Did I show off Isla de Mujeres?

I realized recently I have all of these great photos of Isla de Mujeres on my phone that I never bothered to post here.

It's an island off of Cancun and a world away. It's also gorgeous, and we did our research so we wound up at a really laidback duplex painted a sunny yellow color that fronted the beach. As in, if you live in a typical suburban neighborhood, our tiny apartment was as far away from the water as you are from your neighbor's house across the street. Which is to say, pretty darn close.

At the tip of the island is a quirky sculpture park surrounded on all sides by crashing waves. Like I said, paradise!

Italian Words at the Guggenheim (Futurismo)

They also had art at the Guggenheim's just-closed Futurismo exhibit (including works by Umberto Boccioni, whom I love) but I found myself drawn to anything that showed Italian words.

The Guggenheim is such a wonderful exhibit space. You can look back at what you've seen from a distance and see the work in a different way.

There were lots of books and posters and manifestos with Italian words and I was in heaven. There must be something about seeing words in a language you love that lights up the happiness part of your brain. It winds up being like a little festish.

"Mexican" coffee break

When I need a break, I remember I vacationed here this year.

Where, you ask, is paradise? In my opinion, it might just be Isla de Mujeres, off of Cancun.

Words-Parole-Palabras-Mots

Another chapter from the Leo journal.

Today: An inventory of the words Leo knows how to say:

Mamma, Da-da, water, ball, bath, duck, hello, more, outdoors, all done, bye-bye, no, oh no, truck, snow (!), blue, red, dog, cat, yellow, milk, toaster, bike, up, down, row, rock, bowl, flower and last but not least, thank you!

He's also said agua.....but let's hold off on the foreign word inventory for now.

Elena Ferrante Fest (in my mind, at least)

Just got a slew of Elena Ferrante titles to work through. I've done things a bit backward; I read "Storia di chi fugge e di chi resta" first. Now I need to read the first two works in the trilogy.

Oh, and I threw in "La Frantumaglia" for fun. It's a collection of interviews with Ferrante and nonfiction pieces about writing authored by her.

For anyone in New York who's interested in Ferrante, there will be an amazing talk at the Center for Fiction on Sept. 16 featuring Ferrante's American translator, Ann Goldstein, and two novelists, discussing her work.

For more information on this event, go here:

http://centerforfiction.org/calendar/on-elena-ferrante-ann-goldstein-roxana-robinson-and-stacey-derasmo/