A Taste of Cortona, Installment #4: Abundant , Ambrosial Blood Oranges!

Blood oranges on display outside a Cortona store

Blood oranges are as beautiful as they are delicious. I never saw or tasted one until I was well into adulthood, and "my first time" I was as entranced by their ruby-to-orange-back-to-ruby color as I was by their sweet tartness.  Here in Georgia they can be hard to find, but in Italy they are abundant.  I love strolling down Via Nazionale in Cortona and seeing the display of fresh fruits and vegetables lining the old stone walls; I especially love how the sunlight reflects off of the vivid hues of a box of blood oranges. I can't resist: I purchase one to take back to my room, where later I cut it open and sink my teeth into its juicy  flesh. I love that this a pleasure but not a guilty one. I love to lick the crimson droplets off of my lips. I love how this fruit is as much a feast for the eyes as for my tongue. It's as if I have bitten into the Italian sun and swallowed some of its unique warmth and purity.

The fruit is so red that my white shirt is tracked with scarlet stains -- a typically "Del" sort of souvenir of my Cortona visit!

I will attempt a painting of this photograph soon -- I look forward to capturing the vivid color in pure pigment. I know that as I am pushing and stroking the pigment onto the paper my  mouth will water as my mind recalls this bright taste of Cortona.

New Year's Resolution?

What a poor blogger I am. Last posting in August???? Now, I have an excuse: you see, at the end of August I broke my leg -- badly. Looking back on it all, I realize it was more of a trauma to me than I was aware of at the time it happened. It is only just now that I am able to do things "normally" (and I still limp. . . not to mention get very tired, very easily!) But I had SUCH great material during this time--- if I could have made myself blog about my time in the "Golden Living" Rehab Center (i.e. Rest Home) I might have made the big time!

But that opportunity is gone. Now I must pick up the pieces and try to put my life back together again! I must say, this gets harder after every illness and accident the older I get!

One of my resolutions for 2010 is to be a better blogger (which for now means blogging more often -- I'll work on content later.)

So, in no special order, here are my other, right-off-the-top-of-my-head resolutions for the new year:

-blog more often
-follow some "Twitterers" and try to figure out what THAT is all about
-do a good job with my clients
-paint more
-line up at least one new show for my paintings, or get a gallery to rep me
-do a better job with book-keeping
-be on time with taxes
-spend more time with friends
-make one special trip this year; if not to Italy, then somewhere that makes my heart pitter-pat like that.

Any I should add?

I do hope that this new year is a better one that the old! I need it. And I promise to work to make it so!

To blog or not to blog?

I posed a question on my Facebook page about blogging, and I got as much response from that post as from anything I've ever posted! The responses fall into three categories:

1. Please don't blog! There is too much out there online for people to read as it is, and this would be a waste of your precious time.


2. Perhaps you should blog, but you need to do some research first (lots of suggestions for this, which I WILL read, eventually!).


3. What IS a blog, anyway, and when you figure it out, let me know!

So, the ball is back in my court -- great feedback, but I've got to still do my research. And I've got to figure out do I have anything worth saying?