I cannot believe it is March. Somehow, the winter passed and the birds are singing again. The trees all have tiny flower buds. I am trying to soak in the seasons, to notice every little change, the feeling of the air, the smells and sounds. In a few months I’ll be relocating to a place where it’s generally 90 degrees year round, I’m not at all complaining but I know it will be different and I’m trying to sear this all into my memory.
In facing some big changes, I’ve been thinking a lot about living in the present. I’ve been thinking about not getting all wrapped up in details but instead walking and enjoying wherever you might be. Not to say that I don’t have dreams of going places and ways to get there but right now I’m very much enjoying the journey. When I was in my first year of undergrad, I took one of those really broad – can’t even scratch the surface in this amount of time – art history classes. However, while in that dimly lit auditorium with the hum of the slide projector I found two places I knew I had to see one day. One is the Mosque at Córdoba and the other is The Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. These two places felt familiar, as if I needed to go back to them and knew that I would see them again.
It’s strange what triggers memory, but I started thinking about Giotto’s frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel on Friday as I looked up at the ceiling of the bar I was in. It had these painted ceiling tiles that felt like the ceiling of a church/mission/cathedral. It reminded me of the amazing places I have yet to see and at the same time how much I can enjoy where I am right now.
The picture is below is the ceiling, along with some others I have on a tumblr at www.myguardianindian.tumblr.com. I hope you enjoy them, the dreams of places you to go and wherever you might be at this moment.
Mercedes Dorame 