Europe is dotted with castles, each with its own history of families intertwined by political marriages, demagogic expansions and economic wars. Nothing different than what happens today in every country and its people.
Interior of Castello San Giusto, Trieste, Italy
In 1469, the Triestine people engaged in a war against the Venetian Republic by themselves without the support of the Habsburgs, of which Frederick III was the Emperor. Trieste was sacked, looted and people massacred. To punish the people of Trieste, the Emperor ordered the building of this fortress at their own expense.
Comune di Trieste / Video by TCD with the contribution of Friuli Venezia Giulia
The fortress is now a very interesting museum to visit.
Dining in the castle
Dinner will be served at 8:00 pm, they are waiting for me. I will make sure I am attired with a nice evening period gown, complete with gloves, a hand fan, silk shoes and a “ridicule”, a small pouch where every woman hides the book of dance arrangements. I will also make sure to raise my right little finger when I bring the glass to my mouth, just to be coquettish.
Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel. Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble
The area where Smiley Park is located today was a regular city park with islands of many perennial bushes, colorful seasonal flowers, trees and odoriferous eucalyptus. Before Smiley Park, I used to start my daily walk there enjoying the scent of eucalyptus and then went on to my walk of 4-5 miles around the rest of the park. I was sad the day I saw the bulldozers tearing down trees and vegetation. As often happens here in California, city officials tear down things, parks, old buildings, statues and anything they deem not useful anymore to build in place new offices and parking garage buildings.
House for birds
House for chickens
Instead, I was happily surprised to learn the city was building a colorful and playful animal park for kids. It took them a few years to build it, painting all the houses and making a joyful place for kids to play with the animals. Then Covid hit and was closed for two years. It was sad to see the animals alone, only the caretakers visited them and I had no more eucalyptus to smell.
House for pigs
House for doves
This past weekend finally Smiley Park reopened. The world is alive again, the voices and laughter of the kids filled my heart. The sun was shining on the colored houses and cobblestones, the animals seemed happier, at least that was my perception.
Grain Barn
In the fantasy world of kids, what is the reason to include the reality of adults? Here the park has included punishment institutions and public restraining officials. I would have done without them.
Sheriff and jail
Then, there is Hollywood with the goats as performing actors (somehow it fits the bill) and the iconic Golden Gate. The “animals” living here need to experience crossing the bridge at least once.
Hollywood Hill
Golden Gate
In my fantasy, I was expecting to see in this gazebo a gentile type of animals, maybe some pink flamingoes….
The kids volunteering in the maintenance of Smiley Park painted these homes, cobblestones, fences and directional signs. The park looks cheerful, exactly what’s needed after two years of so-called “pandemic”.
Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel. Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble
A few years ago, I was leading a group of American friends traveling through my native region of Puglia, in Italy, an area any of them had ever visited before. Strolling through alleyways of Medieval towns and country towns, we spotted this quaint courtyard with stone buildings, ancient stone floors onto which horses and carriages have gone through at one point and climbing plants providing a bit of cool and pleasant refreshing area. (click on each picture to view it larger)
I remember it was early afternoon, around 2:00 pm, when only tourists walk around. At that hour in the afternoon, the heat of the summer is very hot, the sunlight reflects on the white walls of the homes turning the walls to golden yellow and everything else seems to be undulating. Have you ever experienced it? We were looking for a place to stop, sit and get refreshed with a cold drink. We found this courtyard, the arched open door was a “cantina” a wine place that at night turns into a pub.
Cantina – a wine place
Inside, the walls were made of stones and arched ceilings, the type of construction that keeps the heat out in the summertime and warmth in when it’s cold and raining. The décor was sparse in tune with the Medieval age of the building. The rough wood benches with seats alined under the vaulted ceilings gave the exact sensation of being in a different time, but the lights were modern.
My American friends found their way to Coca Cola and the rest of us had very chilled white wines.
My Friends
Above, all of us, the only ones in the street under the hot Mediterranean sun at 2:00 pm in the afternoon.
Traveling is very rewarding, it’s one of the many ways to learn about people of the world. Through the Thursday Door Challenge organized by Dan Antion we are also discovering customs, history and ways of living. Ciao. Valentina Amazon Books
Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel. Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble
In the Czech Republic, food is very earthy and flavorful. Meat and potatoes are the staples, not many vegetables grow there due to the cold weather and many months of snow. Sweets are delicious, as it is in most countries in the world. Eating sweets is rewarding after a difficult day or a situation, it lifts up the spirit and it is a way to celebrate good things. The aroma coming out from the Trdelník Shop is inviting and enveloping, that’s what got me to go in there.
Trdelník Shop
The trdelník is a sweet bread, almost like a wrapper, served warm. The filling might be sweet such as chocolate, a choice of jams, caramel and/or a variety of fruit. Alternatively, the filling can be savory with many ingredients such as würstel, cheese, tomatoes, sausages and more tasty choices. In the wintertime, that bundle of warm food in the hand is surely very comforting.
Inside Trdelník Shop
Inside the Trdelník Shop, there is a frenzied atmosphere, sweet frenzy I would say. The workers sing while they prepare a huge amount of the trdelník to satisfy the curiosity of the customer’s taste buds. As in any fast food establishment, customers must order quickly and leave with their warm bundles just as quickly to allow others to do the same, as these places are not made to sit in.
A family-owned restaurant
I was never served a huge mountain of fried potatoes as I have in this place. There were enough chips for four people on my plate every time. The carved doors were the reason to get me inside.
Beer alley as I have named it
The beers in Prague are delicious in any color, texture and style. Doors of businesses are often made of wood, with heavy wrought-iron bolts and hardware to close the doors. They looked like the same hardware I used to see in the country farm homes of my native Italy, there was a certain familiarity to them. It’s very common to find doors decorated and carved with designs symbolizing the products sold in the business they secure and if they are just simple doors, they are at least painted in colors.
Traveling is for learning customs, history, traditions, food and even languages of other countries. Prague is an easy city for walking, I hope you have a chance to visit it.
Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel. Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble
A few years ago, I was working on the computer, the day was sunny and warm and I started wondering what I was doing sitting there, closed between four walls of a room. I turned the page to a travel site questioning what country I would have liked to visit, just in case. The answer came without thinking: Japan. I knew some friends there I could visit, I had never been to Japan, it was a good reason to go. I immediately booked a trip and went to surprise my friends. Finally, got to see and experience everything I had studied in books about the Japanese style, home décor, art, colors, and life. (click on each picture to see it larger)
At the Nijo-jo Castle – Kyoto
I was intrigued by their uses of shadow and light for aesthetic purposes. In the western world, we are used to closing our homes with metal or wood doors, multiple locks, and security cameras. In japan is sufficient a shōji screen made of washi traditional Japanese paper (I am sure in large cities might be different).
At the tea ceremony house
I sat on a lot of tatamis, an art only Japanese people can do. The beauty of a tatami room comes from the enigma of shadow and the suffused light passing from the garden through a shōji screen. Indirect light is the key element that defines a tatami room whose walls are painted in muted neutral colors that don’t distract from the peaceful feeling created.
Home of a Samurai
Japanese highest aesthetic sense comes from living in nature and emotionally responding to its beauty. They accept nature as it is, they work with what they have and embrace it. If there is a scarcity of natural light, the Japanese create intimacy in their interiors and mystery in corners. The ceilings are not particularly high to allow a resting place for the heart and have no central lights, only one or two lamps. There is a cosmic emptiness in Japanese homes, the silence of the emptiness is disarming for us westerners used as we are to noises.
Tea Ceremony House
What is the beauty of shadow and light in traditional Japanese homes? Homes in Japan are made of wood, the frequent showers of rain create a need to build large heaves to protect the wood and to keep the rain out. The light, therefore, enters the home horizontally and not from the top, it gets diffused through the shōji screen and shadows become prominent.
The entry to a Samurai House
A private home – Kyoto
Temple in Kyoto
“Beauty arises from our daily life”. I learned so much in the two weeks I was in Japan, their culture was an adjustment for me.
Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel. Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble
How many times do I get to see a historic building in the US? Hardly ever. The country is so new that has not yet had the time to grow old, make history and memories. In fact, I heard that when a building reaches 50 years of age, it goes down like dust. This past weekend I went to an art festival on the streets of Redwood City, a quaint town in Northern California and while walking around I noticed a few buildings designed in a classical style architecture. The Fitzpatrick building got my attention for its round shape over one of the entries, I thought it was a loggia above, but in reality, it is a turret with windows and a dome on top.
Redwood City, CA
Fitzpatrick is certainly not an American name. It seems it is a surname of a native Gaelic-Irish origin person with the Norman French Fitz as a prefix.
Redwood City in 1868 was a shipping port for all the industries present in the area. During the great earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco, the Fitzpatrick Building survived with minimal damage and for safety reasons, the dome was temporarily removed.
I love to see a plaque with a date.
The second entry of the Fitzpatrick’s building
Beautiful Ionic columns and decorated pilasters visually support a secondary entry. It must be pleasant working in this business building and be part of history, even if I think that the daily routine of those who work there, does not give much space to the imagination or to the realization of spending most of their days in a beautiful building that still stands after 112 years and that perhaps was part of many vicissitudes. I know that feeling, I studied fashion in a building 400 years old.
Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel. Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble
This Spring flew by, between winds of war, fake news, new diseases, corrupted politicians, investigations, and protests around the world to gain the lost freedom, we have arrived almost at Summer. What will it bring us? My hope is always that humanity will mend itself and be infused with so much love, compassion and empathy, as without these elements, life cannot be called life.
With the arrival of Spring, my goal was to instill beauty. Beauty multiplies as it is an entity that everyone wants and everyone recognizes for their wellbeing. I also wanted to spread kind thoughts. Who better than authors can do that? Authors are good with words, they know how to craft them to let the readers live a fantasy, see places and experience new emotions.
Spring is the perfect season for renewal. The authors I have invited to participate in this new series called “Spring, Beauty and Books” each have their own sensibility about Spring and I hope they have inspired the readers. I want to thank them for spreading beauty with their books and thoughts. I had a great pleasure hosting them. Enjoy the video I made with their words on Spring and their books.
“Nature is the source of all true knowledge. She has her own logic, her own laws, she has no effect without cause nor invention without necessity” – Leonardo da Vinci.
Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel. Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble
It’s one o’clock, businesses are closed, schools are closed, and everybody goes home for lunch. In the Mediterranean basin, life stops from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm every day. The main purpose of those four hours of pause is to have lunch with the family. After lunch, people have different activities, take a nap, read, talk on the phone, do house chores, help kids with homework, go out to exercise and many others. At 4:00 pm, all the businesses start again until the evening at 8:00 pm. This is the Mediterranean life, summer and winter.
The balcony above a business, as in my photo, often says the owner of the business lives above. In the Middle Age, it was a custom to live above the business to care for the family easier without having to walk or take the carriage to go home. Today, in Europe, the same work/living arrangement is still valid, unfortunately, there are only a few examples left.
Gioia del Colle, Puglia, Italy
The shutters of the French door on the balcony are real, meaning they have a real function, versus the decorative types I often see on houses in America. In the Summertime, the shutters are kept closed to let the fresh air in through the slats and keep out the ferocious sun. Behind the shutters, inside, the glass panels are always open. If you are visiting Italy, make sure you eat during the hours Italians eat. Restaurants are closed for a good part of the day, as Italians love to eat under the moon and not under the sun. Lunch in restaurants is served between 12:00 and 2:00 pm, and dinner doesn’t start until 8:00 in the evening until the smallest hours of the night. In some areas on the coasts, restaurants have a full house even at 3:00-4:00 am.
Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel. Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble
After two years of hibernation, taking care of my sick husband, and then ultimately, grieving the loss of my beloved husband, I escaped to a long winter vacation. My grief traveled with me, but the warmth of the Mexican sunshine and being around old friends and new was like a welcomed spring to my soul.
Mexican sunset
I came home dodging the brunt of our harsh Canadian winter here in Ontario as our city too, began to awake from what felt a long slumber. The freezing temperatures had transformed into crisp fresh air, and I once again began taking walks out in our beautiful walking trails as a wonderful escape into nature, and from the dark doldrums of my interior four walls. A vacation after two years of heaviness was like a new bud of spring opening for my sanity. I am slowly crawling back into life.
Bright colors with the promise of spring cheer me up, as does anything shiny and blingy. It’s the sunshine that has the power to lift me out of the dark abyss within, that sometimes grabs a hold of me. On those days without enough sun? This is where my huge floor lamp with large, white daylight bulbs can fool my darkness. No substitute for the sun, but a satisfactory backup plan.
My life now is just only coming into spring after two years of my internal harsh winter.
Mexican sunset
Bio
Debby Gies is a Canadian nonfiction/memoir author who writes under the pen name of D.G. Kaye. She was born, raised, and resides in Toronto, Canada. Kaye writes about her life experiences, matters of the heart and women’s issues.
D.G. writes to inspire others. Her writing encompasses stories taken from events she encountered in her own life, sharing the lessons taken from them. Her sunny outlook on life developed from learning to overcome challenges in her life, and finding the upside from those situations while practicing gratitude for all the positives.
When Kaye isn’t writing intimate memoirs, she brings her natural sense of humor into her other works. She loves to laugh and self-medicate with a daily dose of humor.
In the Autumn of My Life
In the autumn of my life I find myself looking back On the springs and summers Of glory days gone past. As the winter of life approaches, We often reminisce and look to reconnect With things and people that brightened our springs and summers, People who knew us and understood the times And circumstances of our lives. It’s a kinship of time that only those who’ve lived then can know. A time when glancing back brings a dollop of comfort As we march through the seasons of life Before winter’s approach.
Debby, your poem is very meaningful. I am happy to know you are coming back to life, the good memories of your lost husband will give you the strength to face new life challenges. Are you planning new books in the near future?
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Please, allow me to add a small promotion of my books.
Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel. Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble
Often, when I walk, I feel curious about things I see in the streets and if I am allowed I push myself inside to explore. I saw these colors through the large windows of this place, they draw me in like a magnet. Warm, vibrant, bold, sunny, these colors spoke to me a Mediterranean language and feelings of savory epicurean delights paired with rare wines. I didn’t know it was a Spanish tapas bar and restaurant with the exotic twist of culture from Latin America.
“Old World taste meets New World appeal at Cascal”, says the advertisement. This is a place where friends could linger over exotic cocktails, music, the bold personality of the architecture and daring food. flavors.
Inside, rather than having a great dining open space, the arcade function as divider of spaces, providing privacy between diners without totally obstructing the lights while mixing the colors into each space.
In the Mediterranean culture, arches embellished with columns, capitels and stones usually surround beautiful doors, also enclose kitchens’ cooking areas and wine storage, but often many arches divide spaces that would be otherwise too open, too cold and too unmanageable.
Colors create cozy interior atmospheres. Painted doors are inviting and show the personality of the people living there. For the Thursday Door Challenge organized by Dan Antion, this is my contribution. Ciao. Valentina Amazon Author’s Page
Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel. Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble
