Higher Ground

5:03pm - May 21^st, 2015

The buses are getting hotter along with the weather.  Every ride I take smells of sweat and collective misery, but the open air is full of green and light and blue and white, so I’ll suffer selectively this season.

As I write this I’m sitting in my favorite neighborhood bar, where just outside the old men come to play chess and the young men come to challenge them.  They speak gently, tip their heads in consideration, and pull listlessly on their cigars.  I’ve just finished my thank you notes, for I’ve a lot to be thankful for.  The IES farewell event will begin soon; as I remember it from last semester there will be socializing and tears and everyone will hang about discomfited, holding out for the elusive closure.  This is not my departure post because I haven’t left yet.  [If you want my thoughts about reverse culture shock check out my earlier post, Home(s) for the Holidays.]  I’m still in Rome, searching for a retrospect.

I’ve been finding this perspective in Italian gardens.  It’s hard to explain the relationship between urban landscape and green expanse, but the way in which villas of Renaissance-Baroque fortune are integrated within the public life of the city has always seemed to me unique.  They sit on hills overlooking the city, giving refuge in shade and scent.  The Italian garden is a place for family, friends, play, quiet, wine, and introspection.  Walking, reading, cycling, talking, and viewing.  I’m going to seek out higher ground in these gardens and see where that gets me.  In the meantime, and as a prelude to the end, here are some pictures from my recent Roman ramblings: