24 March 2010

benedetta primavera.

It is officially a few days into spring, and it certainly is showing! I am reminded of what a difference a couple of months can make, even in Venice, albeit subtly... distinctions between the seasons are naturally blurred in the island city, due to its relative lack of foliage. When living there a few years ago, I recall longing for the autumn colors of my youth in New England; here a browning sycamore murmured of winter's coming, there an ivy-clad wall erupted in a fleeting blaze of red. Then greyness, fog, and acqua alta set in, followed by the radiant, piercing light of December. The early months of the new year were intermittently veiled in mist, which gradually dissipated. And somehow the arrival of spring, with its unexpected blossoms, was more startlingly apparent. Take this courtyard for instance:


in febbraio..

... e poi in aprile!

I remember doing a distinct double-take when passing this courtyard again in April; the violet overflowing of wisteria and the yellow blooms on the well heralded the blessed commencement of springtime. In the meantime, much had changed in my life: I had let go of a complicated relationship, moved out of an unproductive living situation and into a new apartment on my own, and shared a portion of my Italian life with my father, who came to visit me for the first time. Everything was once again fertile, flowering, alive– within and without.

Who knows what will blossom this spring!