Jerusalem in Sepia

[The Real Israel blog; unfortunately, inactive]

Week's End - Reds

Even though I'm rereading Keats, I have been preoccupied with WWI (& the Russian Revolution). The Sepia Saturday peeps & the Netflix Fairy are to blame. Equally. (Also, cleaning. Because John Reed's Ten Days that Shook the World fell off a shelf & so there you are. Can I blame Warren Beatty, too?) Julie the Cat just purged me from the house finances committee. Uh oh.

[photographs via New York Times & Alt Film guide-www.altfg.com/Clive Coote, uncredited still photographer/Reds]

Week's End - Zelda & Friends

I planned to use the top photograph for another post on my grandmother (who is on the right, the skinny lady). But I'm pressed for time (yes, I'm tired of typing it) & see that it is, indeed, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald's birthday. I'll come back & write more eventually. But go here to The Writer's Almanac that features Zelda. (Zelda, Scott, & Scottie are buried in a churchyard not far from me, & it's always quite sad to go past there, especially on the bus as you can look down into the yard. If you go on purpose, it's one thing; if you're riding by on busy roads & no one else is paying attention, it somehow seems wrong. I fear someday I'll turn into a tour guide, stand & begin to hold forth on the subject, on the Q2 bus.)

I asked my grandmother, so what's the deal with ripping off the top of the photo-postcard? As in, there's a man standing behind you & your friend. I asked a number of times, allowing 5-6 years in between. Same answer. Not peeved, not snappish. Just dragged on her cigarette (not unladylike in those days) or applied her lipstick or pinned on her hat. (She never wore pants, always had on heels...the best vintage jewellry, very cool.) & gave no comment except, "I just don't remember." But she did. That's catnip to a budding Harriet the Spy/Nancy Drew/you get the idea.

The final time I asked she said something along the lines of "I admire your tenacity, but...no comment...". So I told her, whether this guy had to something to do with her friend or her or not, I would write about the photograph & make up my own story. Didn't she want to set the record straight? At all? To which she said, "That will be absolutely wonderful, honey, I'm sure of it. Whatever you come up with will be so much better than the real thing." She was a character.

Have a great weekend.

[photograph of Zelda & Scott - LIFE Archives]

Malèna

I've been thinking about Sicily a lot lately. Some people have seen a version of this in the GG blog (some pix are different). Here's the post in Giulia Geranium. By the way, the reason I'm not soliciting comments by asking questions is because it seems an imposition. I don't know why because I don't feel that way about other blogs. Perhaps someone can explain it to me. At a loss.

Last night I rewatched Roman Holiday...all cleaned, restored, & impeccably groomed. But of course:) Many new pix of Rome are also cheering me up...& those will be later today & during the week. ciao belle...

[Malèna credits; Alone in the Sea & Alone with the Sea by Giampaolo Macorig; LIFE archive, uncredited Sicilian scene]

A Molly Bloom

The first person to send me flowers. [Siobhán McKenna by G. Mili from LIFE archives, taken in Ireland, 1956.]

Villa Giulia in Sepia

...an October storm was on its way. Villa Giulia, Etruscan museum, Rome. (for later)

A Soldier's Good-bye & Bobbie the Cat

I've been captivated by the State Library of New South Wales recent uploads of Australia-in-the-1930s-1940s. These are A Soldier's goodbye & Bobbie the Cat. (I've used three different NSW/Sam Hood images on the Giulia Geranium blog,as well.)

I do hope that Sam Hood, the Australian photojournalist, is a character such as I have imagined. If not, I'll just make something up. Hey, it works for other writers. I'd never compare myself to Michael Ondaatje, but a clipping about Almásy & the Royal Geographic Society sparked The English Patient (I think). My preoccupation with that time period/content/images is all Hazel/Clever Pup's fault--she started it. I didn't count on Australia popping up, though.

No time. No kidding. Storms on the way (again) & the computer is actually making weird noises now. Shriek. Talk about creativity under pressure....will have to add "under pressure" to an already-existing label.

Two Sisters in Naples

An Original Polaroid Land Camera photograph by a friend's wonderful father, a true Renaissance officer (at the nearby NATO base) & a gentleman. Naples area, same time as the On the edge of Vesuvius photographs. (This photo has aged, yes, but the tones were on purpose, I'm certain, from having seen the photographer's other work.)

These two women, Sorella Louisa & Sorella Chiarina were responsible for an orphanage for girls. It was not an orphanage in the strictest sense as most girls had families; however, mostly for financial reasons, the girls did not live at home. The alternative was prostitution; most were under age 12. It was about as shocking as anything I'd seen or heard & I'd seen & heard plenty before then.

We spent a lot of time with the girls, the local priest, Louisa & Chiarina, & a few others who were about during that time. Many girls went home for a few days during the holidays. We all worried a lot about what might happen if some of the girls' families (read: the father) did not allow them to return. This happened more than occasionally.

One little girl who remained behind during holidays was from Nice. She'd been dropped off unceremoniously about a week before this photograph & of course did not yet know much Italian. I was asked to visit with her. She was adorable, of course, & I don't know what happened to her. It's not all tragic, some hilarious things (intentional & unintentional) occurred. But that's another time. I race against time for now. Louisa & Chiarina were wonderful & took good care of a lot of children with very few resources. They were the very definition of grace. xo

On the edge of Vesuvius

Original Polaroid Land Camera snaps from the mid-1970s on an Italian Sunday afternoon. The story is long & short. Presently, it feels necessary to say only that I loathed the person on the left (my right), & liked the one on the right -- very much. My second trip to Italy (from France) but my first to the south & "real" Italy (ten days in Venice a few months before was a world away). The photographer & person I liked lived in the area. The photographs looked this spooky as soon as we saw them...it's not their age now. No tourists were there that day, just a bored guard--delighted to talk to someone. I was excited to be so close to a volcano, I remember. I saw several in Iceland but they didn't have tragic stories, ancient & modern, attached to them. The Neapolitan area inspires both longing & loathing. What a complicated place...

Three views of Vence

Still looking for Vence images...these aren't the ones I need for a specific project but I like them. Through the eyes of the same photographer (Tony M. of Vence, France). Black & white; sepia filter/dusk; washed-out pale with blue, window detail. A café. Computer continues on edge of nervous breakdown, so pictures for now. And writing, off-line.

Note: Check out English Muse's The girl with the pink gloves today. I left a comment but have more to say here later. Riffing on someone else's stuff? Kind of a virtual mini-workshop, in my experience. xo.