.

The above photo is of another one of the four fragments, the face of the archangel Saint Michael, who appears in the restored altarpiece with one foot on a slain dragon.

According to the National Gallery website, the enormous altarpiece was commissioned around 1563 by the cousins Girolamo and Antonio Petrobelli, who wanted it for display in the church of San Francesco in the small town of Lendinara, near Venice.

"They turned to Paolo Veronese, a celebrated painter with strong ties to the region. The cousins hoped that the spectacular work would seal their status as one of the leading families in the town," according to the National Gallery.

"Set above the altar in their burial chapel, Veronese’s painting shows the two men protected by their name saints. The cousins are privileged to witness a miraculous apparition, a foretaste of the future: the archangel Saint Michael, who will weigh the souls of the dead at the Last Judgment. Above, we see the dead Christ, who according to Christian tradition died to redeem mankind. Veronese offered his patrons a compellingly realistic depiction of a visionary scene, and captured the hope of the faithful Christian for salvation."

In the late 18th century, the church of San Francesco was demolished, and the Petrobelli altarpiece sold. An art dealer, seeking to maximize his profit, divided up the painting into four pieces. Their history was quickly forgotten, and the fragments eventually came to rest in public collections in England, Scotland, Canada, and the United States. Close examination of the fragments, years of study, and careful restoration were needed to reconstruct the altarpiece’s original form.

Diana has challenged her fellow bloggers to take time each Friday to reflect on things that we are grateful for, and most of us take the high road. I've written about many, many things that have made my life rich: my family, my friends, the many travel opportunities I've enjoyed, good health.

Today, I'm thinking with much gratitude about things that make me smile, and laugh. Alas, this is where I step down from the high road to talk about something that makes me smile because it's rather silly.

This Annunciation, by Bologna artist Pietro Faccini, hangs in Bologna's Pinacoteca, or picture gallery, and when I saw it in June, I found it so silly that I actually burst out laughing.

Instantly, I pictured this painting on the cover of a steamy, bodice-ripper novel -- Women Too Beautiful for Their Own Good, perhaps. Gone with the Baroque Wind. Women who Fly With The Angels.

The rich, fancy clothes, the extremely exaggerated movements -- all seemed too over-the-top. And what about that turtle? The turtle really intrigues. Does he represent wisdom, which is otherwise lacking here? Did the artist misunderstand "turtle-dove" and think his patrons wanted a turtle AND a dove in the piece?

But honestly, to me this painting is over-wrought, perhaps over-ripe, so much so that I couldn't resist snapping a photo to document: Good Ideas Gone Bad. (BTW, I did NOT use a flash, I never would in an art gallery.This room was very bright -- all the better to see the oh-so-lush details!)

This piece was painted in about 1600, perhaps a point where the Renaissance had been left on the stove far too long and was beginning to scorch. Perhaps Faccini should have known better, because I believe he is a serious, recognized artist whose works hang in the Louvre in Paris and in Rome's Capitoline Museums (where he has a nice sketch of a dog in a field.)

I think this particularly caught my eye because generally speaking, I'm very fond of depictions of the Annunciation. Often, they're very, very beautiful -- such as these below painted by the great master Fra Angelico.

The first, a fresco in a main corridor in San Marco in Florence, was painted around 1450. The second, an Altarpiece of the Annunciation, was painted between 1430-1432, and now hangs in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain

In sum, I am always very, very grateful to Fra Angelico, for his many works that I find so very beautiful.

And, today I really should thank Faccini for making me smile, when I see his take on the Annunciation.

I've been going through some of my photos from my June trip to Italy, which included a week in Bologna, and a sweaty day walking under the 666 porticos that form the Portico di San Luca, which leads from the city's centre up, up, up to the very beautiful Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca (Santuario della Beata Vergine di San Luca.)

The 4-kilometre climb up the Colle, or Monte dell Guardia, was pretty grueling as the humidity level in the Emilia-Romagna region is extremely high, even when one is shaded from the sizzling sun by the porticos.

But I had read Girasoli's description of the climb and the sanctuary, and was anxious to see it for myself. (I urge you to check out the link to her blog, Girasoli's photos are always fantastic!)

Along the way, I found some interesting art, icons, and tiny chapels tucked into a few of the arches on the route up.

And at the top, the views were fantastic.

For centuries, pilgrims have made this journey, seeking a miracle from the venerated Black Madonna -- an icon attributed to St. Luke, according to one legend -- which is housed in the beautiful and peaceful Sanctuary church. The church also boasts some wonderful art, including paintings by Guido Reni (a local boy who has an entire room devoted to his work, in Bologna's Pinacoteca Nazionale.)

According to Wikipedia (the source for the top photo) the monumental roofed arcade was built between 1674 and1793, and was meant to protect the icon as it was paraded up the hill. A yearly procession proceeded from the church of San Pietro in the center of Bologna up to the Sanctuary along this path.

Apparently, a church or chapel of some kind has existed atop the hill for about a thousand years.

Actually, this photo has nothing to do with my blog topic. I just liked it. It shows the fantastical facade of Venice's spectacular Basilica di San Marco.

It's Gratitude Friday, the time of the week when bloggers, inspired by Diana at Creative Structures, take a few moments to reflect on elements of our lives that we're grateful for.

Today, I'm reflecting on how really fortunate I am to have a well-paying, full-time job. Particularly in these times -- the latest stats suggest more than 6 million Americans and about 1.6 million Canadians are unemployed. That is a lot of people without work, and presumably without incomes -- and these numbers likely don't even reflect the total ranks of the jobless.

I'm also reflecting on how really fortunate I am to be able to write for a living. Imagine that -- I'm paid to think, and write. Not always in that order.

Occasionally, I'm required to put together Power Point presentations, which I dislike doing. I think Power Point is the work of the devil, but that's irrelevant.

I write, therefore I am (and eat, and travel.)

Welcome back to Gratitude Friday, a time of the week when fellow blogger Diana urges us to set aside a few moments to reflect on some of the things in our lives for which we are grateful.

Last week, my friend Mary posted about her feelings of gratitude for many wonderful guests that have visited her family's elegant country inn in central Umbria, Genius Loci. Today, I'm thinking -- with much gratitude -- of several wonderful days I spent there in June.

Genius Loci is in a gorgeous spot in the hills above Bevagna and Foligno, with Montefalco and Spello and Assisi all in sight. Mary's son Michael is a fantastic host, as manager of the inn, and her entire family really make guests feel right at home.

Each guest room was carefully decorated by Mary with beautiful antiques, like the large, curved wardrobe in my room, and lovely linens and very comfortable beds and bathrooms. Here are a few photos of my room, which was much more elegant and comfortable than these photos can convey.