Be connected

Another Friday has rolled around, one with golden sunshine and a long weekend on it's heels!
Hope you all going to enjoy it!
Yesterday I dropped my oldest son and his sweet girlfriend off at the airport and it is always with a heavy heart that I see them go...Back to Europe, way to far for me. May the rainbow be a bridge....always! This one appeared only a few days ago in the sky over our house after a stormy day!


Thank goodness there was back to school night to attend that evening and I did not have a chance to think about it all the time.
My husband takes our daughter to a dude ranch for the weekend together with a friend and his daughter, so my youngest son and I will make a cozy weekend for ourselves. Perhaps a movie and dinner for two?



Do you take time out with one of your children? Or the child? Alone? We do it quite regularly and I feel we all benefit from a little one on one and TLC!
They begin to talk easier and the intimacy invites closeness. Especially these teen kids of ours need the chance to let go of the facade, which they carefully craft and just be relaxed for a while.




It's going to be fun and I am looking forward to it!

Wishing you all a time to re-connect!

XX
Victoria



All pictures by V.Zlotkowski

Arezzo

Arezzo has been the biggest surprise for me at our stay in this region so far. It is such a beautifully ancient city, filled with architectural treasures. One of them, the church San Francesco, was build in the 13th century and contains Piero della Francesca's Legend of the true cross(1452-66),one of Italy's greatest fresco cycles.


The frescoes, now visible again after long restoration, show how the cross was found near Jerusalem by the Empress Helena. Her son, the Emperor Constantine, adopted the cross as his battle emblem. He also granted the Christian faith official recognition through the Edict of Milan, signed in 313. All is so beautifully executed, I could have sat for hours and slowly take it all in. Of course this was impossible, since there was so much else to see and we moved on after an hour.




Arezzo is one of the wealthiest cities in Tuscany, filled with antique stores and markets.





Jewellry making is a large part of the local industry and gorgeous pieces are displayed in many stores!
One can walk throughs many beautiful piazzas, one of the most impressive ones being the Piazza Grande. Truly medival in it's design, many buildings date back to the 13th century.







We dined under the handsome arcade designed by Vasari in 1573. The old Palazzo della Faternita dei Laici, right next to it, is decorated with a gorgeous relief of the Virgin by Bernardo Rossellino in 1434. One can get so absolutely absorbed into history.
Wherever you look, the city is filled with breathtaking beauty and is alive and full of acitvity. We so enjoyed our time there.


The movie 'Life is Beautiful' was filmed here. I will want to see it one more time now, seeing it under a new aspect...I loved the movie and now even more!

We will visit one more time, the city deserves a second time to stroll through it's small streets and to enjoy many more details.


Now we are back to the house in the mountains, where the weather is always different then in the valley below! Today we went up into storm clouds and now it's raining...
We are cozy inside, listening to Vivaldi and the wind outside and I get an early feeling what autumn must feel like out here!


I keep on writing my blog, this is a great way for me to preserve my memories and all my impressions are still fresh and unaltered by the passing time.
Thank you all for commenting I am so grateful for your loyal followship, soon it will be time to return home and I will catch up with all your news as well!


CIAO!
Victoria


Pictures by V.Zlotkowski, images from Piero della Francesco's frescoes via google image.

Out of Africa

"In the daytime you felt that you had got high up,
near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings
were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold."
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)

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Her story is in my mind forever interwoven with the movie...


There are movies I watch every year, like visiting old friends... Out of Africa is such a movie. Karen Blixen wrote under the pen name Isak Dinesen and so essentially captured the spirit and times of colonial Africa wrapped in a timeless love story. Her story.

Blixen 1922 in Nairobi.

I’m sure I’m in good company when I say that I love that movie beyond reason. It’s three hours of yearning and passion and hardship and loss. My kind of film.
Meryl Streep and Robert Redford and are wonderful together...


The incredible designs - fashion and interiors have influenced me since I saw the movie the first time, many years ago. Since then I love the classic British colonial look. I really adore most of her dresses in this movie, especially the delicate dressing gowns and lace shawl things she wears while storytelling. The veils, gloves, khaki riding pants and dark leather boots.


And then there are of course the exteriors...and interiors! Not from the movie, but inspired by it and African colonial design. Images from here.

Seen at vignettedesign.blogspot.com

Seen at designspongeonline.com.
Around the world bed from here.

The following images are designs by the South African designer John Jacob. They are perfect modern interpretations of colonial design.





And while wandering through many sites probing Out of Africa interiors I stumbled upon this amazing place in ...Africa, the Royal Malewane & Africa House. A hotel which made my heart skip a beat...




Found here.

All interiors by Liz Biden.
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It's hot and I dream of Africa!


XX
Victoria



All pictures as indicated.