Bigger things:
– in Rome cars, buses and motorcycles turn two lanes into five
– centre lines and zebras (crosswalk lines) are only suggestions
– hotels may supply towels and half shower doors, but no face cloths.
– limoncello and grappa over gelato

Even bigger things:
– air conditioning and heat are regulated and are turned on and off at predetermined times.
– many ATMs do not display messages in English and if your card is not recognized, you have less than 30 seconds to remove it of it will be sucked back in and lost forever.
–high-speed Internet is something you install yourself

Huge things:
– a toy store window displays toy soldiers with swaztikas and other Nazi garb
– a wine store displays a brand of wine with labels bearing the likenesses of Hitler, Mussolini, and Che Guevera in the window
– The Vatican owns 67% of the western world’s art. The Vatican museum is over 4 miles long and has much of it’s collection is stored in it’s archives.
– St. Peter’s

- Posted from my iPad

On display was a Galileo exhibition, but the sculptures and marble work much of it from the 1500’s was staggering, including outdoor gardens, and beautiful stained glass windows.

One interesting modern sculpture was tucked away to the side behind steel bars — an ironic and interesting commentary by whoever decided to place it there.

Two more churches rounded out the morning, then a lunch meet up with group, 16 Americans and one woman from Tokyo. After lunch more free time and a walk to another piazza. Enroute we found a Roman arch from the first century.

The tour began before supper at a museum around the corner from the hotel that house many Roman sculptures, frescos, mosaics, and a couple of Greek bronzes. Our informative guide did a fine job of directing us to highlights in our brief one-hour visit.

A good, full day.

- Posted from my iPad

Next a wait for the Community bus to PoCo station, a fare upgrade to catch the Trainbus to Waterfront Station, then a short hike over to the Skytrain to the airport. Arrived before noon. Flight doesn’t leave until 4:00. At the White Spot for lunch , the feature was a burger with prosciutto, portobellos, and Fontina cheese. A good baseline meal for comparison when we land in Rome later tomorrow.

The plane, ‘Old Rauma’, a KLM 777 arrived soon after we did, and boarding was smooth. We had booked upgraded aisle seats across he from one another, but my row Ed up with no other passengers, so I slid over to window and Sherry took the aisle with an empty seat between us.

Five hours later: about to pass over Scotland, just north of Belfast. A short nap for me earlier, and a couple of movies — Hugo and excruciatingly Loud something or other — a post-911 coming to terms with it flick where Tom Hanks died early and Sandra bullock did not much of anything. Only 974 km left. Outside air temperature has warmed to –47 C.
Unfortunately, Sherry had a bit a discomfort a few hours ago. Felt faint and hot. Called the stewardess who brought cold compresses and a Mars bar. that and a mini Mars bar seemed to do the trick. She’s managed about 3 hours of sleep and seems to be better now.

I’m finding the trip much more comfortable than I was expecting. I may feel different by the time the rest of day is done, but so far so good. Traveling always energizes me, and I really looking forward to the next month.

10:45 am Amsterdam time (3:45 am Vancouver): On the ground in Amsterdam twenty minutes early.  Changed terminals, went through security and waiting at our gate for a 12:30 departure. Next stop, Roma.

 
– Posted from my iPad

This morning began with a walk to and from the Hyde Creek Rec Centre where Taylor had her dance class. After class, Taylor, her brother, mother and grandma took the bus to downtown PoCo to watch the May Day parade and hang out at the rides.

My escape plan included a ride to Coquitlam Centre from Taylor’s Dad (whose own escape plan involved a trip to the dump). I found a wash and wear shirt for Italy, then headed over to my other favorite food joint in PoCo — C-Lover fish and chips. A halibut chowder and halibut burger fortified me for the return trip.

After yesterday’s transit marathon, I decided to forego the bus and walk. Besides, I need to begin my walking training for Italy sometime. I switched on my Pedometer app and set out. I was reluctant to head down the congested bumper to-bumper Lougheed Highway, so decided to try out the back roads.

I knew the only impediment would be crossing the Coquitlam River, but remember a foot bridge from one on the two walks upriver I made in the twenty-three years we lived here. With an unfailing sense of direction I set out eastward. At the end of the cul-de-sac a sloping path led into the bush.

I rounded the corner and saw ashore bridge over a much-smaller tickle of water than I remembered, but crossed it and continue onward.

In the next block I encountered a yard filled with sculptures. ‘Am I in Italy?’ I wondered, but after looking closer, realized I was gazing at (what I hope will be) a far less inviting set of statuary than I expect to see in Rome. Still, folks here also must feel the urge to beautiful their surroundings.
A few blocks further along I came to another dead-end, but, once more, a path led off through the trees albeit in the wrong direction.

About 500 meters down the path, I heard the sound of rushing water, and crossed a blue pedestrian over a much larger expanse of water.

Safely across the river, I walked through a motocross track, past a ball-diamond full of shouting teams and spectators, a retired float from the morning’s parade and soon after reached my destination, 5446 steps from where I began. I had managed to avoid all the congested lanes of traffic, the buses, and experience a little taste of the natural world on a warm spring day.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Port Coquitlam

Off the bus in PoCo, and a quick stop at our former favorite Donair shop for a super lamb with extra hot sauce, then a 20-minute trek to our lodgings, backpacks seemingly much heavier than they were when we began the day.

Next, another two-hour two-bus trek downtown to attend and participate in a literary reading at a coffee shop, then a return trip back to the Coquitlam bus loop and a waiting truck ride back to our lodgings.

Total time in transit today: taxi — 5 minutes, plane — 25 minutes, shuttle — 10 minutes, Skytrain — 28 minutes, city bus.- 3 hours and 45 minutes, truck 10 minutes.

All in all a good rehearsal for Monday’s bus and Skytrain trip back to the airport before the 12 hour flight to Amsterdam and Rome.

Who said getting there is half the fun?

Last night’s gathering was typical: most people brought homemade or store-bought snacks for breaks: cookies, herb bread, crackers with cream cheese and chili sauce, homemade salsa, hummus, ranger cookies, chocolate squares. The library provided hot water and tea and a circle of chairs. We began with introductions, and a quick recap of the “rules of the road” — anyone who wants to can read or present a story, those who wish just to listen are welcome to, everyone gets a chance to read once before repeats, no comments or criticism should be offered unless the presenter requests them, and a reminder that this is a story exchange, not therapy. More and more storytellers seem to be preparing material in advance, and often read from written pages, but many still tell from memory or in the spot.

The 1st storyteller told us about his latest trip shopping for “weird jazz records” in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island; about how he forgot his wallet full of credit cards at the counter in the store, and how his wife later came to store looking for him. The clerk, realizing who she was, handed her the missing wallet and the pair later met up for coffee. The next story was a humorous tale about a barfing dog in the car, followed by a short tale about a Sunday school adventure.

I read a piece about the two years I spent avoiding a grocery store across the street after having been caught stealing a chocolate bar, and how one evening, after a drive with my parents, I was forced to confront the cashier who’d caught me. We then listened to stories about a group of people who sought out a ghost on a golf course in Victoria late at night, and a group of apprentice shipbuilders in Liverpool who fashioned kerosene torches from cloth and pipe and set out to explore an abandoned train tunnel near a graveyard, only to run out screaming after hearing the unmistakeable chugging of a ghostly steam train bearing down upon them.

The next storyteller told about her adventures traveling in Pakistan and having to deal with the unwanted advances of 2 male acquaintances, followed by a new member of the group of Finnish descent who sprained his ankle skiing on Grouse mountain in Vancouver on his 39th birthday, then later hiked up the mountain and discovered an old cabin, which he later spent some time renovating, and lived in.

More stories followed: a cat addicted to chlorine who wants to curl into a turban of her owner’s head every time she returns from swimming, the death of an old man on his ninety-fifth birthday, a woman who made par on the hole where her friend wants her ashes to be spread when she passes on, a man who wandered the streets of New Westminster, Surrey and Vancouver after being given a dead-man’s pants, a cab driver in Whistler named Alison who spend her 29th birthday on December 29th working, and picked up a drunk woman also named Alison who, too, was celebrating her 29th birthday that evening. One of our final stories was about a little boy who went into a closet, got frightened, and was joined first by his cat, then his mother and later his father.

The wonderful thing about our little storytelling group, is not simply the diversity of our tellers, but the recognition that nearly all of these tales are not fictions, but stories that come from real lives lived by all of us who gather once a month to share them.

How much easier can it get?

Surprisingly, the treatments worked almost immediately and I went back to my usual pace of 8 to 10 hours a day of typing on my computer keyboard. In less than a month the pain returned, worse than before. A few months later, I went back for a 2nd treatment, and once again my symptoms disappeared. When they soon returned again, I did some further research and found out the cortisone doesn’t solve the problem, merely masks the symptoms and that it’s quite possible to do more severe damage while the  drug is in the system. Unfortunately, by this point, I had so severely strained my arm that the only course of action was to stop writing for nearly a year.

During that time I began to explore voice-recognition software as an alternative way of inputting text into the computer. In the old days, when I still used PCs, I had had some success with the program called Dragon Dictate, but once I switched to the Mac I needed to find a similar program. Fortunately Dragon had released a Mac version of their program, and I began to experiment using it on my laptop to some success. One thing that had changed dramatically in a few years was the speed at which dictation could be translated into computer text.  I found that I could now speak in at normal speed, and as long as I remembered to speak correct punctuation (COMMA), the program could capture 95% of what I said without mistakes (PERIOD).

I’m not sure why I stopped using the program; perhaps it was because I quit writing soon after I completed my 2nd go round at The Writer Studio’s in 2009.  I had spent close to 2 years editing and redrafting my memoir, had gone through sessions at Banff, did some online UBC Booming Ground sessions with Catherine Bush and Gail Anderson-Dargatz, a manuscript intensive with Betsy Warland, then spent another year as an adjunct writer at SFU with Wayde Compton.  I had finally gotten to the point where I had submitted a draft of my manuscript to a couple of publishers. After close to a year I received my first rejections and decided it was time to give the manuscript a rest for a while. Seems like I’m still giving it a rest, but lately the manuiscript has begun to intrude on my consciousness and I find myself ready to go and attack it once more.

Last week I got an offer from the Dragon Dictate people for a new version so I placed an order and the software arrived yesterday. I installed it, did the five-minute training exercise, donned the headset that came with the package, and here I am sitting at the computer dictating this post. I’ve had to make about 10 corrections since I started, but my words are flowing into my blog like magic. Ah, writing at last — the easier way.

“You have to try Scrivener,” said Michael. And I did. As usual, rather than download a demo version, I plunged in and bought the tool online. True to Michael’s word, the software does everything a writer needs. Most importantly, Scrivener allows me to focus on the writing. I can quickly go full screen, enlarge the font and just have a page of words to concentrate on — not menus, no toolbars, no distractions. Whenever I want, I can switch to an outline view, or write summaries and post them on a corkboard, re-arrange chapters or scenes by clicking and dragging. I have complete control over fonts, formats, layouts, etc. Most importantly I don’t have the large footprint of a bloated program like MS-Word.  I have places to store notes, links, images, keywords, even character sketches

Without doubt, this is the finest writing program I’ve found for writers. By the way, for you Window’s users, you can now get it too. Check it out — at less than $50 bucks, it’s a steal.

Had fun today editing some point and shoot camera video that I took back in December and adding a music track to it.  After a bit of learning curve, I found out how to add an audio track and a title, as well as control fades, trims and video effects. Seems somewhat intuitive, but I see why professional video editors are challenged by this different approach to editing. I used iMovie for the first time, but I think I’ll be able to adapt to Final Cut Pro X when I get around to some serious editing.