Getting ready to board the plane for my Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant \240journey to Italy! Hard to believe that after years of planning and dreaming, the \240journey is about to begin! Carrying a little of all of you with me as you have all ben a part of my journey in one way or another. Stay tuned for further updates!

Trevi Fountain

Made it to Rome! After a nap to combat fatigue and jet lag, we took off on foot to wander the streets of downtown Rome. Stumbled upon The Fountain of The Four Rivers and the well known Trevi Fountain! I am in awe of the age of these two beautiful works of art which date back almost 400 years. Where were our familiar ancestors at that point in history...what was our country like at that time? Could the artists and rulers involved in creating these fountains ever have imagined the world we live in today? Our lives are such a short time period compared to all time...what will we leave as our legacy? Ciao for now..my bed is calling my name(in Italian!)

What a day trekking around the ruins of the Roman Form and then the Colosseum...so happy to be here!

In awe of the complexities of these man made sites. Some real forward thinking architects and lots of slave power!

..and Beer with my pasta on the Piazza Navona. A great way to end this day... 9 miles walked!

As we spent our first day in Rome perusing the Roman ruins, I became aware through an IPhone reminder, that nine years ago today our eldest sister Marcia died from Ovarian Cancer. I became the family elder and the keeper of the oldest family memories that day.

This Lilly Creativity Grant I received was largely inspired bythe below photo. Under the photo are my thoughts about it,they were written after visiting the location in which this photo was taken. Matched the exact location to the photo and spent some time there. I began to have this trickle of an idea that photography could be a great creative tool to support folks processing their grief.

Dear Photograph,

A 1957 summer picnic in the park with the women in my family and my dad, the prolific amateur photographer, capturing the moment.  I am the young child in the seat hooked onto the table and have only an imagined memory of this moment. The exploration in this space was powerful as I remembered these women who have all gone before me. As I took in the sights, sounds, and smells, I was thankful both to you, my photograph, as well as to my father for his diligence in capturing our familystories through the years. A salute to these women who taught me to be strong through both their living and their dying. May I honor their legacy through the next generations.

Onward and upward...stay tuned!

Began our day at St. Peter’s Basilica...what an unbelievable creation of God and man. We climbed to the very top of the dome...it took everything we physically had to make that climb but we were rewarded with incredible views of Rome!

You can see the ruins of the Colosseum to the right if the very large white building.

View of St. Peter’s Square from the top of the tower.

Tired but pumped that we accomplished the climb!

First closeup of the work of Michalangelo. The sculpture is titled Pietro’ So great was the loss of Jesus to Mary that this word is only used when describing art depicting he two of them. \240Pretty important word....

Pietà [(pyay-tah; pee-ay-tah)] A painting, drawing, or sculpture of Mary, the mother of Jesus, holding the dead body of Jesus. The word means “pity” in Italian.

In \240the evening we toured the Vatican Museums and spent some time in the Sistine Chapel. So lovely, unique, and awe- inspiring. I cannot even begin to imagine the intensity and hyper focus it took \240from Michalangelo to complete his paintings in the time he did.

Not our photo - cameras not allowed!

Some late night pasta and a bottle of wine later, we were off to bed to venture out today to our next location, Manarola in the Cinque Terre.

Writing this as we travel for hours \240by train to Cinque Terre. We managed to Uber to the train station, purchase our tickets on a machine, and find kind police officers to help us figure out where to board. Now we are relaxing on the train and having a well earned rest after walking and climbing over 20 miles in the last 2.5 days! Can’t promise this much time to share every day!

Ciao for now!

View from our Terrace

View from inside our lodgings

Watched the sunset, then ventured down to dinner. I discovered pesto pasta and Mike had what we now call “Seafood Surprise! Pasta with as many different types of seafood as you can imagine. Also a bottle of wine with dinner, which has now become our nightly tradition. Hmmm, might have to continue this when we return!

A train strike in Cinque Terra potentially threatened our movement the next day, and the waves were too high for the ferry to pick up in Monorossa. We discovered that some trains were running and headed towards \240Monterosso fir the day.

Train stop in Monterosso

Beach in Monterosso

Visited the waterfront shops as we began to make our way through the town and \240found the hike to the town cemetary we wanted to visit, and we slowly climbed upwards to reach it. So very interesting to view the commonalities and differences of \240cultures in regards to death and the rites of passage. From simple graves with every small stone placed exactly in the right place, to beautiful more elaborate marble stone monuments. The site that spoke to me was the simple iron cross overlooking the ocean, that had been well visited.

Purposeful placement..lovingly balanced...

Marble and photograph

Simple...

I discovered this link about death and burials in the Cinque Terre.Worth your time if you are so interested. \240https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/italys-cinque-terre-views-to-die-for

Following our lovely day, we bought pizzas and wine to eat on our terrace and watch the sunset. Fabulous end to a special day.

When waking the next morning we were highly entertained by three young boys enjoying the rocks and natural swell of the ocean. Giggling and cheering for each other and the waves, they waited to be washed off the rocks by the large sprays.Their pure joy was unmatched and gave me cause to think about how few of these simple joys are left for our children today. Didn’t seem safe, the boys might get hurt, their parents might sue the town.... on and on, these “Americanisms” kept jumping into my head. Have we overdone the safety and liable issues and taken away the joyful free play of our generation... it seems so to me. So many of the children I meet at home \240are afraid to take risks, or to get dirty, and they struggle to create their own free play with their peers. Maybe if we could simplify their lives we would have happier and healthier children, both physically and emotionally. Check out this video of the boys at play!

Three Boys playing on rock - Monorossa, Italy

Food for thought... and speaking of \240food, time to watch the sunset and head for our last dinner in this enchanted place...it’s just about to set..,Ciao for now.

Sunset, Monday July 23, Monorossa

Street view from our door... loved the old neighborhood.

Basilica di Santa Croce was a lovely way to start our first recoveryday. Final resting place to Michelangelo, Galileo, and Rossini...this Franciscan gem dates it’s origins back to 1210. I began to understand, so much more about the significance of Florence within the Renaissance movement. The brave connections between the arts and the sciences that were \240achieved were not easy, evidenced by the 95 years it took, following his death, for Galileo to have a Christian burial. We have the Florence people to thank for so much of the forward thinking we take for granted today.

More information: http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/museum_of_opera_s_croce.html

Basicila di Santa Croce

Their dome...

Michelangelo’s resting place

Galileo

Then on to the Medici Tombs...beautiful designs, sulpture, and paintings from Michelangelo and we didn’t have to fight the crowds around “David.” Can you imagine how wealthy the Medici family must have been to afford all of this?

Michelangelo Dawn...Dusk

Michelangelo Day....Night

So much beauty and sculpture everywhere.., but most move on.

The next day was our scheduled Fiat tour into Tuscany. Our children gifted this to us for Mother’s & Fathers Day, and what a gift it was. Meeting in the heart of Florence, we followed Ali, our leader, into wine country. Stopping along the way to view the grapes, the olives, and have lunch. Our post WW II vintage Fiat 500 putted through it all. Mikes’ manual shift driving skills were great as we encountered both beauty and traffic along the journey. Such a great day!

Driver Education!

Our leader!

Olives on their way to olive oil...

Picking the grapes...

Beautiful country!

View of Florence from the road...

The end of a great day...

After our fabulous drive, and a siesta, we had our last dinner and bottle of wine together for this trip. We loved eating in the local piazza’s in the evening, locals and tourists blending together as the sun would set and the air would cool. A great deal of history, respect, and cultural understanding is traveling in my backpack with me as I leave Florence.

I am headed to more of Italy while Mike heads to Orlando to referee the National Veterns’ Wheelchair Games. A great time together in another new country... we have become pretty good travel companions over the last 39 years!

As I head alone into the discovery, research, planning, and reflective part of my time in Italy, my thoughts are varied and many. The people of Italy not only remember those who have gone before them, they hold their memories in very high regard. My perspective of the great lengths they take to memorialize each other connects directly to the quote I love from Hamilton, \240“Who lives? Who dies? Who tells our story?” How do we share our loved ones’ \240stories? \240Ciao for now....

Traveled alone on the wonderful Italian train system from Florence to Rapallo. Found all my transfers and stops without any problems!

Walked about 6 min from the train station to my hotel...and by the way, I LOVE having google maps on my phone to help me find my way! My tiny little room is on the top floor with an outside view like this -

...and an inside view like this! The door into the bathroom is about half of a normal door and the entire bathroom was about 3’ x 3’ with odd angles. Made for interesting showers, no wonder the bathroom had a drain as well as the shower!

View from breakfast each morning

View of my hotel - Hotel Italia from the waterfront.

The waterfront in Rapallo is full of places to eat and the old brick neighborhood lies directly behind it. Lots of shopping and gelato is available!

Street side performers and sellers give the area almost a carnival atmosphere. Many European families traditionally vacation in this coastal city and their familiarity with each other contributes to a relaxed vibe.

After a day of rest and rejuvination, I ventured out to the planned purpose of my stay at this location The city of Genoa was a couple of train stops away and I had plans to visit The Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno. http://www.visitgenoa.it/en/cimitero-di-staglieno-0

With a backpack full of water, snacks, my camera, insect repellent, and many other necessities, I ventured to the city of Genoa for the day. Following the train ride, my \240plan was to ride a city bus and walk about 10 minutes after that to reach the cemetery. With record European temperatures, I decided to splurge on a cab ride to maximize my energy. The best spent 10€ of my journey!

Upon entering the cemetery I was immediately brought to tears by the first memorial I encountered. It was a simple representation of a young baby lost to death and the combined simplicity and remarkable beauty of the sculpture touched my heart as a mother, grandmother, woman, and human. The attention to detail in this and hundreds of other memorial sculptures I was privileged to view and photograph spoke to me about the commonalities loss and grief have in so many ways.

Grief knows no limits. It crosses all societal lines as we know them. Loss by death is part of everyone’s life experience regardless of income, race, gender, religion, etc. It is what we do with that grief and the power that it has over us that helps us shape our own \240future as we carry that loss with us.

Finding inspiration and commonalities through the ages of how humans have shared their grief, will help me work with the teen groups doing some grief photo work/writing \240at Erin’s House for Grieving Children. I have chosen a few images to share in this journal...all are connected loosely through a child’s view of loss... or maybe a mother’s view? I have so many photographs and much more to experience while in Italy. My head and heart are both full...I am so appreciative of the time and resources I have been given to further this process.

The cab dropped me at the entrance to the cemetery.

First memorial I viewed.

A common theme of wanting the generations to stay connected regardless of the death. How to make that happen...lots of ideas!

Leaving the cemetery after a long, hot mosquito filled day. I had to have a photo to prove to myself “I was there!”

Just outside the cemetery, within view of the front gate, was a bar with a cold Peroni waiting for me. As I raised a toast to the memories I had viewed that day, the gravediggers and landscape workers in the bar toasted those memories along with me. Then they uttered their disbelief when I told them we did not have a bar at the entrance to our cemeteries. They were not sure they could do their jobs without one close by.

Addio...for now

Lucca...what a wonderful town to visit.

When first arriving in Lucca, I was a little disappointed because my B&B reservation was just outside of the city wall instead of staying inside the wall. I quickly learned that newer meant bigger and a wonderful full size bathroom and shower!

I ventured into the city of Lucca the next morning to see what the city had to offer. The city is in a valley, so no climbing or stairs for a couple of days! You enter the city by one of four entrances as the city of Lucca is surrounded by a fortress wall. No cars within the city except for deliveries. It was a delight to be surrounded by folks riding bicycles or walking and the town had much more peace and quiet than I was expecting.

I stumbled onto this statue of Puccini in the first square I encountered, and thus began my Italian journey with the composer Giacomo Puccini!

My next stop was to visit the Puccini Museum, and it did not disappoint. The museum is located where Puccini was born and lived for the first several years of his life. His mother was then left a widow with 5 children and another on the way, when his church musician father died. It was interesting to see the artifacts contained here regarding his family and friend interactions as well as professional associations. He was celebrated with great fame as a composer and was one of the first great composers that experienced fame while living instead of it following his death.

Quite a handsome Italian young man!

One more visit to the statue.

Shopping sites down one of the old streets. No shopping from 2:00 to 4:00 ish every day …shop owners pull down the gates and have their lunch and siesta time. I found this true in most of Italy, even the non- tourist areas of Rome.

Mandatory Gelato every day. It really is better in Italy!

Dinner and drink while sitting inside the old Lucca Arena that had been used for ancient chariot races and other sporting events.

Attended the nightly Puccini performance of opera selections. Offered in an acoustically brilliant setting with several hundred years of history as a church behind it. The performers were fabulous!

Many concert attendees were exploring opera for the first time. It was the perfect way to do so. Best selections from various operas, and done in about one hour, including encores, made for a delightful evening for all.

Lucca wall by night...

Lucca wall by day...

Train station in Lucca. Many of the train stations I have been traveling through are not as photogenic as this one. I am sad to leave such a sweet, friendly village, but I am on the Puccini trail for the next couple of days. Headed to stay in Viareggio but will spend most of my visit in the area of Torre del Lago, location of Puccinis favorite home and the annual Summer Puccini Festival!

Addio for now...

On the train again...listen to the announcement and see if you think I found the correct train... from Lucca to Viareggio.

Upon arriving at the hotel I had booked in Viareggio, I was about as disappointed as I figured I would be when I made the reservation. Very small, badly outdated and dingy. The kind of room you don’t go barefoot in!!! I had trouble getting a room in this area and settled... which I won’t do again! So no photos of the hotel... and the beaches were so commercial that they were lined with umbrellas and chairs so deep you couldn’t see the ocean!

So I only used the room to sleep, and spent a long day at Torre del Lago visiting the delightful little lake town where Puccini spent most of his composition years. I figured out the local busses and rode their for 1.50 €. Puccini’s \240home is owned by his granddaughter and no photos were allowed. I will share what I have.

View of the lake as you walk into Torre del Lago...so beautiful.

Backside view of the outdoors opera theatre...the red carpet drawbridge is up all day keeping us nosey visitors from the theatre.

Closer shot...huge set pieces!

Monument in memory of Puccini’s dog, Pippo.

Sign at the gate of his home.. had to wait through the siesta hours for the home/museum to open.

Front of his villa with the floral gardens.

The cat that holds court over the Puccini Torre del Lago home. The cat is a 4th generation direct descendant to the cat Puccini owned while living there.

The lovely restaurant I had lunch in while waiting for the museum to open.

The most fabulous fresh ingredient ravioli I have ever eaten.

...and a glass of Tosca wine to accompany the ravioli.

Waiting for the sun to start setting over the lake so the opera theatre can open. Audience members were coming in by droves to this tiny little town in preparation for attending the opera.

The sun is low in the sky... the drawbridge is connected, and we are allowed to approach the theatre with a closer view.

Pietro Castello sculpture on the walk to the theatre. Larger than life itself!

Entrance to the home of the Puccini Summer Festival!

Short video...listen and hear a sweet little melody played as a reminder that the opera is about to begin and you need to take your seat. Played once at 15 min, twice at 10, and 3 times at five minutes before \240performance time. They did this as each of the four acts began as well as honoring the conductor as he made his grand entrance before each act. The total time for the opera was 9:15 pm to 12:30 am including 20 minute intermissions between each act. Opera is not for wussies!

Audience beginning to arrive.

Set for Act 1...a Bohemian apartment.in France.

Set for act 2...outside in the town’s piazza.

Act 3...outside the town cafe in the middle of winter.

Following the opera, at almost 1:00 am, 3,500 concert goers left this small town at the same time. It was nice to jump on a bus charter I had made a reservation on in order to return to my room in Viareggio.

My day in Torre del Lago was probably the most laid back day I have \240spent in years. It gave me a great deal of time to take it all in, read, and process the Puccini experience. He was certainly gifted with a creative genius that often borderd on madness...yet I could understand much of his reason and rationale. When being challenged about taking on more than one compisition project at a time he responded about his worry that he had so much yet to do and that his life was moving so fast that he must take them all in to have any hope of accomplishing them all.

I often feel this way when looking towards the remainder of my life. So much good work left to do... so many projects I want to pursue and complete. How much longer should I work... I love what I do with my students each and every day but I need the \240time to achieve so many other goals and dreams I have for myself. There are no easy answers, just more pondering questions.

Headed back to Rome with lots of plans for my last few days in Italy. \240Addio...

After many multiple train stops on other days, I loved seeing this map of my last train ride non stop to Rome today! Also... such a sleek, beautiful train!

Took an Uber from the Rome Termini train station to the B&B I had reserved for my last four nights in Italy. I had chosen the Testaccio neighborhood to stay in because it was a little bit away from Roma Central and within reasonable walking distance of several places I had plans to visit. I had a gut feeling that the place I had reserved was a bit unusual in its set up but very new, clean, and spacious, and it was comforting to spend these four nights in the Seven Suites B&B.

A small business owner had gutted and renovated the 4th floor of an apartment building, turning the space into seven different suites. Luxurious linens, a king sized bed, great air conditioning, a beautiful bathroom. and lots of open space was welcomed by this weary traveler. Breakfast was a voucher to use at the cafe on the street just below the building. It was such fun to start each day with the locals in this busy place.

Cafe below the B&B.

Wonderful bathroom!!!!

My first day back in Rome was my day to head to the Appian Way. A road built in 312 BC, at one time stretched 400 miles to Brindisi, the Italian port that Roman ships would use to sail to Greece and Egypt.

Walking on the same stones that Julius Caesar walked on was awe inspiring...some call it the first ever super highway!

Entrance to the Appian Way.

Sign along the Appian Way helping travelers find their way to the Catacombs of San Callisto.

Along the Appian Way there are many individual family tombs, some above ground, but mostly underground. Many of the early Christians could not afford a family tomb so their dead were buried in mass underground catacombs, which efficiently stored thousands of bodies dug under land owned by the few Christians that could afford ownership.

These tombs stretched for many miles and were many layers deep. The remains of the people buried there are long gone but there are a great deal of symbolic carvings on the walls. My plan was to visit one such catacomb that is open for public tours as part of my experience in helping me absorb the history and attitudes towards death over thousands of years.

Ticket to the catacomb showing one of the tombs.

Entrance to the catacombs. They had tour guides available to lead tours in seven different languages. No photos were allowed to be taken in the tombs.

Steps out of the catacombs at the end of the tour. The 30 minute tour was very interesting but quite a bit out of my comfort zone. The tombs take up \240about 20 miles and are as deep as 45 - 50 feet. The “Little Vatican” tomb once held 6 popes and 4 saints. Most of interest to me was the tomb and the legends of Saint Cecilia, patron saint of sacred music. I was happy to see daylight as I came up from the underground!

Exit house covering the steps out of the catacombs.

Walking further along the Appian Way there were random private family catacombs. This catacomb was locked up tight and had a monument by a child’s gravesite outside the catacomb.

Child’s grave outside the private catacomb.

Beautiful trees lining the way.

View of Rome from the Appian Way. All burials were required to take place outside of the city limits for health reasons.

Domine Quo Vadis Church marks the spot where St. Peter saw a vision of Christ when \240he was running from religious persecution in Rome. Christ’s footprints remained and a cast was made of them.

Casting of Christ’s footprints available for viewing in the church.

Short video of the intersection in front of the church.

Stones that Julius Caesar, St. Peter, and Laura McCoy have walked on!

Choice of two bus routes to use between Rome and The Appian Way.

My first stop when I got off of bus 118 in Central Rome!

The next morning...

Walked from my B&B to the entrance gates of The Non-Catholic Cemetary in Rome, and yes, there was a bar across from the entrance!

Burial site of an 8 year old boy.

Guardian Cherub

Elaborate tomb

This is the sculpture that was an inspiration for \240my journey...”The Angel of Grief Weeping Over the Dismantled Altar of \240Life”...William Wetmore Story (1894) \240Her image has been copied at least 12 times in other cemetery sculptures and photos of it have been used in many media forms. It was Story’s last sculpture and his finest.

Front view...

The wingspan and attention to detail took my breath away. Story was a man of 78 years of age when his wife died and he created this sculpture. The concepts of “Continuing Bonds” and “Creative Arts in Grief Therapy” are surely modeled in this letter he wrote in 1894 to a relative, while working on the angel.

“I am making a monument to place in the Protestant Cemetery andI am always asking myself if she knows it and if she can see it. It represents the the angel of Grief, in utter abandonment, throwing herself with drooping wings and hidden face over a funeral altar. It represents what I feel. It represents Prostration. Yet to do it helps me.”

Story was laid to rest in this same cemetery 18 months after completing the sculpture.

“...the angel of Grief, in utter abandonment, throwing herself with drooping wings and hidden face over a funeral altar.”

She is placed up high overlooking the entire cemetery...

The English poet John Keats is buried here and has quite a fan following visiting his grave. At Keats request, his monument does not have his name, but a bit of his poetry.

If visitors miss the open hours of the cemetery, they can peek through this window in the wall to view his gravesite.

The cemetery and the adjoining pyramid, \240that was built as a tomb between 18 and 12 BC, are both home to many happy cats. The society that cares for the cats accepts \240donations \240to support their upkeep

One of many happy cats...

The pyramid tomb at the walls of the cemetery.

Following my respect for the 3 hour siesta time, \240I headed out with my google map gps directing me to walk to the ruins of the baths to attend \240the Joan Baez “Fare Thee Well” \240Concert.

Interesting how the sidewalk becomes an extension of every little restaurant.

Every tiny available space is used!

When the gps takes you up these steps you hope there are no more steps ahead of you... there were two more sets like these!

I arrived long before the concert and had dinner from this fabulous food truck in front of the entrance to the baths.

My ticket...,

View of the concert stage and the ruins before darkness fell.

I was especially moved by her performance of a relatively new song entitled “The President Sang Amazing Grace.” All of the songs on this, her last album, are being illustrated in video as in the video here. Well worth your time!

https://youtu.be/m9iYBifsOPI

Great short video of Joan Baez and her final song (before encores!)

Following the concert I took an Uber back to the BnB. The areas I had walked through on my way to the concert would not have been as safe after dark, so I took the safe route! I love Uber!

Final Day

The next day was my final day in Italy. I shopped at the local market and spent a lot of time walking in Rome. I visited the Jewish Ghetto and once again was in awe of the generations of strong and brave people who have gone before us.

Walk along the river in the way to the Jewish Ghetto.

The Catholic Church that the pope required the Jewish community to worship in beginning in 1572.. This was totally in \240disregard to their faith. Notice the Hebrew language below Christ on the cross.

October 16, 1943, over 1,000 Jews rounded up and eventually deported to Auschwitz. Following the war only 16 returned. The Catholic Church has just begun to acknowledge the terrible role they played in regards to this...

A great article for those interested in the unique history of the Jewish People in Rome...https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/travel/echoes-from-the-roman-ghetto.html

Back in the United States...

I am home and have so much more to share from my time in Italy. I am still processing much of it as I work on this journal. Even though the traveling is over I am still on a journey and plan to update this journal as I head through the process of moving my experiences, knowledge, and heart all into a concrete plan of working with grieving teenagers through creative arts, especially photography and journaling. Thanks for traveling along with me on this journey. Addio for now... but not forever!