Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus!

St. David's Day snuck up on us, it's tomorrow (March 1). Must run out to buy daffodils, braise some leeks, & watch out for red dragons on the loose. As a child/teenager, GG's editor put in hours of choir rehearsal relearning songs in Welsh for an annual appearance at a Pittsburgh Welsh "old people's home." We cringe to think that's how the senior homes were described back then. The older folks were so pleased to see us every year & one or two people always asked, wistfully, if any of us grew up speaking Welsh, or even knew it? Maybe? We had to say no...but they were very complimentary about the performance & asked lots of questions about our lives as "you young people." Lovely people, lovely dinner, loads of daffodils on all the tables. (Lovely photograph by Jan/brynmeillion)

cariad!

It's Me, I'm Not Home* - Week's End

*The title of a poem from Reetika Vazirani's last book (there might be one more). We used to recite it faster & faster in a race against the second-hand; she wrote it, she usually won. (Photo by wonderful Grant Hutchinson, more of his work here.)

Good weekend...
ciao-meow/GGCM

This was the plan all along...

We're not buying it either but one must allow people (& cats) their dignity. It's that sort of day here, too. (photo by miki** from southern Italy)

ciao-rush-meow,
GG & editor

Marrakesh morning

Wake up! (Celeste by only alice.)

Venetian afterglow

The streets are quiet, the beautiful lamps in the streets of Venice give off their rosy glow. Bella. (photograph by Alice Lucchin of Venice).

ciao-meow,
GG & her tired editor

Carnevale di Venezia 2009

Carnevale, Fasching, Mardi Gras over very soon (especially in Europe. You know who you are, mad Twitterers. Wrap it up!) Photographs by wax0r, still uploading from Venice. GG's running around with Mardi Gras bead necklaces in her mouth. Seriously. Buona sera, buona notte, bambini...

baci from DC,
GG & her editor

Carnevale Garden Party

What the devil is going on here? Well, it has flowers & it's not as scary as some of the traditional masks (they scare GG). Without the mask part, one could imagine someone wearing it to the Queen's garden party. (Yes, we can imagine it.) Must have been fun to make it. We do have a mask from Venice (of a cat, what else?)...but no one will be wearing it today. Be good (well, not too....) (photograph by the mysterious waxOr who is in Venezia as we type.)

baci, baci, baci
GG Carnevale Central

Darfur awaits ICC decision - March 4th

Today. From Enough Project blog, Enough Said:

"This morning, the International Criminal Court announced the date when the Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber will issue its decision concerning Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s application for an arrest warrant against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. The decision will be announced by a press release and publication on the ICC website on March 4."

photo © Claire Mc Evoy/IRIN]- courtesy IRIN

A Home in Rome

GG's eye view of where she'd like to live. We'll take it. Under threat again of high wind gusts & so we hope to see you later. Meanwhile, check out Giampaolo's Rome flickrstream, here.

ciao-meow,
GG's windblown editor

And the Oscar goes to...

...this photograph of Audrey Hepburn & Grace Kelly backstage in 1956. The Awards are tonight & don't tell us you aren't watching. When this was written (early February), we'd not yet seen most films we'd planned on--shrinking bank account, you know. Meanwhile, we can't help saying once again that we're sorry we don't have an Audrey & Grace around today. Oh, there are great actors & stars. But like them? Nope. Why do you think there are so many blogs, books, & so forth with references to Audrey? Our oldest cousin was named for a Hepburn film & if she weren't such a lovely person, we would have been insufferable in our jealousy.

an elegant ciao-meow, darlings!
GG & her manager

(photograph by Alan Grant/LIFE Photographers via artnet.com)

Cat Carnevale - Week's End

Our friend Maria Caterina di Perugia went to the Festa del Gatto in 2004 (in Perugia, of course!) when she was attending the language school there. These images are from the brochure/schedule that always makes us smile. Maria di P. brought us a lovely original watercolor of a family of gatti rossi (red cats) from an art gallery, the name of which escapes us at the moment. The painting still requires a frame; we'll wait until it can be done properly at our favorite framing shop.

Here is a fun link to the Gatto-Web site (it's amusing even if you don't read Italian). Here's Perugia's official site; we can't find a mention of this year's festa (there are gatto festivals in other Italian cities, particularly Florence & Rome), but perhaps you can. Our head hurts from too much Googling with dial-up. This is a tie-in to Carnevale, ongoing. (Also called Fasching in German-speaking countries.) Can you imagine how wild Venice is right now? Yikes. Michelle Fabio of Bleeding Espresso has a Carnevale in Venice article in Italy Magazine (UK), here.

The "Cubista" kitty painting above does not have a title (on the brochure, anyway); the other painting is Il gatto, la luna, le stelle ("Cat, moon, stars"); both paintings are by Valentina Trona. Bella! The photograph of the person in the maschera is uncredited, however the brochure was created by Umberto Frascione & Rita Persichini for Il Comitato della Festa del Gatto di Perugia. That's some committee name, huh?

Tina Daunt, columnist of the L.A. Times' Cause Celebre has a pre-Awards column on the documentaries, here. Typical of a Washingtonian, Giulia's editor has seen all but one. Hey, free screenings:) In Tina's other life, today her charming The English Muse blog features a gorgeous rose dress photograph about which we are fantasizing. More about Tina & her blog in the future. As everyone knows, GG looks fabulous every day in her version of the LBD (only it's red/orange & white, accessorized by a rose-pink nose.)

ciao-festa-meow!
GG's stylist

Don't get carried away, part 2

Uh oh. We were warned. Well, it's not permanent, after all. Right? Part one, here. See you later today for week's end. (Vogue Italia via scan, Giugno 2007, Pure Wonder series, Ellen von Unwerth)

ciao-good-morning-meow...

Help Resolve Uganda...in DR Congo

Yes. That's right. As if things aren't bad enough, Congolese have been attacked for a few months by the hideous LRA (Lord's Resistance Army), led by war criminal Ugandan Joseph Kony. It's complicated & others have good articles for you to read. Here is the accompanying text to the IRIN photo above from last Saturday, 7 February 2009. And here, "Fighting Back Against the LRA" by Enough Project. Armed With Little but Resolve, and Defending a Hollowed Village in yesterday's New York Times.

Just rang off a conference call in which folks from Resolve Uganda & Genocide Intervention Network (connected to Enough) gave updates on the attacks, particularly those in the recent holiday season. Merry Christmas, indeed. Attacks are ongoing. Apparently, there are some civilian aid groups that are doing good work. We have to check them out & will post further. (Some groups have turned into mini-militias so we need to track this down.) The bleeding of unique conflicts into one big border stew continues: Sudan, Central African Republic, northern Uganda, DR Congo. People shrieked in the U.S. & elsewhere on & after September 11, 2001: "Why didn't someone tell us? We didn't know." When the Horn & Central Africa blows back (watch Somalia, too, of course), we don't want to hear the same. You're not sure why you should care about these conflicts? Well, if it isn't for moral reasons, believe us, you'd be wise to be very interested in what the fallout could be; it won't remain in Africa.

ciao-subdued-meow,
GG's editor

(photo: Under-Secretary General, UN, John Holmes (center right), Kibati camp, Nord-Kivu/7 February 2009/© Eddy Isango/courtesy of IRIN]

Contemplation in Venice

Oh the Carnevale photos are coming, we assure you. But meditate on Alice Lucchin's beautiful photo The Whole to clear your mind. Alice lives in Venice & we don't know how she handles the sensory overload at Carnevale. Which is odd to say because we handle crazy Rome just fine. (We think.) This is from Alice's series called Without Soul. It's a lovely study.

ciao-meow,
GG's exhausted editor

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

Pinks...

...not the flowers. Rose, glowy pinks, dusty pinks. North African pink that goes well with oranges, greens, blues--actually anything. They're geniuses with color. From only alice's Marrakesh sets. She's added more colors for which we are grateful. The window/door/wall & color fixation continues. (And so does the laundry.)

ciao-meow,
GG's editor

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

When in doubt, make pasta...

...or if it's too early, put on the kettle. And for good measure, put in a picture of AH. And if you possibly can, buy some white tuliips (or look at a few bunches). Goodness, we've so much to do, especially reading. Doesn't matter if it's a holiday here in the U.S. Here's the fastest pasta recipe we make. Very Roman, very Audrey, especially in her personal Roman period. (photo Bob Willoughby/MPTV via scan from audreystyle by Pamela Clarke Keogh)

ciao-busy-meow,

GG's editor

PS: Catapalooza Valentine's Day was stellar. Report forthcoming.

Vermont Valentine

From Paul Moody's Vermont set.

"Slightly enhanced (shot intentionally dark, I lightened the heart shape to isolate, and I enhanced the top of the heart's notch) but this rock already looked so much like a heart naturally. Its in my western rock wall - I do love this place."

We're off to Catapalooza to visit with cute, adoptable cats & kittens for a few hours!

ciao-♥-meow,
GG' s valentine

Don't get carried away! - Week's End

Happy Valentine's tomorrow Have fun whatever your plans & relationship status. Bisou, baci.

(photographs via scan of Vogue Italia, Giugno 2007,Pure Wonder series, Ellen von Unwerth)

ciao-♥-meow,
GG & her editor