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y between the windowsill and the kitchen counter bougainvillea still blooming in greece after finally replacing the roof at nearly twice the cost of replacing our roof in the states last year it was replacing the living room windows which had lost their seal and made the view of palamidi the 1700 s venetian fortress just next to us difficult to see along with the hillside the rooftops and stairways palamidi i call it our greek money pit ed in response says that it is our investment property and please don t call it that thing you call it this time it s the stairway lights not working even though ed climbed up on the ladder replaced the bulbs cleaned the sconces etc still not working and we re on the 4 th floor so we have to call an electrician back in after being here last time to fix a few light fixtures that simply would no longer work among other electrical issues one of the things we awoke to the first morning besides the sunrise over the bay at 7 30am and the smell of the peanut factory s exhaust across the bay toward argos was what sounded like someone on the ceiling opening and closing something heavy ed said he could also hear it during the night so guessing we have an animal in the space between our ceiling and roof not sure how it could sound like it s opening and closing a sliding door or window since there s not one up there now we need to call the roofer back in to see if he can get up there find out what it is and get it out walk around akronafplia we can t drink the water in the old town where our place is located so we spend a lot of time either hauling bottled water up all the stairs there are 3 flights of stairs up to our pedestrian street from the street below and then the four flights up in our building or filtering boiling cooling and refiltering the tap water to use for coffee tea and drinking water we realized last time after boiling it for coffee tea water just how much plastic is in bottled water it sticks to the side of the pot after boiling like a white film and is frankly shocking so sometimes we now even filter the bottled water but the last two days have been sunny and crystal clear the latter sometimes being few and far between here with the nearby factories making the bay its otherwise indescribable mediterranean blue just past the old town buildings in their varying shades of tan and pink and the rolling waves of ochre rooftops with rounded clay tiles my to do list includes cleaning windows washing linens replacing damaged things and buying household items including a few pieces of furniture to make the downstairs apartment more livable with guests coming in the spring it still needs much work besides that trying to get a few workouts in at a close by gym along with writing time and submissions done this does not include ed s to do list which is another ball game completely involving the attorney tax payments the engineer roofer electrician water and electrical bills repainting the terrace furniture and sanding and re staining the terrace railing which needs to be done nearly every other visit the list of things to do here keeps my mind occupied from the unspeakable things in the news that are too horrific to describe or hold in one s mind for too long i know that we cannot look away and yet i cannot look for long i will make a point of watching more in depth discussions to understand better and more deeply rather than the horrendous clips of unspeakable violence they are meant to be watched with horror and fear and i won t be a part of that aspect or help them fulfill that goal wishing you peace in your way of dealing with all you are seeing right now may peace prevail at some point in the near future of our humanity posted by kirsten steen at 5 52 am 11 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels bourtzi greece nafplion walks in greece saturday september 23 2023 back in paris back in paris and it s been cool and rainy here but nice to get some distance from the ad nauseam of us politics i ve sent my guy down to the south of france to help a friend look for real estate investments looking at property is one of his favorite things to do and they get some fun together which usually means eating much good food i m making the quiet time into a needed writing and reading retreat though most of my time has been spent sending out queries also needed am including a few photos of one of my favorite buildings in the 15th the art nouveau gem by jules lavirotte built between 1899 and 1901 i have to make a trip by it on every visit to see a full blog post and more photos on the building click here avenue rapp below are a couple of another of his buildings just around the corner on square rapp nice to be back on this forum after too much time away wishing all a colorful and peaceful fall photos copyright kirsten steen posted by kirsten steen at 7 20 am 4 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels art nouveau avenue rapp fall france jules lavirotte paris square rapp walks in paris thursday november 18 2021 journal entry san francisco i m back after a bit of a hiatus been traveling quite a bit this year finally somewhat post covid and it s not as easy to write on the road as one might think at least not for me i ve been going back and forth between ideas for the new novel or trying to sketch it out and my memoir i reread a journal entry from my memoir notebook this morning that i ll share further down the page when i was 12 my mother moved my sister and me against our will to san francisco for five years in our younger read less wise days we tend to spend a fair amount of time blaming our parents for our shortcomings again can t speak for you but i did while i felt i had plenty to blame my mother for as i was entering san francisco one day not long after my mother died in the middle of crossing the bay bridge admiring the gorgeous skyline of my favorite city it occurred to me that i had not considered that i had her to thank for this stunning uber cool sparkly knock your socks off city my every bit of love for it every memory my almost painful feelings of nostalgia and missing it and the feeling of coming home and going on vacation at the same time every single time i return i had her to thank for all of it and i will never be able to thank her enough entry it was no mistake she was yours for a reason you chose her just as she chose you you were each other s gifts you were her gift to her world the essence of herself to live beyond her limited time she was your painful and difficult yet chosen highly necessary and magical gift your gift to yourself she gave you san francisco which means every single memory person feeling thought you have about it she gave them all to you all the love for it jasmine the 4 yr old who lived next door and became your first paying babysitting job that adorable little soul who barely remembers you now but you will never forget ghirardelli square golden gate park union square riding up and down with her in the glass elevators of the st francis hotel sundays on mt tamalpais family day which we didn t want but mom insisted on with our blankets in the grass french bread and jack cheese our comics and books and the most stunning views of the city ever liz which also means your first painful death experience in this life she gave you that too and she was there for it and comforted you and took care of you afterward land s end with your favorite gorgeous heartbreaking views of the bay the haunting marin headlands and the golden gate bridge picnics and family barbecues at baker beach mountain lake park liz and john and patti and susan and wayne your unsurpassed high school view of the bridge she gave you all these things and these people your love for marin your fond memories of holidays in kentfield your dream of living there someday even your love for pompeii a gift from the book given to you by the patriarch not long for this world at those family gatherings it all has to do with your heart your writing your evolution there was absolutely no mistake this entry came from a beautiful writing prompt from the writer and feminist theologian meggan watterson the prompt is to connect with think of a being of your choosing spirit ancestor a deceased loved one a patron saint and begin the page with the phrase what i want you to know is and write from there give it a try you won t be sorry photos copyright kirsten steen posted by kirsten steen at 2 58 pm 10 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels journal entry memoir random writing prompts san francisco what i love about san francisco wednesday february 17 2021 la baguette machines my niece sent me this photo from a tiny village near bar le duc in the meuse area of france it feels like a sign of the times i thought maybe it was due to covid but another friend saw my post about it on instagram and sent me this nytimes article bakeries in france are closing at a sadly rapid rate particularly in small villages young people aren t interested in the work s long hours and many people are no longer eating as much bread and when the boulangerie closes and people have to go elsewhere to shop for their bread often the butcher boucherie or caterer traiteur next to them must close as well as much as i hate this change if i was in a hurry and had to drive miles to another village to buy bread and one of these was within walking distance of my house guess where i d sometimes get my bread but also probably try to make sure i made errands in the next village and stopped at their bakery as often as possible so many changes these days another version of the buy locally idea have you shopped at your little neighborhood market lately photo credit victoria delon posted by kirsten steen at 5 37 pm 4 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels baguette bar le duc buy locally france french food lorraine meuse monday november 2 2020 mini writing retreat i m on writing retreat this week of my own making we ve been offered the use of a lovely penthouse apartment with a large terrace and stunning views in the vista washington park area of portland for a few months so besides taking a few long weekends this fall winter with my sweetie i m also taking a few days to myself as a writing retreat and starting a new writing project since we can t do our usual coast retreats this year the use of the apartment is such a blessing so i m extremely grateful sharing a few photos of the park within walking distance above is a zoom in shot of the full moon setting this week taken of the entrance of washington park from the terrace just before the sun rose and below is the entrance walking on foot one day while on a break i walked up to the international rose garden just to see if there were any left and while there was lots of gorgeous fall color there were only a handful of roses i did find a rhodie in full bloom in november and a few blue hydrangeas left below is part of the terrace view my sweet work space and more of the terrace my favorite view so as we are soon to learn the news of who will lead our country remember to take good care of yourselves especially tomorrow it s most likely going to be a bumpy ride so save your despair or elation for the final count and breathe all photos copyright kirsten steen posted by kirsten steen at 5 00 pm 6 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels creative writing writing writing retreat wednesday july 22 2020 feast day for mm photo from pinterest today is mary magdalene s feast day and within this torn world on the brink of transformation i always try to find a way to celebrate mary and her message especially on this day i ll probably go back and reread some of harvard trained theologian meggan watterson s book mary magdalene revealed as well as some passages from the gospel of mary found at an antiquities market in cairo in 1896 rather than nag hammadi where many of the other newer ones were found i think some of my family and friends wonder at my fascination with mary magdalene having come from almost zero religious background not being taught the bible and having a lifelong resistance to any notion of organized religion in the last several years mary has had a spiritual resurgence a renaissance she s been given a reprieve after centuries of being labeled a prostitute she is now known as the apostle to the apostles as i began to see her as the embodiment of the divine feminine and learn more about what this meant i was guided to put her into my novel i did meditations requesting her presence and in 2015 i physically traveled to the south of france to visit her cave near aix en provence in both her book and her blog post for this feast day meggan watterson discusses the passage in the gospel of mary where she asks christ does a person who sees a vision see it with the soul or with the spirit christ answers a person does not see with the soul or with the spirit rather the mind which exists between the two sees the vision of the three copies of the 3rd century gospels of mary recovered two are written in ancient greek one in coptic an ancient egyptian in ancient greek the word for mind is nous and means the spiritual eye of the heart according to cynthia bourgeault in the meaning of mary magdalene as the disciples are mourning mary tries to console them reminding them that christ has prepared us so that we might become fully human the modern translation of the words to become fully human is anthropos a completed human being or generally interpreted as the integration of the opposites of oneself specifically integrating the male and female aspects of the human psyche bourgeault believes that in both the gospel of mary and the gospel of thomas this is the heart of christ s vision of transformation several years ago while on a writing retreat i did a meditation requesting mary magdalene s presence and guidance before having read either of these books i had sat in meditation several times over months with my request without hearing any real message but on this day i did a few things differently and a message came through loud and clear it said look to what is in your heart i understood that it meant that each of us need to look deeply at the motivation behind our actions and determine if they come from the ego or the heart it s my belief that our current political state of affairs and white house resident are symbolic of our collective energy of the ego run amok we re seeing what happens when the masculine is given free reign without the feminine being integrated accepted cherished it s the balance we re missing so when i revere the divine feminine it s not meant to cancel out the masculine but to bring more of a balance between the two so i will continue to try to look at my own motivations to see things from the eye of the heart f...