yesterday's journal entry.

a little boy maybe five or six walking by with his mother and two siblings, i hear 'signora!' and he comes up to me and keeps chattering happily in italian and along come mother and siblings and i smile and dont say anything but then, c'e? what? because i dont like to give away my non italian speaking status unless i must and his mother sets down a pail with a little crab inside water sloshing over sides and onto my sandals.
he keeps chattering this whole time and in the confusino puts his hand into the pail, i say 'atenta!' watch out! one of my few but important words, and he walks away laughing and talking, he grabs a finger and i understand from spanish the word 'ded' as he laughs. i laugh too and the youngest peers back at me through the salty window of a parked car.
a chorus of flip flops echo off the walls of a roman building where i sit eating my tuna panini, late lunch under roman columns.

an emaciated black cat appears out of the street and finds my hiding place on the steps of a closed restaurant. sheàs been in many a fight in her day and her milkfilled breasts sway under a rail frame. there is a popolo, puppy that is very small and calm that i have made friends with. he hangs in liamàs neighborhood and lies on peopleàs doorsteps.
last night i made two feline friends near the home of lani who has five birds in five bird cages on the wall around her front door.
explored the island alone with a map in my bag but never in my hand for as soon as i think iàm far from somewhere i turn a corner that is now familiar and realize one can get stuck on an island but never lost.


sometimes italia is accidentally artistic. como la virgine con il mio gelato (like the virgin mary with my ice cream)
if you look closely in the photo you may see an ancient italian pigeon on the ancient italian ruins.

the love of fashion and nice cars seems here to sometimes come from a simple love of beauty and beautiful things ' something iàm sure is present in american cnosumers sometimes but which iàd never before noticed.


today i had salt'encrusted skin and hair and sand'covered feet.

we are all hypocrites

yo voglio un moto. i want a motorcycle.

my stomach and leg muscles are still sore from yesterdays 5 am workout.





in roma, with ilaria, it was customary for everyone to walk around in their underwear in the house. we usually wore a little tank top and our panties. it was a custom i gladly accepted because for one thing it was hot and for another who needs pants anyway?

i met two boys from kenya, one seeking asylum from his country. he had tribal tattoos on his chest that looked like claw marks from a cat. their names were Godsson (god's son) and Wisdom. they were very friendly and we found a starfish. i also found a sea urchin which in the excitement of photographing the starfish was thrown into my bag and voila! many small pieces of sea urchin.

we couldnt figure if the starfish was alive or not and they were going to throw it back but had never seen one before and i insisted they keep it because we thought it was probably dead and because starfish are very special and i'd never seen one in the water before like that ' when it started to move. in the commotion to photograph it a giant italian man came over and asked for it, Godsson handed it to him and he took it to the aquarium about 100 feet away. i was very upset. as i'm sure the starfish was as well.


the other night i had a walk with aldo palozzolo, a famous photographer with whom i may soon be working. he showed me photos of patti smith and robert mapplethorpe and i saw in his house where he'd exhibited work alongside andy warhol. when he kept saying ' you know cattismet?' i had no idea who the hell he was talking about but then he wrote it ' patti smith ' and i said of course!! he said i have photo of her and i said non credo! which is one of my few phrases and means i dont believe it! and he got puffed up and said in italian ' sarah! remember this! my name is aldo palozzolo and i do not tell lies!!' then he proceeded to show me amazing photos which are strangely largely similar and hardly distinguishable from the photos that jim hall made in lexington.

he is very funny, and kept making fun of me in english ' because because i like bunny! i like bugs bunny!!'

old photographers are always a riot.

we went and got gelato, ice cream that was very good and walked around the piazza duomo.


today i saw the littlest and dirtiest pet shop where i giant parrot kept saying 'ciao!' in a clear voice and i held tiny rabbits. i realize though i felt so guilty for leaving the bunnies and some people said why dont you take them with you? it would have been impossible and the death of them and probalby me also to get them here . 22 hours of travel! not for a bunny, no.

i miss them very much.


love you all, will upload more photos monday when i have better computer accesss, and free.e