I took the bus down to Arezzo on Monday. Arezzo is
about an hour away by bus and it is the town that I
pass through anytime I am taking the train anywhere.
So since I have been to Arezzo several times without
actually seeing much of the town…I decided now was the
time.
Once I was in town I consulted my (almost) useless map
from the tourist office and headed up to see one of
the main attractions in the town. I got to the Church
of St. Francis where the Piero Della Francesca (a
famous Arezzo based painter) masterpiece “The Legend
of the True Cross” is housed. This church was a bit
higher up on my list than some because they had a
small display in the front entryway that explained the
story behind each of the 12 panels of this
masterpiece. I think that is one of the reasons I get
so under whelmed and burnt out on churches…I don’t
know any of the background of what the pictures are
about…so they just end up being a blur of pretty, old
pictures. When I had the background story in I
enjoyed the paintings much more.
Then I wandered around some more and saw: The Big
Square (not that big), another church/cloister that
was very pretty, a large park, the fortress, a
gigantic cemetery and the ancient roman amphitheater.
Also squeezed in another chiropractic appointment and
a picnic lunch. I think the cemetery was actually the
most…impressive isn’t the right word but, impactful (I
guess). They are really into the mausoleum thing
here…so this huge cemetery was all about 4 people
deep…and it was just this overwhelmingly sad place. I
guess sad isn’t the right word…more like, empty. It
felt like a big…void. If nothing else it serves to
reinforce that I want to be cremated…I don’t see much
point in a burial. But, obviously, to each his own.
Speaking of cemeteries; Agnes and I were on a hike the
other day and we followed the path behind the little
abandoned church just down the road from us. We found
the 2 old cemeteries back there. The first one was
the mausoleum style and originally held 18 people.
All but one of the tombs had been cleared out. I
guess the land the church is on had officially been
sold and since that is no longer sacred ground…they
had to move all of the bodies. I don’t know why they
left that one guy…May he rest in peace. The other
cemetery was much older (I don’t think I saw any dates
past 1917) and was further back in the woods, the wall
around it was completely caved in and it wasn’t creepy
exactly…but it felt odd. It’s interesting to think
about what happens to us when we die and to look at
all of the ceremony and circumstance that surround
death. I once heard my yoga teacher say this and it
frightened me at the time…but now I think I know what
she means. “Sometimes I can’t wait to get out of this
body and go home.” It isn’t a cry for help or
something dire…it’s just the acknowledgement that this
body is just the vessel and just like the clothes we
put on each day when it is ready to be discarded it is
only because our spirit/soul is ready to leave this
earthly plane and reunite with God. To merge into the
bliss and prem (ultimate love) from where we all
came…it does sound pretty good. And I will be glad to
go, when it is my time. But until then… Wahe Guru!
Thank you for the blessing of this day! (An
interesting side note: I just finished reading Seven
Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton. It is his story of
going from a person without faith to becoming a
catholic monk. It was interesting to me how when you
get down to the depths of Catholicism it’s not that
theologically different from what I know of eastern
mystic religions… this just supports my theory that
all religions are basically just different frostings
on the same cake, if you get my drift.)
Back t0 the subject at hand. My next day trip I
planned for a little hill town called Monte Santa
Maria Tiberina. I knew it was a really small town and
would probably only take half a day. But I could
drive there in about 45 minutes so I decided to check
it out. Well, it was REALLY small. There was one
café in town. No restaurants or shops that I saw (and
I literally walked ALL of the streets). There is
supposed to be a church that dates back to the year
1000…but it was closed. And the castle at the very
top of the town was closed for construction. But
there were some great views. Wow. I am living in a
really beautiful place. (Pictures should be up soon).
On the way down from Monte SMT there is a small
nature reserve. So I stopped walked around and had a
picnic lunch. It was a small park but had nice
benches and walking paths so it was definitely worth
the stop.
Today Agnes and I took a nice long hike up to some
ruins on the mountain across the valley from us. It
was quite steep, but definitely worth it. These are
ruins that at one time must have housed a few hundred
people and now they are completely falling apart. You
can see that animals have taken refuge in some places
and every possible entrance is completely overgrown
with brush…isn’t it amazing that a couple of hundred
people just decided they didn’t want to live there
anymore, picked up and left their homes to be taken
over by nature? It just seems so odd to me. Other
than the fact that I have no where near the funds to
do it and I know what a headache it’s been for the
Sada Sats to do the work they’ve done on this
house…except for those two things, it makes you want
to get in there and fix it up into your dream house….
whatever that might be.
That's about it for the update. Other than that I
have been working on cleaning the house and setting up
for when the Sada Sats return from France, making
plans for my 6 week travel extravaganza that begins in
about 2 weeks, watching movies, reading, going for
walks in the mountains, doing yoga…I am constantly
amazed at how incredibly blessed I am. I don’t know
what I did to deserve this blissful space in my life,
but I am unendingly thankful for it.
So what’s new with you? I’d love to hear updates from
everyone: what have you been up to for the summer,
what’s happening in MN or the world in general that I
am insolated from up here…. etc. lumpkin_k@yahoo.com
Love and Blessings,
KNL
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