GG on Holiday

Although Giulia will be home (supervised), she will be unable to post as her editor is taking the laptop on the road for a few days. Therefore, GG is on holiday. We hope very much that you will visit the good people at Darfur Peace & Development Organization (DPDO) while we are away. The Annual Report is available, baskets are ready to sell, & there's a lot of news. We'll post more photographs & more what-you-can-do after the Fourth of July.

Also: Ante Up for Africa's Fourth Annual World Series of Poker will be raising funds for DPDO on July 3. Please see all the news, here.

Please visit all of our blog friends, as well. They are on this page & on bricolage (GG's editor's place to blow off steam, employ first person pronouns, & work on other writing.)

Ciao-meow/GG Central

[gorgeous photograph by the generous Olga]

The End and the Beginning

After every war
someone has to clean up.
Things won’t
straighten themselves up, after all.

In the grass that has overgrown
causes and effects,
someone must be stretched out
blade of grass in his mouth
gazing at the clouds. - Wisława Szymborska

Entire poem, here.

[photograph by random images, via we heart it]

Sunflower

We have some on our table & are very grateful. Would that we were somewhere in France or Italy in fields of sunflowers, so maybe you should call us ingrates. Possibly have won an auction at Made4Aid (a small vintage embroidered tablecloth). Not sure but we'll let everyone know how it turns out tomorrow.

ciao-meow/GGCM

[thank you again to photographer D Sharon Pruitt for her Free for all Creative Commons on Flickr]

When the day is over...

...you have an Italian sunset from lovely Giampaolo Macorig. So it was worth it then, yes? [taken in Terracina, Italy]

Intervallo (intermission)

GG Central is a more than under-the-weather & downhearted (a bad combination). So this lovely photograph by the oh-so-generous Roman Giampaolo Macorig is most welcome. It's from his Intervalli (minimal or relaxing) set & it is just what we need. If only. This photo was taken in San Giovanni, near Rome. Would that we were there.

We hope you will visit Darfur Peace & Development Organization & Enough Project for updates. Things are seriously grim & there is only worsening news to report. We aren't convinced that many people care, really. We still care but it is taking a toll for which we were not prepared. Scheduled posts from last summer & autumn to run during the week. We will check our email when possible. Thanks so much.

PS: Also, please check in with our blog links; they are group of highly talented & lovely people...

On the horizon...

...there are storm clouds headed straight for GG Central. We'll be back when we can. This gorgeous Giampaolo Macorig photo was taken in Calabria, Italy; it gives some idea of what's on the way here. (But sadly, we report, we are not near Italy at all...) Uh, oh. Kaboom. GG just ran into the closet. Why not visit some of the humanitarian sites here while we're out? Especially Darfur Peace & Development Organization. The gorgeous blue in the photo reminds us of the lovely blue in their logo....

ciao-meow!

If you think about it...

...there's a lot you can do. Please visit humanitarian links on this site...photograph by the lovely Giampaolo Macorig in Rome. xo/gg

Espresso expression

It wouldn't be so bad (Monday) if we had this cup of caffeine, uh, coffee. (photograph credit)

ciao-whine-meow,
GG's editor

Fog Owns the Morning

From Tiffin for Tea, Lorry for Truck by Reetika Vazirani (from her second book, World Hotel). The line is Fog owns the morning and you can't travel. We've had foggy mornings & evenings the last few days. The computer & GG's editor are still befogged, as well.. GG, though, is in top feline form. Hope to see you later. Please check out the Darfur news, here. (Foggy Barn by Vermonter Paul Moody)

Just out of reach...

(photo credit)

Blue hyacinth

Computer troubles continue but this blue hyacinth macro by Tracey Tilson of Images by Tracey cheers us up immensely. It also reminds us that, cold rain notwithstanding, spring officially begins this Friday! Thank you Tracey for your permission to use your beautiful image. Please visit Tracey's site, here, for more gorgeous sights. Now if we could just have a hyacinth on the desk like in this post, everything would seem ever so much better.

ciao-sniff-meow,
GG/mgmt

Blue Balloon

We'd rather be doing anything but trying to fix the computer. On our own. It's not going well & GG's secret opposable thumbs seem to have vanished. If you can't go outside & play, visit some of the humanitarian sites on this page & check them out. It won't take long. (photo credit)

ciao-meow,
GG/editor

One foot (or paw) in front of the other...

...is the only way to get there, anywhere. Especially in an ancient, storied town like Matera, southern Italy (a UNESCO Heritage site). (Photographs by miki**) Good morning.

ciao-meow, GG/mgmt

Blue mosaic

We're very busy trying to dig out from under snow & piles of paper. This fabulous blue typewriter collage is by Yvonne Stehle (she also has an etsy shop, moline) & we thank her for her permission to use it.

a ciao-hurried-meow,
GG's editor

Tagged: Seven Random Things...

Lovely Tina of The English Muse has tagged GG's editor for this...& of course she also tagged others that we would. So we may do that later. For the record they are: automatism, A Cup of Jo, The Clever Pup has already done hers, Hidden in France, Small Expectations, oh everyone on the right side of this site (except the White House blog:) baci, bisou, xo

We (must continue with this conceit, sorry)...

1. ...have never had a driver's license
2. ...have been newspaper & magazine crazy since very, very young
3.....wear our maternal grandfather's Liberty of London paisley silk scarf from WWII-era London
4.....gluestick all ticket stubs, fortune cookie slips, other effluvia into daily agenda book. 15+ years of them.
5.....keep fairy lights up around apartment's large picture window
6.....carry an old French centime in our coin purse...given for good luck by stranger in North Africa
7.....write drafts long-hand with a fountain pen

Random collage of personal scanned photos on desk waiting to be used for something, except for the Olivetti Lettera 22 (which we had but no longer, alas) & that is by Peter Lindberg.

Marrakesh morning

Wake up! (Celeste by only alice.)

La Dolce Vita, in blue

La fontana di Trevi is hiliarous in its own way. If you've not been yet...you hear it before you see it. That's saying something for noisy Rome. GG's editor has been many times, usually pulled there by someone intent on ticking off their "I've been to Rome" list. Yes, you imagine Fellini & company shooting the famous dawn La Dolce Vita scene. (How could you not?) But the amusing thing is how out of place it is in a tiny square--completely ridiculous. You wind through the streets, hear the water (especially at night), & turn into the the piazza (which is a piazzetta as far as we're concerned). And then you will yourself to ignore how corny it is & toss the damn coin in the fountain, just a little embarrassed. Just in case. We leave you in Rome this afternoon, awake in Venice with a photo in the morning. (Carnevale has begun!)

Must prepare for conference call on Congo tomorrow, so...

Meanwhile, buona sera, buona notte & thank you to Giampaolo Macorig for his fabulous shot.

ciao-roar-meow (that's the full extent of GG's contribution today)
GGCM

La lavanderìa

Nope. Using the Italian word isn't making this any less painful. Off we go with bags o' laundry. It's simply not fair: GG gets by with one always-clean, always-chic outfit. And we don't have a wonderful nonna to help. This southern Italian grandma is described by the photographer as charming & we agree. That's some clean laundry, believe us! (photographs by miki**)

ciao-whining-meow,
GG's editor

London Lights

Will Somerset House sue us? How mean would that be?* [No, no threats, we just didn't like the feeling; so see update & new public photograph info below.]

A post & a link to a cool photo of impossibly glam ice skating in London. GG is pondering how, just how, to go skating on the Mall or the canal in Georgetown (since she can't be in London). She doesn't need skates, just a fancy bow & an elegant wrap for her pink ear-tips. The post is from Wee Birdy & here is the beginning of her London-specific holiday list (but everything is available on-line & under £10).

*Update: a replacement photo by Michael Pead, used with permission of photographer via license.

Cheers!
GG & her editor

Bicycle love

Charming bicycle-themed items from CircaCeramics on Etsy. Here's their February 2008 profile interview as a featured seller. For those of us who are without a bicycle, these can help. Take a look at this sweet bicycle notebook from violet.com [via A Cup of Jo's 2007 Gift Guide] GG is asleep in a sunbeam (an unholy cold wind blows today) after looking at these bicycle basket photos from Copenhagen Cycle Chic...she dreams of flying down a hill, in a flower-bedecked basket, her ears flattened back against her head.

ciao-meow, baci, bisou!
GG's editor