call it a day

we did it. wait.. where did we leave you all....
we managed to wake up and get to the russian tea room on thursday, a little place (they weren't kidding about the "room" thing) stuffed to the brim (ha... get it?) with pots covered in russian designs, tea tins, russian fabrics, little paintings, other tea parifenalia, and a nice little selection of russian sweets.
meredith, ruth and sarah cuddled into a corner, picked three teas, and recieved three pots, which we steadily worked our way through. each pot that arrived was delicatly laced in russian patterns of blue and gold on white. much like ones you can find at the house of tea in philly, for a reasonable price! (was that subtle?) anyway. it was a very relaxing atmosphere covered in russian classical music, and spewing aromas of tea and russian desserts. after downing about the tea, the sweets became too alluring, and we ordered "blinis"s.... (pancakes?) one with honesy, and one with chocolate, some chocolate ball thing ("heavenly chochloate ball thing..." ruth) and some sweet cake that melted right into you tounge. all in all, it was a good breakfast.

after tea, meredith split, and we wandered our way to the synagogue (which they actually call a temple, because the "synagogue" in jerusalem was called a temple, and the jews here are ancient, 22 centuries old... we learned stuff.) after figuring out how to get in, we found ourselves in the museum, amungst around 800 embroidered torah covers. beautiful. we talked to the nice women at the desk and got on board for a tour in 15 min.s we wandered through the little museum on our own, and found an unexpected comfort non-jesus images. after looking at various hand written torah's, talmuds, and other things we joined our small english tour group, which consisteed of: two jews from Bordeaux, one from miami, and us... and our awesome italian jew tour guide. along with soem history, she showed us a small spanish temple with pieces from three different spanish temples that were all destroyed. after a small walk through the museum, we were taken into the big temple. now. you should know that due to a terrorist attack in 1982 (and it hasn't gotten better since then) no one is allowed in the temple without a tourguide. and the actualy roman congregation can only enter to pray three times a day. one hour in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one more hour at night. if we wanted to enter for a service, we would have to bring our passports. aparently it is like this all over europe. says our tour guide.
anyway. the temple was beautiful. the ceiling was painted with rainbows, starry skys and trees.... it was more beautiful than any chruch in rome. go team jew.
ANYWAY. then we were hungry. and in the perfect place. the ghetto. after asking at the desk, we were given a map, and directions to a place to get us some JEWISH ARTICHOKES! now... if you have never eaten said artichoke... you need to get your hindparts up on over to roma. and get on it. cause damn.

moving on. we had a nice evening after that. wandered some streets. made it to the pantheon. were given a turtle and an elephant by some jamacian dude. (turtle must stay in my purse, because he always goes along, slowly, but always goes forward. elephant my stay above my door, for peace and love.) that night ruth carlos and sarah went to see a movie. and guess what goes down. about half way through the film ir stops. screen goes black for a second and then says some big word in white. "intermesso" or something like that. "are you kidding me?!" yeah... so aparently, in rome at least, there is always an intermission at the movies... there are toilets in the theater, so you don't have to go far. and a little dude walks around witha tray of candy... this would not go down well in philly...

anyway.
yesterday, we went to see these old catacombs under this old church.... very creepy. old old old. bones bones bones. it was completely made of bones. all the typical things your would see in a chapel, columns, laterns, ornate designs, were all there. made of bones. supposedly the bones were from poor romans (where they down?) and others from friars. wierd stuff.
and in the last chapel there was a grave stone that read "what you are now, we used to be. what we are now, you will be." so yeah.



today:
awake and caffinated. we are going to go hop on a tour bus.. cause there is actually stuff to see in rome... unlike some places (coughphillycough)
also, carlos's mom bought ruth and i tickets to some circus outside of rome. so we're going to do that tonight. and then! FUNK IN THE GHETTO. http://myspace.com/24caratnight
so that could be cool.

so.... with that... we're off
peace peace peace yall

Kickin Out Plugs

Uhh. We been slackin. Pologizes.

Christmas eve:
At Gerardo's in our fancy dresses (oh lord), with the Carlos fam and some others. Deliciousness foodwise, we're talkin shrimpies, fishies, clammies, noodle-ies? Buncha fast-talkin Italians bein hype (ruth: "buh?"). Funny thing is, nobody in this Christmas eve dinner in Rome was Roman. Some gringas from the states (that's us), Carlos and mom from Ecuador, Sister from Denmark and Ecuador, some Ukranian lady ("mother Russia" as she said), and two chubs from Naples. An international table. We were awarded for being tourists with travel gear for Christmas. Ruth (me) got a passport hangy neck thing - which honestly, won't kill me. Sarah (me) got a - ready? - if a messenger bag and a fanny pack had a baby... bag. Yes.

Christmas day:
Drove around Rome with the whole Carlos fam. Went to an orange garden that's connected to a church - bellisimo. Citrus scents and a beautiful view of Rome (pics on Carlos' camera, ours needed some more juice). As tempting as it was, no oranges were stolen. Walked around. Heard old ladies singing. Looked through a keyhole that had a path through arched trees that lead to a view of the Vatican. But nobody goes in there, only looks through the keyhole. Probably only the pope is allowed. Drove down to Circo Massimo (Giant Circus?), huge ruins and a big green .. space. Park. Thing. Walked over to an old temple, very pretty, no idea what its deal was. Saw this tourist thing. That tourist thing. Very nice time. THEN (DRUMSSS) went to a Peruvian restaurant (the only place open on Christmas), "where all the immigrants go" says Carlos' mom. Goooood fooood. FULL. After naps, met up with Monica, Tim, Chris, went for a LONGASS walk, then watched way too many episodes from season 3 of Weeds, passed out at about 4 in the morning.

Today:
Uh.. Got breakfast around noon. Went to the Forum, beautiful sunlight and mind-blowing scapes. (Picked up some pebbles por la mama). Looked at the arch of our people being conquered. Way to rep, jews. Went to the Colosseo and walked in big circles for a while. Left. Ate some good stuff. Walked to the Pantheon to find it closed. More things seemed to be closed today than on actual Christmas day. BUT. What WAS open was a GELATO place that was HEAVENLY. A million flavors. We ripped that up. (Well, Ruth (I) did her (my) part). Wandered little streets for a bit. Art store was closed - we'll try that tomorrow. Had dinner at Carlos'. Yum. Chilled. Now we're home.

Plans for tomorrow (let's see if they happen):
Russian Tea room in the Jewish Ghetto. Synagogue - to check it out. Nikeroma!! Art store. Cinema.

All in all, the weather is nicer than expected - not too cold, none of that snow stuff we're hearing about on the news in that united states place. Snow in Philly? Doubt it. Any more suggestions before my (Ruth) time is up?

PEACELOVE
roosaa.


p.s. They hooked up a crazy ass nativity scene at the Vatican. If the pope was interested in going into show business, or funding theater in Rome, he'd know who to call. (Ghostbusters?)

Ok we're tired again.

Never Baked Cookies Like This Before

it began with cuddles and sniffles. we woke at some time that felt like morning, and went across the street to one of those cafe/pastry shops, where all the old men go, who aren't used to the young ones - "ragazze". Drank cappucinos, thought of papa as one of those old men (no offense, daddy), hat brim, he would have fit right in. With a list of things to do, with a list of food to buy, we went to the long long outdoor market. Kinda Ghana, kinda Reading Terminal, all old ladies with their wrinkly angers. Between the hanging sausages, the dangling roosters, and the sliced half of a swordfish, strung from its beak, we wandered and at a few free pastries! slinging our own groceries. Went on a wild goose chase for brown sugar - no, not cane sugar - BROWN sugar. No luck. Back to the house to make chocolate chip cookies in the fashion of sarah and ruth.

How do we go about describing the whole measurement issue? A few gringas searching the net for a cup to metric system conversion (which happens to change depending on what your measuring, and isn't actually correct math within itself). BUT. We digress. We mixed up everything we had, as best we could, grumbling over the lack of brown sugar, singing the temptations. No NPR. So we have a bowl of white sugar chocolate chip cookie dough (Very grainy). At this point, deciding it was the best that we could do, we attemt to light the gas stove. After a couple attempts, and gas in the air (opened the windows, turned on fans), and ashamed google searches, we decided that this couldn't happen here. With tails between our legs, we moved the party to Carlos' house.

When we arrive, bowl of cookie dough and extra cooking supplies in hand (in arms), we encounter a collection of construction workers. Buh? Something is said in Italian about getting into Carlos' house - we decide to wait for Mama, who arrives shortly. Unbeknowest to us, they were there to turn off the gas for the day, as they worked on the building's system. Wonderful day to choose. But! In the meantime, Carlos found us brown sugar at some packed store (ceiling to floor). When we return, Mama Carlos has an idea. We'll bake the cookies in a friend's oven. OK. We think this is odd, but if she feels its ok, alright! We dollap the cookies into two small baking pans (barely a dent in our mound o' dough), and decide to take care of the rest later. Following Carlos out the door with two pans of unbaked cookies, we are led to a friend's oven, yes, a friends house? Not exactly. We find ourselves in the back of an Italian pizzeria where our cookies are going to be baked by Antonio - the expert pizza maker - alongside a slice to go. We tell him ten minutes, the cookies are fried in about three. But not bad or unedible, they are gulfed down eventually. We chat up about Philadelphia, "grazie" profusely, and wander out c"ontent. We are back minutes later (to our suprise) with the rest of the bowl and a much bigger pan- provided by, ours truly, Antonio. We stayed there for another 20 minutes or so, dalloping cookies ("Dolci Americani") and chatting with various employees between mouthfuls pizza. Walking down the street afterwards, with a pan of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, handing them out to strangers (who asked cautiously, "we can eat these?").

Moving on. Chilled at Carlos' for a bit. Went to watch Trine swim. And then wandered off into the darkening Roma. Piazza after piazza, statues, winding little cobblestone streets that lose people. Glimmering candles from warm windows. Actual stars in an actually dark sky. Roma is beautiful at night. We meet up with Monica, Tim, and Chris, and hang out for a while. Then take a nice stroll home, across the river and through the tunnel, to the apartment we go!

NIGHTSLEEEEEEEP.
much love, e pace,
sarahruth

sleepy sisters

we made it. now we sleepy.
ruth and i are in rome, after a 10 hour flight, and several panini, and so on....
anyway. it was a beautful day to arrive on, and now we are going to hit our respective sacks. hard.
the real adventures will begin tomorrow, and until then these for your viewing pleasure.

(us being tired)

(i made this... cause i'm a crazy white chick.....?)


peace out
lovein
from roof and say-what?

chocolate chips and maple syrup

so after a busy and happy week (6 days?) at home i am all packed up and returning to the world of Roma. i think of most people in philadelphia, i was the most appreciative of the freezing rain and winds this past week. it opens up those crazy conversations with strangers that are impossible to recount later because they are just too strange. but anyway. the point of the story, is that now that i have gotten to take in those chemicals that are particluar to philly, and just floating in the air here back into my blood stream. i feel refreshed, relaxed and ready to take in some more rome.
as most of you know, i am taking ruth with me, and i am going to hold on to her for about 12 days or so. we are gonna super hero sister team it up... as it were... and roam the roman streets (... get it?) for about two weeks - anyway, we'll post stuff, and so on. but it was good to see everyone... or.. almost everyone. and yall best stay well! anyway, i don't leave for the airport for a nice bunch of hours, but i figured i'd write something now.
p.s.
guess what is opening at the art museum from feb. 20th until may 18th!!!
Frida Kahlo!!!
(http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/278.html)

(this is the image that came in the mail)
anyway.
peace yall
see ya in the spring
love

sup homie

i am home. i love home. there is something so refreshingly cozy and revitalizing about returning to the nest. even if there is freezing pouring rain outside, and i got completely drenched, i loved it because it was home.
it is strange to be able to understand everything. language wise... that is.
i mean, think about it. it has been 4 months since i have understood basically every word uttered around me.

but i miss carlos

i wish he was here to see my home. him and his mother and sister have been so welcoming to me, and so open. they are my family in rome. i wish he was here to meet my family, and see my home and where i am from. (not that he is from rome.) but he will get to meet ruth who is coming back to rome with me. i missed my baby.
anyway.
i am dead tired, and so confused about time right now. it is either 4:26 am or it is 11:26 pm.... confusion.
i am going to my dreams now.

happy birthday gee-wee.

home?

this is gonna be a busy busy month... this december we got ourselves here....

so what had happen' was....

first off all, thank you for all those comments yall. after thinking more, and reading what yall said, and thinking, "yeah", or "naw..." or "oh?" and some "maybe i could..." and after talking to a lot of other people, and talking a lot ot myself,
i figure it like this.
i made another huge big sarah project that i do not have time for in the time that is allotted. but this does not change to fact that i need to produce something for my final (not that my teacher seems to care about concept anyway... butthead)
so. here is what goes down now.
i am gonna do as follows. this will be the little practice, warm up, test run for what might be later to come, mixed with a pinch of bullshit, and a little dallop of the communication bit (i'll take it as it comes.)
so.
book of stranger faces will be appreaing within the next two weeks,
and will be bound and availible nowhere books are sold.


i am thinking however that maybe next semester i will work up this project (part 2) in either my advanced painting or advanced drawing class, or both. who knows.
and then. MAYBE! MAYBBBBBEEE! if i actually think i have something that is working, and worthwhile, when i get back to philly, maybe i will try to apply for a grant of sorts to do whatever the project becomes and get the end result put up somewhere or something. i am thinking like... peoples stories in brief on septa bus waiting stops.
and then have the relating image(s) in a show somewhere.
of course this would all have to be more thought out. and i would have to make sure all of this was ok with the people i was talking to, and so on and so forth....
oh god. i am ranting... i am tired.

anyway...
in other pressing matters. it is still too cold here.
and i still miss home. but i am still toughing it out.

people are talking about what to do for winter break, as in where to go.
i think i am going to try to get to africa for spring break.
so for winter break i may just take a bunch of little trips.

ok... i have nothing else to say.
i am going to go eat my clementines and study some italian.
(ohh.... i word on the street is blood oranges are gonna be heading to the rome markets soon!!!! yummmm.....)

doggie treats

really bad color. i am not sure you get the idea. these are just two little guys. i've been having fun playing around with figures recently. not much. just a little nibble of what is going down.
i didn't have time to take a lot of pictures. but whatever. it ain't nothing you never done seen before.

in other news.
things getting crazy over here work wise, as i think i mentioned before. things getting coooolllld!!!! over here weather wise. getting a little home sick. not too bad. just you know those rainy days when all you want to do is curl up at home on the couch, with some tea, and a good movie you've seen a million times before, but love all the same? yeah... that kinda deal. but it is ok. i'm gonna stick it out.
for my rome sketchbook final, which i am going to start today, right after i do my laundry...
well, i want to do some drawings, lines.. shapes... and some color blocks.... i think, of immigrant here. i have my reasons and my thoughts. but the only thing that is really holding me up is the question of how to approach this whole thing. the immigrantion deal here ain't too hot. i don't think immigrants are having such a good time anywhere right now... but i feel so aware here of this color/class/race divide. and i don't feel comfortable just going up to someone and saying hey! let me draw you! i'm a cute little middle-class white american who will never have to deal with the shit people out you through... so... how about it? i just don't know.
but it is what i want to do. and the teach approved it. so now i must go and do.
but how?! i am all about talking. but i just don't know if that is something i could do here. aside from language stuff, which i feel i could get by with, i think there are just different silent social contracts here than in the states. does that make any sense?
i was asking carlos about it. and he said, yeah, it is a strange request. but that is what it is. he said he knows some people (that boy knows everyone within a good 15 block radius of his house... i swear) and he could ask them if they would mind if i drew them. but then, how do i say thank you? i would have no problem paying them something, but i feel like that is a cop-out, and a little insulting somehow.. is it? is it not? i was thinking like, well, they would basically be acting as a model, so i pay a model hourly modeling-time-money. but there is more to this, no? or am i just making it that way?
i don't know.
i need thoughts people! dimi! (tell me!)

long time comin'

sorry this took me so long yall, and sorry it isn't that much. i think i may bring my camera to school today and take some shots of some other work... just to make up for it.
there is just about a little more than a month of school left for this semester. i can't believe how fast time has flown by... and things are gettin a little crazy over here with work. but this is life, no? but anyway. here are just a couple pages from the istanbul travel book. i feel like this book is gonna be with me on the rest of the trips i make while over here. it needs some more. but here is some stuffs. luff (love) saywah (me.)

tea sugar and a dream

first of all, it is covered in blue eyes. everywhere. they are like freckles. blue freckles. the evil eye for protection. maybe this is why istanbul felt so calming. there was nothing to worry about. the train in from the outskirts of the airport into to the neighborhood sultanahmet where meredith and i stayed was the first indicator of what the city holds. it holds and offers a little bit of everything. we passed high-rise apartment buildings that were all painted different colors. and i don't mean all different types of blue or beige. i mean, blues, greens, pinks, yellows, reds, purples, and so on. but they weren't obnoxious about their color. they just were. we passed parts of town that could compete with new york city. and when we pulled into our part of town, standing there in the night sky, bold and beautiful in her age and wisdom, the Hagia Sophia. and i think it was that moment, that something in me either switched on, or switched off. i can't tell which one it was, but it was amazing.
it has been interesting to be in italy and realize that people think i am italian, or spanish, and i was even more surprised to find that in turkey everyone thought i was turkish. and when they found out i was american they didn't believe me. but about being american in turkey. i wasn't nervous, but i did have a little caution in how people would react to me. but it was amazing. everyday i found myself in numerous conversations with strangers about politics and life and culture and art and everything. and no one, and i mean no one held me responsible for anything. thank god. but i was so in love with how people talked to each other, and listened, and were interested, and offered tea... hmm... oh i drank so much tea, and so much of it was free. perfect. what more do i want from life than to live some place beautiful in an open and interested community? i don't know... not much. it was wonderful. in the turkish bath house (thats right. turkish bath house. i almost didn't leave...) it was perfect. the women in istanbul seem to disappear a little if not only because the men in istanbul are insanely prominent. (if you think italian guys are bad, they ain't got shit on the turks... ain't. got. nothin.) but in the bath house, you walk in and there are just women. no one has an age, no one has a race. it was beautiful. i was on the verge of tears multiple times in there. especially when i met two women from israel and two from Lebanon. we all noticed each other because we all looked the same. the two from Lebanon were a little more milky in their skin tone, and the Israelis a little darker. and i was just in the middle. it was the most beautiful conversation. they just wanted to know what people thought of the other, and wanted people to know that not everyone in any country likes what is going on. i can't even describe...
and the call to prayer, a couple times a day. i could lsiten to that for the rest of my life.
anyway. istanbul is amazing. and i met the most amazing people. not just people from istanbul, but people traveling through. i really think i might try to live there for a little bit of my life. some time. at least, i need to go back.
oh, and tea, sugar and a dream. that is how they say to pronounce thank you in turkish. tesekkür ederim.
yeah. the city just got more beautiful ever day and night.
any questions? that might be easier.
oh, and also, i will post some pictures of some doodles i made in instanbul later. my camera is tired.

i know this isn't monday

ok. busy busy busy. i finished my midterms. at least i know the art one's went well. :) so, tomorrow morning i leave for ISTANBUL!!!!! FOR A WEEEEEKKKK!!!! i am so excited. so so excited. so yeah, if yall don't hear from me for a week, it is because i am there. but i may try to check in. we'll see. but yes. i promise a big juicy post when i get back. but until then. last weekend i was in siena and florence. amazing trip. it was so heavy with art and information. it was basically three days of nothing but walking all over the place and seeing so much art and listening and trying to take in so much information.
this is a picture of siena. siena felt so sweet. lots of steep hills and they do the horse thing there which means that each neighborhood is decked out with their team "logo" (as it were) i wish i could have spent more time there, and i think i will go back. but from what i heard the city has such an interesting history. aside from duke-ing it out with florence all the time, they some interesting social medical economic... stuff. well said, i know. i'm always good wish the specific information...

moving on! florence.

well. the amount of art is saw in florence.... man. i felt like i was drunk on it. and len! as the bus pulled into florence i saw one of those vampire-like graffiti figures! now, i am not posting any pictures of art because.. well... i can't decide what to put up. it was so exciting! florence, while beautiful, and so much cleaner than rome didn't appeal to me as a place to want to stay for a long period of time. there was this feeling of impermanence... which may sound odd considering all of the history that creates such a rooted story for the city. but it felt like everyone there was only there in passing. now, while some of you may be thinking, oh yeah, and rome isn't full of people in passing? i say to you, yes of course rome has some of that... but, but. everyone in rome comes and goes while being surrounded by actually romans. like... people live here. roman people. and they all speak italian, rather than english. i was surprised at how annoyed i got at all the english in florence. i don't know. i can't speak that well, but i like the try damn it. and also, it is in italy! own it! but anyway...
i have to finish my laundry, and finish packing. and then! a fun night in rome before meredith and my flight bright and early in the morning!
anything anyone wants from istanbul? cause i'm planning on coming back to rome with at least one extra suitcase.
let me know before tomorrow morning!

p.s.
i stared at the statue of david for more than 2 hours. i think he breathes....
but a lot of the sculptures seemed to breathe.

ok ok

sorry to have kept yall waiting (xiomara....) things have gotten, well... i feel like i can't say busy... it's just plain un-italian... but well... i have had much to do. not complaining. i've been very happy. so no worries. midterms are next week (yeah, i don't know how that is possible either) but because of this there has been some more time consuming things to take care of.

but yes. also! i leave bright and early (possibly a little too bright and early) tomorrw morning for Siena and Florence for three days with my art history class. i am very very very excited, but also a little anxious due to all the work that is due as soon as i get back. but honestly, in comparison to what i'm used too it is nothing. but still....
so yes, when i get back i will post pictures, words of the trip, and also some pictures of the stuff i've been making.
cause, it is all at school now for midterms, and i haven't taken pictures yet. so you all will have to wait a little bit longer. (xiomara... hehe sorry, i tease you)


but in the mean time, some light reading.

carlos making a face while making Tostones!!!! which he calls patacones. shrug. at this point, my mind is such a mess of sounds and pieces of things that might be words to someone, and half understood grammer...
don't get me started...



playing with meredith. good times. i know this really convinces everyone that i've been busy....
oh yeah, i saw the pope the other day... yeah. dude causes such a freakin riff in my mornings. every wed. god damn. and this time he even had an orchestra. maybe it was a special day.. who knows. people had more flags than usual...
i'm walking around - i repeat - around san pietro because shit's all crazy inside for pope's weekly ordeal, and you have to wait in lines and go through metal deterctors just to walk through the damn place, which you honestly couldn't do due to how many people are in there, but anyway, back to the fact that i'm walking around san pietro. i realize that people are all swarming to the gates in a more... needy way than i usually witness, and since i was a little later than usual i just so happened to glance over and then, oh hey. there's the pope. i guess i should take a picture or something. it's really blurry cause it was zoomed in. but here... enjoy... or something. he's that blurry white thing.


i'll post again when i get back sunday or monday.

peace yall

doodles? (sketches?) whatever.

these are from those hill towns. i never put them up, so, here ya go.



these are just little river/bridge studies



and this is from the pantheon


more later.

last night with len for some time

sorry the picture quality ain't so hot.
maybe i'll replace it later.
we'll see.
anyway.
len, on cardboard....

blah blah

somehow it became saturday, and even more surprising, somehow it became saturday the 22nd. not so sure how that happened, but i'm here. time seems to move so fast here, which is an interesting concept for a place that has so much time. (time in various forms... but time all the same)
classes took off at about a million miles an hour. i suppose mostly because the semesters here are so short. i keep finding myself in moments of looking around and thinking "wait.. what? when? oh good god..." midterms are in about 3 weeks or so.
(let me reiterate: "wait.. what? when? oh good god...")
it is slowly getting colder here, but is still rather beautiful out... most of the time.
first of all, this is for gianna. this is that guy that sing that really... odd.... music video you made me watch. remember? dutchland? take me to dutchland? that guy. yeah. this is by him. he scares me.

len and his feelings about the vatican. "the place of evil" - jan (the most best awesome art history man in the world)

a little more roman art

around the corner from my apartment, they put up lights... don't know why... but it is pretty.

and, len and i at the "colosseo"

and we're walkin'/some things about feet/a very scattered mentioning of things

so, i took an art history trip to a Musei Capitolini and saw one of constantine's feet. such a pretty foot. he has a hand, a knee, a face, some other things too, but feet are important to me right now, so here is the foot.
i really like my teacher. he gives a whole other better possibility of what art history could be.
the guy on the horse, Marcus Aurelius, was an interesting stop on our tour. first of all, a word about bronze.
if you ever see art that is bronze, take a moment and realize that something fortunate happened for it to still be with us.
bronze, a re-meltable/re-usable material. a whole lot of art/artifacts were melted down and used for... you know... military shit, and of course some other things too.
so anyway, good old Marcus over here is only with us because when he was found people thought he was Constantine and saved him. if they had known, he would have been melted away into other various shapes and uses.

so, about feet,
len and i went with a nice big handful of temple rome students on the FAMOUS WALL WALK.
this ment meeting at 8:30am and walking around the city via the path of The Aurelian Wall. this wall which makes its way around the city of rome, dissapearing into the ground and then seems to pop right back where it first and always was. i believe it was started in the 270's? or something. anyway, it was a nice 13 mile walk. with little pauses for information by one of my new favorite people in the world. in. the. world. Jan (said like "yaan") Gadeyne (said like "gah-dine"). i am not sure if that is how he spells his name. but he is the meaning of the phrase "the shit"
this is one of the many, many portals in the wall.


so, as a final note, after this walk, i took what was possibly the most enjoyed shower of my entire life.
and here are a couple pictures of me trying to get my used-for-making-things gears oiled and back in motion.
these are two quick little landscape thingies. yeah, they're on cardboard.


these are a couple of blind contour drawings. just in case anyone does not know what that is - just in case! - that means you are doing a drawing with line only to describe whatever it is you are drawing (i could go into contours, but i will leave it at this... for now) and not looking at the paper while you do this. no looking allowed. (also, that last one has some bad lighting, and you can see some stuff from the paper under it. my bad)





ok,
my feet are the best ever because they hold me up and i love them for it.