red haloed moon

There is a moon tonight that beats all moons out there. It comes with a halo. You can see it in all its full splendidness, as the skies have cleared.

My associations are banal – that’s amore, Moonstruck, Italy.

I thought how juicy it would be to announce here, on Ocean, that this week-end I would be traveling to Italy. And to snap a photo of the brochure that came in the mail – it’s of an Italian hotel on the Amalfi coast. Ahhhh… …coincidence?

The reality is that the extent of overheard Italian this month will be what I heard in front of the Italian Workers’ Club tonight. Do you know the place? On Regent Street.


Purchase photo 2031


Downstairs, at the Greenbush Bar, Ed and I ate pizza. Lights twinkled, sort of like on the Amalfi coast, I suppose… men grouped at the bar and spoke of very important nonsense, the wine flowed and people talked in robust, animated ways. A woman waited for her loved one to come back (he did).







Purchase photo 2030


As I prepared to mount Ed’s motorbike to hitch a ride home, someone from the Italian speaking set asked if we wanted a photo. Ed always rolls his eyes on that one. He has no sentimental leanings and especially none that would recognize a full moon with a red halo over it. But I acquiesced. I cannot imagine standing there in the light of the full moon and saying – naaaaah, bad idea.

It’s weird but good, my fellow photographer said to me, looking at the photo, as she handed back the camera. That’s fitting, I thought.