5/17/2025

 Saturday, May 17, 2025

D+171/116

1954 The US Supreme Court's unanimous rule in Brown v Topeka Board of Education reversed the 1896 "separate but equal" Plessy v Ferguson decision ruling 

1977 Menachem Begin's Likud Party won election in Israel

1980 Major race riot in Miami, Florida - 16 were killed, and 300 injured

2000 We arrived in Gualdo, Italy

In bed at 10 and up at 5:45.  50°, some rain todsy, high of 60°, wind chill of 38°.    

Prednisonw, day 367; 1 mg., 9/21; Kevzara, day 5/14; CGM, day 14/15; Trulicity, day 2/7.  Prednisone at 6 a.m.  Other meds at   ? a.m.  Eye drops at 6 a.m.,  2 p.m., and 9 p.m.

The Sanctuary and Pilgrimage Site of LaVerna,   We visited on May 16, 2000, and stayed overnight at an austere guesthouse a mile or so down the mountain.  For the faithful, it is a place of prayer and veneration.  For others, it is still a place for some deep thinking about Faith, especially Christianity, and miracles.

The day so far has been sort of comatose-y, a bit braindead, lethargic?  out to lunch?  Not feeling bad, not feeling good, not feeling much of anything, except when I read JJA's description of their time in Como, and looked at her terrific photos.  They all reminded me, of course, of our two stays in Como, at the beginning and tail end of our 2 week vacation there in May 2000.  Twenty-five years ago today, we arrived at our rented farmhouse outside Gualdo in Marché.  The day and night before, we had been at the Franciscan Sanctuary at La Verna, or Alverno, Francis's mountain hideaway.  It was there that he is said to have received the stigmata.  It was also there where he is said to have "wrestled with the Devil" side of the mountain, which I perhaps too facilely interpret as his struggling with suicidal impulses.  It seems safe to believe that he was not only a physical wreck but also a mental/spiritual wreck.  His followers were rebelling not only against his rule of extreme austerity but also against his leadership.  They were all crazy by contemporary standards, and even by the standards of the day, although the religious beliefs of the day provided some validation to spiritual withdrawal and 'monkishness.'  The same is true today, though today we are quicker to think 'cult' and 'mental illness.'  In any case, I was and am a fan of Francis.  I don't find it all that hard to sympatize with desire to say "fuck it" to the society in which he lived and check out.  For me, it's the impossible daydream of moving to the North Woods with no newspapers, radio or television, hoping to go entire days when the words "Donald Trump" are never spoken, never heard, and ultimately never even thought of.  It seems like a form of Heaven, though I would still be left with my own demons.  No matter where you go, there you are, and all that. But back to Gualdo.  We spent a week in that farmhouse, using it as a base for further explorations on the Adriatic side of the Apennines, including my favorite hill town, San Ginesio.  I will start re-reading my copious notes of that trip.

But, speaking of Heaven, I'm sitting on my recliner, looking out the window at a tiny green-hued hummingbird filling up at Geri's new feeder, watching a male goldfinch stuffing as much nesting material as he can fit into his beak from our cotton ball to fly back to his nest, and watching a mourning dove calmly feeding in the flat feeder.  Yesterday, as I stood in my bathroom, I looked out the window to see a male wild turkey walk across our patio.

Dinner with Micaela tonight at C'Viche in Shorewood.  We got there at 6 & were done by 7:30.  Lovely..