A Firenze moment

Once I got clear of the street merchants selling all manner of gear Firenze turned out to be beautiful. The Palazzo Vecchio and it's adjoining piazza del Signoria form a special place.

Tonight the moon was full, a wonderful acoustic guitar player was caressing the evening and the grand buildings and statues of this 'cradle of the renaissance' were lit up beautifully. There was a magical moment tonight that is already hard to capture and I expect soon to be hard to remember. The spirit of the place was alive and while it wasn't necessarily gentle or benevolent, exciting or invigorating, it was palpable. It didn't grab you and say "feel me, experience this!" The moment was there if you decided you wanted to be still long enough for it to all come together and emerge to be experienced.

The music occasionally muffled and then soaring as it danced with the crowd noise, the moon, easily lost amidst all the other structures and sights, sliding through cloud drifts to gently illuminate the city. Rambling streets that forced the buildings to gather together like people standing and talking in a crowded room. The never before seen and yet uncomfortably familiar shadow of one of the David replicas standing in front of the Palazzo. Tall statues, taller buildings and upward facing lights. A large crowd of people that steadily move into the absent foreground given enough time in one place to observe all of the other factors that are waiting for you.

I sat on the stone ledge of a magnificent colonnade for long enough for this magical scene to become accustomed to me and swim up out of the depths. Showing itself as a fleeting whole to only briefly be glimpsed and appreciated. Once I noticed it I realised that of course it had been there all along. The living spirit of a place, delicate and precious that I suspect has been robustly here for an age.

It was a beautiful first night in Firenze and I'm very thankful to be here.

Northern Italy

Tuesday's plan was to drive around the local area, get a look at the Piemonte region, Wednesday it's off to Alba for morning tea, walking around and then Lunch. Thursday is an Italian holiday so we'll just take it easy and then head down to the local town fair, Friday we are heading to the coast for a day at the Mediterranean, and on Saturday we will get a hair cut.

The only event on the packed calendar for Saturday was to get my hair cut. The whole family was committed to this plan, Clare and girls would stay at home playing outside in the morning, Jason and I would head down to town and i'd get the local Italian special.

Unfortunately the Saturday morning hair cut seems to be a broadly appreciated plan here, and finding myself at the end of a five deep line some quick thinking was required. It was quick and in relatively unusual fashion for me decisive. Eh, my hair isn't that long.

So with the single plan for the day having promptly failed the only choice was to spend today, eating, drinking and taking a cheeky jog up the local version of heartbreak ridge.

It has been a magnificent day in the Northern Italian hills. Breakfast, relax, run, lunch, kids, nap, Saturday night footy on the internet, phone call home, dinner and now vino and sunset on the patio.

I'm loving the time up here with Jason, Clare, Zali (4) and Chelsea (2). It has created a nice feeling of home for me to relax, review and rev up for the next little section of exploration in. In a couple of days I'm heading back south to Firenze and then back to Roma. Both cities continue to captivate my imagination and i'm really looking forward to wandering through the streets and enjoying the blend of history and the present that exist in these wonderful places.

I'm wondering through my own history and present life internally most days, so it feels appropriate to cruise the streets of a place like Florence that shares its modern day city centre with the Roman camp that it began as.
Mum in case you were wondering Firenze was created as a town by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in the late days of the republic as a place to settle his veterans. You'd remember Sulla as Marius' friend, general and eventual arch enemy. Dictator of Rome, mum, anything?

Anyway i'm looking forward to the next section of my trip, however it is going to be pretty difficult to turn my back on this Piemonte farm house full of love and friends with it's spectacular sunsets.

Most August

The August sun refuses to set here in Roma, it's 7:55pm, dinner is over and this is the view:
The lights just came on here at the outdoor seating of the restaurant. As far as I can tell it still looks like 4:30 in the afternoon.

Perhaps this summer evening is just attempting to keep pace with its name sake, Augustus Caesar the first emperor of Rome. Young Octavius whose great uncle Gaius Julius Caesar lifted himself so far above his peers that he ripped the republic apart and gave birth to the spectacular Roman Empire, may have struggled his whole life to eclipse his adopted father. Gaius Julius Caesar who's name gives us the month July, was followed on the path to history by Octavius, who became Gaius Julius Caesar Divi Filus (son of a god if my suspect historical fiction education can be trusted) after Ceasar's assassination. He then later emerged from a titanic struggle for power as the first emperor of Rome, Augustus.

August follows July like Octavius followed Gaius. The summer evening seems to powerfully hold sway over this day as night seemingly gives way to the irresistible power of an August afternoon.

For me sitting here in the beauty of an unrelenting and yet soon to be bested August evening holds a certain perspective. Part of that perspective may come directly from the mouth of the half bottle of Merlot that came with dinner. 375ml of Italy's low to mid level finest. To me it seems borderline awesome, my palette could probably use some work.

Perspective: The earth has been here for an age, people have been scrapping it out for thousands of years and my life is just a vino drop in the ocean of red grape juice. Parts of it have been challenging, the majority has been spectacular. Many have suffered loss and disaster. Here in this city pain has been mixed with delight for thousands of years.

The challenge is to strive like the August (or July) sun to shine while you can and maybe light your corner of the world for a while.

Hola Colombia

Colombia has been a great mixed experience. Some frisbee, some holiday time with team mates and friends, some looking at stuff. I'm really grateful to have been here.

As always frisbee comes first. The team was good, our connection was strong and everyone seemed really happy to be a part of the unique experience. We played pretty well and won the silver medal. aussiecrocs.net is the place to get all that info.

Having the World Games in Colombia definitely added an exciting level of interaction to the event. Four years ago in Taiwan it was obvious from the decorations, facilities and city wide organisation that the games were a big deal in town.

This time in Colombia it was obvious that having the World Games in town was a significant event because of the way the local people interacted with us. The level of interest, engagement and excitement that came from the Cali locals was massive. They seemed to love having us in town and I don't think we exhausted their enthusiasm for photos, autographs and pieces of our apparel and equipment.

It was a remarkable experience of interacting with locals who craved our attention because of the Australian team shirts we were walking around in. Sharing this magnificently foreign experience with our small group of team mates was an absolute highlight. The people on this  team will look at each other in years to come and laugh and shake our heads at the incredible experience of being on team Australia at the 2013 World Games.

The frisbee is over now and the fans are gone. We'll they have probably just moved on to Canoe Polo now. My post tournament experience has been excellent too. Jonno and I headed up to Bogota to spend a few days with Manuel and Lilian who lived in Brisbane for a few years and are now back at home in Colombia.

Excellent hosts and a portal into Colombian life that we were not able to access from the police escorted coach we travelled around in at the tournament. Dani from the team has been in Bogota as well and together with our local friends we have climbed Monserrate, explored the old down town area and spent an evening dancing like the Colombians do. It has been a nice come down from the semi ecstatic experience with the team in Cali and a gentle way to face the reality that the mission of our lives over the last six months is over.

Bogota has been a great pit stop and now the journey continues. I'm off to Italy tonight and no one is coming with me. I'm definitely feeling a yearning today as I detach myself from the company of my friends who have been a mighty source of strength and joy over recent weeks and months. Moving ahead now by myself for a while feels a little daunting, i'm not sure what i'll find with an uninterrupted period of my own company.

The course is set now and i'm sure the next piece of my trip will hold some expected and unexpected experiences. I'm pretty sure i'm interested.

Love to you folks out there. Thanks for your continued company on the journey.

Mike

Driving north, feeling lighter

I left Canberra on Wednesday last week. It was a great visit, a real sanctuary for me. I have significant feelings of gratitude to Jonno and the assembled Canberra community, new friends and old for their welcome and hospitality.

None the less it was time to move on, maybe even move up depending on your understanding of the world. Road trip.

Three days with overnight visits to the Delaney connection in Sydney and the Holmes connection in Coffs Harbour.

It was a good trip, these photos fail to do it justice:

Speaking of good trips the next one starts in less than 2 days time. LA, Miami, Colombia, Italy, Montana, Colorado, Florida, New York, Ontario, Michigan, California. Whoa.

This blog will probably be the best way to follow, maybe some Facebook.

To follow the team this site will be solid: http://aussiecrocs.net

To watch actual games you need to get on this now, today!: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/broadcast-of-ultimate-at-the-world-games-2013?c=home

Brisbane has been pretty excellent these last 4 days, I wonder if the world will live up to it?

Happy

Day 115

Thursday 27^th of June

Sometimes I think it is hard to remember how happy we were together. There are events that are possible to remember and highlights that catch the mind. Happiness is an emotion though and not a thought, I think that means it is harder to recall. A thought is something that can be stored and rethought. Brought back out from time to time and thought again, changed, merged, returned to the original and thought again. As such they can be remembered, like a place or a time of year, you can go back and be there again.

Emotions are much less tangible and I think that makes them more elusive. When you are experiencing an emotion it is full power. The emotion can be everything, or just part of a thing, however it is at its fullest in the moment and retaining or returning to an emotional sensation is an impossible feat I suspect.

Looking at these photos from May 2009 I think I can grasp at a sense of how happy Stacy and I were. 

We are on our way to a weekend away and stopped at a beautiful roadside country café. Stacy ordered a burger, as is her want, I ordered Devonshire Tea. The photos capture the moment when Stacy decides she now wants Devonshire Tea as well.

I knew this was going to happen, she knew this was going to happen and we are both so in love with each other and the spectacular relationship we have built that this is something we are happy about. I play the inconvenienced husband, Stacy plays the cheeky and doted on wife. We share my scones with jam and cream and are so happy it comes tearing out of the pictures. 

Out with the pack

Still good in Canberra, Holmes and I are plus one dog and minus one house mate. Frisbee training is going well, I'm getting stronger and staying interested.

I'm doing a little writing as well, it is laborious, however it feels good to do. Here is a sample from the other day. This is set 2 days after I picked Stacy, and 15 other new staff up from the airport in 2001.

Mid lick of my heartily heaped ice cream I lost control and the loaded cone seemed to gently fall through space to touch down intact on the gas station floor. Sanitation level; questionable.  It sat there proudly with the cone facing directly towards the ceiling and with a jaunty tilt back towards the booth where Stacy and I were sitting. Somehow the ice cream had sustained less damage than my rapidly melting ego.

A moment of still followed which seemed to stretch unexplainably. I looked at the ice cream, I looked at Stacy. Stacy looked at me, then she looked at the ice cream. As a woman of decisive action, and with a keen sense of the cheeky Stacy briskly reached down, picked up the ice cream, licked all the way around the edge and gave it back to me.

The momentarily stunned reaction from the booth was convincing shattered by Stacy’s completely infectious and irrepressible laugh and life returned to normal. That is except for my world view which had been shaken up and was only slowly settling back into something recognisable.

One of the most beautiful, funny and contagiously likable girls I had ever met just licked up ice cream that had fallen on a country gas station’s floor. She had done this for me so that I could continue to enjoy my ice cream.