Cycling By Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 13 x 18" 33 x 45 cm 275.00
Palermo (a welcoming city until 1491) Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 12" 30 x 30cm 250.00
Hat on Chair/Paris Apartment (moving) Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 14 x 20 37 x 50 cm 275.00
Together in the Park Winter Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 12" 30 x 30cm 225.00
Pont Royale Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 13 x 16" 33 x 41 cm 225.00
Let's Go Fly a Kite Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/wood 10.5 x 5" 26 x 13cm 120.00
It is wonderfully foggy here: so foggy one can’t see across the
street. Great billowing clouds of fog
swirl beneath the streetlights. It’s
dark very early, and when I take Harika for her evening walk the grocery store
is still illuminated. When the door opens,
a bank of fog poofs in our direction.
Its ok, this weather, for the moment; provocative,
even. I am keen to drive down to
Stimigliano, but Blair has doctor appointments that make it impossible. Harika is (perhaps unwisely) getting her hair
trimmed on Tuesday. Our house here in
Roccamalatina is cold – going outside somehow makes me feel warmer.
Saturday we went to Ferrara to the Italian Jewish
Museum. I saw an article on it in the
New York Times, from a while back, and so we drove there. It was a little difficult for me, because the
Jewish people have had such difficulties, and I am always a Pollyanna. I see the bright side. In
fact, difficulties for the Jewish people were less in Italy than in other parts
of Europe, but life wasn’t a bowl of cherries.
The museum has only been open since 2017, and is in a state
of development. It is in the former
Ferrara Prison. New additions will
increase the exhibition space, which currently has mostly interactive exhibits. Ferrara and the Duke d’Este welcomed the Jews
and encouraged them to settle in the Ferrara area, when they were driven from
Sicily. Livorno, Ferrara and Venice had
fairly large Jewish populations. But the
ascendency of the Catholic Church kiboshed that.
A large extended family was touring the museum with us. They surrounded us at the movie, which
elaborated on topics I never really thought about: how Jews kept themselves separate and felt
that their particular way of life had something special to offer others. I
learned that in losing all their belongings, even their temples, they
maintained the essence of the Jewish way of life inside of them. And that made sense about how there were few
actual items in the museum.
We are headed to a more traditional museum today. I love to look at things, to see the physical
manifestations of an individual. But now
I have a greater appreciation for maintaining the light inside.
