random thoughts – Day 1,461 – (Sunday) – three days

March 17, 2023.

One year ago today, I was in Rome with friends. It was another sunny, blue-sky day in a week filled with such. That afternoon, we visited Vatican City with thousands of other tourists. We were shepherded through hallways with paintings on every surface. We saw chapels and more paintings, and sculptures everywhere. We were crammed into the Sistine Chapel and could barely move. It was all pretty amazing.

It was another day after a string of days with delicious coffee, amazing pizza and pasta, Aperol spritzes, and great wine. It is hard to believe it’s been a year already, and at the same time, it feels like it’s been forever. And I miss the food. 

March 17, 2024.

This afternoon, I stood in a Family Dollar store holding some greeting cards, a four-pack of toilet paper, and a roll of paper towels, while staring at boxes of store brand pasta. It’s convenient and affordable, but I really wished I was looking at a restaurant menu in Rome. Some leftover pizza from Thirsty First on Market Street is jammed in the freezer, and while it’s really good Lowell pizza, it’s not quite Rome pizza. A stop at Market Basket on the way home from dance class yielded a Market Kitchen corned beef dinner. It was the red salty corned beef that I love, and it was delicious. 

Work in process - March 17, 2024.

The canvases arrived from Amazon and the paints came out. The sides of seven canvases were painted in colors to work with the photos that would be affixed to the front. One photo is of Kiki (shocker!). The rest of the photos were from the two trips of 2023 -- Rome and Las Vegas. Two of the Rome photos were taken in Saint Peter’s Basilica exactly one year ago, but I didn’t make that exact connection until a Google photo memory popped up on my phone to illuminate it for me. 

March 17, 2020.

Four years ago, it was a totally different adventure. It was my first day as a remote worker from my dining room table. That led to the first night starting the blog to chronicle the remote adventure. It was the time when toilet paper and sanitizing wipes were making headlines for becoming scarce. 

Holding that pack of toilet paper today, taken from a shelf filled with different brands and various roll counts was a huge improvement over 2020 when the shelves were emptying and the stuff was getting scarce. It was worlds away from looking at pants and blouses and purses in the shops of Rome and sculptures, mosaic floors, and paintings everywhere we went. But it’s all okay. It was still a great day on its own.