This larger than life sculpture is located in front of the Finance Tower in the center of Brussels. I believe the sculptor is from Milan, Italy. ” ‘Fonderia D’Arte De Andreis, Milano’ (Milan, Italy). And an engraved inscription gives a name that appears to be ‘Nat Helligan’, and the apparent dates 1952-1984. ” https://www.flickr.com/photos/22325431@N05/4038175688
23aug19. Brussels, Belgium.
17aug19 Liège, Belgium
Saint Gummarus of Lier was a Belgian saint. He was the son of the Lord of Emblem An official in the court of his relative Pepin the Younger, after a number of years in military service he retired to live the life of a hermit. The town of Lier grew up around his hermitage. (wiki)
The Pepper pot
St Gummarus Tower, known as the “Peperbus” (Pepper pot) to the people of Lier, is 83m high.
Due to a number of catastrophes it took almost four centuries to build. We can see this from the various architectural styles: Gothic at the bottom, the octagon resting on this is late Gothic, the top octagon is late baroque and the tower roof is rococo. https://www.visitlier.be/en/see/points-interest/st-gummarus-tower
15aug2109. Lier, Belgium.
If I contradict myself, I contradict myself. I contain multitudes.
~ Walt Whitman
NYC. MAY 2019
There were things that burned away at me, not only as a private individual, but also as a citizen of our century, our pixelated age. What does it mean to be lonely? How do we live, if we’re not intimately engaged with another human being? How do we connect with other people, particularly if we don’t find speaking easy? Is sex a cure for loneliness, and if it is, what happens if our body or sexuality is considered deviant or damaged, if we are ill or unblessed with beauty? And is technology helping with these things? Does it draw us closer together, or trap us behind screens? ~Olivia Laing
You can be lonely anywhere, but there is a particular flavour to the loneliness that comes from living in a city, surrounded by millions of people. One might think this state was antithetical to urban living, to the massed presence of other human beings, and yet mere physical proximity is not enough to dispel a sense of internal isolation. It’s possible – easy, even – to feel desolate and unfrequented in oneself while living cheek by jowl with others. Cities can be lonely places, and in admitting this we see that loneliness doesn’t necessarily require physical solitude, but rather an absence or paucity of connection, closeness, kinship: an inability, for one reason or another, to find as much intimacy as is desired. Unhappy, as the dictionary has it, as a result of being without the companionship of others. Hardly any wonder, then, that it can reach its apotheosis in a crowd. ~ Laing
Loneliness is personal, and it is also political. Loneliness is collective; it is a city. As to how to inhabit it, there are no rules and nor is there any need to feel shame, only to remember that the pursuit of individual happiness does not trump or excuse our obligations to each another. We are in this together, this accumulation of scars, this world of objects, this physical and temporary heaven that so often takes on the countenance of hell. What matters is kindness; what matters is solidarity. What matters is staying alert, staying open, because if we know anything from what has gone before us, it is that the time for feeling will not last. ~ Laing
San Jose, Costa Rica. 30apr19.
inspired by:
https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/07/11/the-lonely-city-olivia-laing/
3apr19. San Jose, Costa Rica.
22feb19. San Jose, Costa Rica 🇨🇷
1. Make peace with your past – so it won’t disturb your present.
2. What other people think of you – is none of your business.
3. Time heals almost everything – give it time.
4. No one is in charge – of your happiness. Except you!
5. Don’t compare your life to others – and don’t judge them. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
6. Stop thinking too much – it’s all right not to know all the answers. They will come to you when you least expect it.
7. Smile – you don’t own all the problems in the world.
11/12/13/14feb2019 San Jose, Costa Rica
José Gervasio Artigas Arnal June 19, 1764 – September 23, 1850) was a national hero of Uruguay, sometimes called “the father of Uruguayan nationhood”. Artigas was a staunch democrat and federalist, opposed to monarchism and centralism.
11/12/13Feb2019 San Jose, Costa Rica.
With nothing on the horizon, and feeling rudderless, I booked a ticket to Costa Rica on Thursday and flew out four days later, on the Monday. I don’t really know what I’m doing here, or WHY I’m here, so I’m excited to find out.
Halfway through our life’s journey
I woke to find myself within a dark wood
because I had strayed from the correct path.
Oh how hard it is to describe
how harsh and tough that savage wood was
The very thought of it renews the fear!
~ Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy
On the 5th, I finally pulled the trigger and booked the ticket, still not knowing at all why I was doing it, and then I read this on a friend’s IG page:
FEB 4/5th NEW MOON IN AQUARIUS
This is a time for cutting the cords binding us to anything that we know has been holding us back or where we are settling rather than thriving. It is also for making bold decisions that lead us to fresh new starts. – Alex Myles
11feb2019. San Jose, Costa Rica.
