Strawberries

I was visiting my mother this weekend, and we went to a local nursery so she could get some hanging baskets.  And oh my, the selection they had!  They were beautiful!  I was blown away.

What really caught my eye, though, was a hanging basket with strawberry plants.  I had never seen such a thing before.  And so, even though I don't have a place to hang it, I got it.  It is now proudly on my little balcony, actually hanging from one of my window boxes.

And one of the strawberries was ripe!  I tasted it, and it was amazingly juicy and flavorful.  Here's hoping I'll get to enjoy the gift of many more like it.

Yesterday late afternoon, I used an app on my iPad to do this drawing.  It's a pretty decent strawberry (if I do say so myself) with a not-too-good strawberry flower.  I'm mostly disappointed because I couldn't figure out how to get the right color for the flower.

Fresh strawberries.  Growing on my balcony.  Maybe if I get a lot all at once, I'll also cut some of the apple mint I planted and make something delicious.

My Very Own Island

What's that old expression - no man is an island?  I believe it means that none of us truly lives in isolation or apart from others, that we are all connected somehow, in some way.

Well, some days I wonder if I've made it my challenge to disprove that.  Like, "Oh, yeah?  Really?  No man is an island, huh?  Well, watch me.  I'm going isolate myself as thoroughly as I can."  Not from people I already know, not to the point where I don't go to work or where I don't function.  But from new experiences, from new people.

Now you might be thinking, "What?  Are you crazy?  You went to two museum exhibits recently.  You travel all over the place.  You're always doing something.  Don't be silly!"  Okay, so maybe you're right.  And I'm right.  Maybe it's not from new experiences.  Maybe it's just from new people.

I know that I'm an introvert, and I like that about myself and I accept it.  Right from the starting line, it's going to be a bit harder for me to meet or talk to new people.  But I just wonder if I avoid situations - or just choose not to engage in (is that the same thing?) situations - where I will meet new people.  I wonder if I have decided to spend my energy, instead, building up some nice comfortable walls around me to keep people out.  Safer that way, right?

So.  My feelings are valid; this is how I feel.  But as Amy at work says, feelings aren't facts.  Just because I feel this way doesn't mean it's true.  I kinda think this is true, though.  What next?  Anything?  Am I okay with this - do I just keep on keeping on?  I guess I'm not okay with this, though, given that I'm writing about it and struggling with it.  So do I just magically get rid of whatever walls I have built?  Do I just all of a sudden start talking to everyone I come across?  That doesn't seem likely.

What does seem likely is that I'll finish this entry, I'll think about it some more and then I won't actually do anything.  That kind of seems more my style.

*sigh*

Angels

My Italian class (plus two spouses) had a great night out last night.  We all met for a nice dinner, but the main event was going to see this spectacular exhibit at the Michener Museum in Doylestown.  It's funny to me - two posts about two museum trips in the past few months - it must make it seem that I'm much more cultured than I really am.

But this exhibit is truly something special.  It is a collection of Renaissance art that is on loan from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.  The Uffizi (I've been there!  Well, right outside of it, at least!) is a world-renowned museum, so the fact that this collectoin is on loan in Doylestown, PA is quite amazing!  The exhibit is called "Offering of the Angels."

It's very well put together.  The pieces are all by Renaissance artists, and they are set up chronologically - not by when they were done or by when the artist lived, but by when the events took place.  So it starts with different pieces that represent Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, then moves on to them leaving the garden...Mary being told she's pregnant...the infant Jesus...up to and just after his crucifixion.  It really was very interesting to see the works grouped this way.

The one I found the most moving was at the end; the picture of it is here.  Although, honestly, this doesn't do it justice.  It's called "Madonna with the Symbols of the Passion of Christ."  She is holding the shroud and looking down at a chalice filled with his blood and the three nails, and the chalice is sitting in the center of the crown of thorns.  And there is lettering at the bottom: "Nonvisipensa quanto sangue costa."  These are words from Dante, and can be translated as "They think not how much blood it costs."  Wow.

It's on display through August 10th.  In Doylestown!  I still think that that's crazy.  Of all places.  Go see it if you can.

Feedback On My Stay

Dear Mr. Peduzzi:

I was just an overnight guest in your hotel earlier this week.  I checked in on Tuesday May 15th and checked out on Wednesday May 16th.  I stayed in room 2132.  I am reaching out to you to provide you with feedback on my stay.

Oddly enough, when I made my reservation on your site, I never received the email confirmation that I was supposed to.  I didn't use this email address; if you'll look, you'll find that I used --------@---.com, which is what I use for all online orders, that kind of thing.  I've never had this issue.  I checked my spam folder, and it's not in there.  It just never arrived.

Then once I checked in, the room was very difficult to find.  When I crossed over to the building it is in, there weren't clear signs to indicate which floor I should go to.  But I finally found it.  The entire first floor that I was on smelled very musty and moldy as I made my way down to my room.

Once I entered my room, I thought it looked very nice.  I shut the door, put my bag on one of the beds and looked out the window.  I realized that the side windows slid open; I slid the one on the right, and it opened about four inches or so before being blocked, which I expected.  I slid open the one on the left, and it slid all the way over until it touched the window on the right.  I could then climb out of the window if I chose - or someone could climb in.  I was a little disconcerted by this, even though the windows do lock when shut - especially since this was the ground floor.

As I settled in, I saw that the voicemail lights on the phones were blinking.  I checked the voicemail, but there were no messages; however, the lights didn't stop blinking.  I also noticed, as I turned on the lights, that one of the light bulbs in the bedside lamp didn't work.  I sat down in the chair in the corner of the room - very comfortable - but there was no lamp anywhere near it, so I wouldn't actually be able to sit there and read later in the evening.  That didn't make sense to me.  I then walked back to the door to the room to put on the latch - extra security - and saw that, while the latch was there, the piece it should hook to on the door was missing.  There were empty screw holes.

It was at this point that I went to the front desk and spoke to someone about these issues (except the burned out light bulb; I forgot about that.)  He noted my concerns and did offer to relocate me.  I told him that as long as the window and door could be fixed I didn't need to be relocated.  The other two things - blinking voicemail light and no lamp by the chair - should be taken care of, but if not, I was okay with that.  I went out to dinner with a colleague and, when I returned, the door and window were fixed.  The other issues were not - but, as I indicated, I wasn't upset by that.  Going forward, though, they probably should be.

I sat down at the desk, went to make myself a cup of coffee and saw that I had one coffee cup and one regular coffee pack and one decaf coffee pack.  However, I had three lids.  This seemed odd, and perhaps it should be stocked with more coffee and more cups?  I then went to make some notes and realized I forgot a pen.  I looked on the desk, in the desk drawer, in the nightstand drawer (where I found the breakfast room service card and the "go green" card for sheets/towels), but no pen anywhere.  Annoying.

No, I did not call the front desk for the coffee or pen concerns, because really, they were relatively minor.  However, this is a lot of minor issues piling up, I thought.

When it came time for bed, I climbed in, got comfortable - or at least tried to.  Underneath the sheet that was on the mattress was a thicker, cottony blanket; however, it didn't reach down to the end of the mattress and wasn't tucked in.  So any time I turned or rolled, it got folded underneath me.  I ended up getting out of bed, stripping it and remaking it.  Then I finally fell asleep.

Wednesday morning, when I went into the bathroom, I killed two bugs.  Not roaches, thankfully.  One was a centipede, and the other was a gray bug that I've always called  a water bug.  Then I went to iron my shirt, and I plugged the iron into the wall outlet in the wall between the bed and the bathroom.  This outlet didn't have an outlet cover - so there were the two outlets, then space where I could theoretically stick my fingers into the wall and play with the wires.

I had breakfast in your restaurant - the buffet was fine, as one would expect, although the choice of music was strange.  But that's really just personal preference.

When it came time to check out, I had a meeting to get to, and did not offer this feedback to the person at the front desk.

So.  I'm emailing you to say that I feel that that room really should not have had any guests in it.  No latch hook on the door?  A window that slid all the way open?  Missing outlet covers?  Those are three major safety issues right there.  A burned out light bulb, not enough coffee cups, a blinking voicemail light, no pen, the bed not made correctly...those are convenience issues.  Still, I feel like one of your managers needs to go over that room with a fine toothed comb before you allow another guest in there.  And all of this for the bargain price of $299 a night.

It could be that every other room is perfect and amazing.  My colleague also stayed in your hotel and did not have these issues.  Perhaps it's just one room out of however many you have that is like this. But that one room is the only room that I experienced there.  Yes, they had offered to provide me with a different room, and had I known all of the issues at that time I would have accepted.  But - hindsight is 20/20.

Anyway.  Nothing you can do now to change my experience, but I'm bringing this to your attention so that you can ensure others don't have the same issues.  Please feel free to email back should you have any questions about what I've described.

Yes We Can

I adore singer/songwriters and their music, for the most part.  And Jesse Ruben is no exception.  That's him in the picture - black and white and kind of blurry, but hey, I took it with my phone and without the flash, so this is what I got.

I went to see him Friday evening, and I'm so glad I did.  This was only the second time I've seen him, and I definitely don't want it to be the last.

First - he just seems like a really nice guy.  And that comes across.  Second - his music is pretty awesome.  I really enjoy his songs and his voice.  And, yes, he's kind of nice on the eyes.

His newest song that he's released is called "We Can," and it's a song about empowerment.  About not selling ourselves short.  About pushing ourselves to do things that are difficult, but that we want to do - especially if other people tell us that we can't.  Here are some of the lyrics:

So make a list and do not make it brief

Write down every single wish and every little thing that you want

Don't sell yourself short

Don't ever hesitate if people turn you down

Do not settle, do not wait, don't ever turn around

Cuz you're almost there, I swear, I swear it's yours.

And all that matters is there's no regrets.

It doesn't matter if they do not understand.

Cuz everything you want you have not gotten yet -

You can, you can, you can.

It's a powerful song.  And the last verse talks about how we can make changes to our world...Good stuff.

So.  At the very least, go to iTunes and buy "We Can."  But really, you should just buy all of his stuff, because it's great.  And check out his website and go see him sing when you can.