Adrienne and Eric Jenkins

WATERCOLORING

2012-02-15T02:52:00.002-05:00

Here are four of my watercolor experiments after a few years of no watercoloring. It took me about 10 to get to these four. We took the students out four times this week. They're improving tremendously.

LIVING DELIBERATELY

2012-02-14T03:17:00.003-05:00

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

CLEARING THE ICE

2012-02-11T18:00:00.003-05:00

I guess ya gotta use the tools ya got. These ladies are attacking the ice with claw hammers.

NOT A TYPICAL DAY

2012-02-11T14:45:00.015-05:00

Saturday afternoon.

BREAKFAST WITH VEIT

2012-02-10T13:00:00.006-05:00

This week, we have out of town visitors starting with our good friend, Veit from Weimar, Germany. Click on the photo for more pictures.

Even though snow is in the forecast, Veit and I head out for breakfast to make the most of the morning.

It's "primavera" and spring is the best time to enjoy "spremuta d'arancia" freshly squeezed juice from blood oranges which have a remarkable dark red color inside.

We enjoy a leisurely morning breakfast with cappucino and as the first flakes start to fall we try to get into the Pantheon but it's closed for the day. So we abandon the idea and go for a second coffee & pastry break.

Yum. A cherry pie pastry "crostata" and the other is a pistachio/almond treat -- and yes, the inside was really that bright green color.

Veit feels at home when there's good cheese close at hand and sausage on stand by. Here are the provisions from our impromptu market meal last night.

ANOTHER LOVELY SUNSET

2012-02-08T18:00:00.000-05:00

Another lovely sunset from our balcony. Not a bad way to end the day.

BUONISSIMA!!!

2012-02-07T15:18:00.009-05:00

Thought we'd share one of the awesome meals we had in Naples. We loved this restaurant called Valu tucked away on one of the narrow streets in the Spanish Quarter where Marino took such good care of us and the food was so awesome that we went back again the next night.

Everything was delicious -- the antipasti, risotto, the lightly tempura battered fried zucchini flowers, tagliata & filetto di manza with wine from the Vesuvio area close by.

There wasn't ever any room left for "dolce" or dessert but when homemade "limoncello" liquer is offered, one can't help but find a smidge of room left to indulge.

ASCENDING MACHINE

2012-02-06T18:00:00.002-05:00

Someone posted this type of sign on each ascensore (ascending machine--i.e. elevator) door:

Vernice fresca utilizzare escusivamente la maniglia evitando di toccare il cancellato!

It took a few minutes on Google Translate...fortunately, they will paint on Tuesday--not Monday.

MADONNA'S ROMAN INSPIRED PERFORMANCE

2012-02-06T09:00:00.003-05:00

What did you think of Madonna's Super Bowl Performance? I loved the Roman gladiators and her yoga infused Cleopatra. However, her new song with M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj was a waste.

INTO THE VOLCANO

2012-02-05T10:28:00.000-05:00

Here we are with our guide, Francesco, in the volcano just outside of Naples. The ground was just below boiling but our guide was cool. That torch he's holding was not just for Adrienne and Marina but to somehow activate the water vapor...something to do with relative humidity and wet bulb, etc. He was able to activate vapor for 50 meters around just by waving the torch above the ground. Amazing.

The volcano's precious vapors are also said to naturally enhance fertility. For more about the scientific study, click here.

Click on our photo to see additional pictures especially one taken from a viewpoint overlooking Naples which could just as easily be mistaken for a picture of Vancouver.

WORSE THAN PROBLEM

2012-02-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

The bus driver said that "Disagi" is worse than "problem"...snow on the roads north of Napoli.

LA DOLCE VITA

2012-02-05T07:00:00.044-05:00

Wherever we go traveling, I like to get up early to see the sunrise. Ahhhh -- Bellisima. The view from the breakfast room at the Renaissance Naples Hotel Mediterraneo.

Ugggh, road food. Did I mention elastic waistbands are the latest Euro-fashion trend?
Errr, rather, my personal fashion trend in Italia.

Hmmm, do I want a slice of pie or cake with a side of pastry?
Life's too short to eat a bowl of cereal when you can have sweets instead.

TOUR GUIDE IN HERCULANEUM

2012-02-04T18:00:00.000-05:00

This is our friendly tour guide in Herculaneum. It was a very quiet morning there---only us and about five others at the site. An excellent alternative to Pompeii. By the way, at Pompeii there were perhaps only about 100 people there...including our group. The day before we visited the Archeology Museum in Naples. While there, Adrienne, Marina and I, of course, checked out the "Gabinetto Segreto" -- the "secret room" of Roman sex frescoes, mosaics and talismans only open to the public since 2000. Is it phalli, phallises, or phallices?

PAGE SPREAD DRAFT

2012-01-25T05:18:00.002-05:00

Well, here's the first draft of the book's spread. It will require some tweaking but otherwise it is on its way...Now I just have to finish all the texts.

GOTTA GOETHE TO ROME

2012-01-18T16:40:00.005-05:00

Adrienne and I went to the Goethe German Cultural Center near Piazza del Popolo. It's in the same apartment that Goethe lived in for two years. Very inspirational. The reading room had some of his books laying around and we read that 1) he came to Rome to finish a book that never seemed to get finished and 2) he wrote often about drawing buildings. See the note beneath his sketch.

LENTILS FOR THE NEW YEAR

2012-01-17T10:17:00.002-05:00

This seemed to be the pot of lentils that kept on giving. Though delicious, we seemed to have leftovers for well over a week. For the recipe, click here.

LATE NIGHT BABY DEPOSIT

2012-01-15T16:38:00.004-05:00

This little pavilion is for depositing unwanted babies at the Santo Spirito hospital near the Vatican. Behind the metal grate is a rotating, wood cylinder (like a barrel). A mother (or whomever) who did not want the child would rotate the barrel, insert the child and then rotate it back. It is, of course, no longer functional but it remains intact. The thing next to it is a coin collection box to support those unwanted children. Ah, Rome....

THE VATICAN AT NIGHT

2012-01-05T22:00:00.009-05:00

Today we met the students and walked to see the Nativity scene at the Vatican. Click on the blog post title "The Vatican At Night" to peep outside the Pope's window.

Check it out, the lights are on in the Pope's private residence so he's probably reviewing notes for the special mass for Epiphany tomorrow. Either that or he's playing Angry Birds.

P.S. I know Mom, you'd like more people pictures. It was kinda dark so more pictures to come. The story continues...

DAYBREAK IN ROME

2012-01-04T06:00:00.018-05:00

We're back in Rome. Jet lag has its privileges. Even though I'm up crazy early, it's a beautiful sunrise worth waking up to with a view of the beautifully restored Basilica Sant Andrea Della Valle just up the street.

KITTY SANTA

2011-12-24T18:00:00.001-05:00

Maybe Santa will bring treats.

15th ANNIVERSARY

2011-09-27T21:12:00.001-04:00

BOOK TITLE?

2011-05-08T10:38:00.001-04:00

I need a title for my book. Any ideas?

Here is my current brainstorming results.

A Sketch Book
A Way of Seeing: Freehand Analytical Drawing
Acquiring Precedent
Acquistion of Precedent
Action/Reflection
Action-Reflection Through Drawing
Analysis
Annotated Drawing
Classroom in the City
Deliberate Sketching
Diagram Sketching
Disciplined Sketching
Discovery through Sketching
Drawing /Seeing
Drawing to See
Drawn to Architecture
Eating Architecture: Digesting the Designed Environment
Exploring Pencil
Freehand Analytical Drawing
Freehand: Analytical Sketching
From Sketching to Seeing
Inquiry
Inquiry Through Drawing
Making Things Visible
Making Visible
Observation
Sketch
Sketching
Sketching Acts
Sketching and Learning
Sketching Discipline
Sketching Places
Sketching the Designed Environment
Sketching: An Analytical Process
Sketching-Considering-Learning
Sketching-Thinking-Learning
The Craft of Seeing
The Discipline of Sketching
The Mind’s Eye
Thinking through Drawing
Visual Analysis

THE ROYAL WEDDING

2011-04-29T05:54:00.006-04:00

Adrienne and Ibi Get Up at 4 am to Watch the Royal Wedding

William and Kate Titles

What Will Kate and William Be Called When They Get Married?

GIL

2011-04-27T14:30:00.003-04:00

These photos are from a 1930's community building here in Rome designed by Moretti. It contains everything from a movie theater to pool to gym to exhibition rooms. It is half way through renovations...so it should be finished by 2020.

LAST WEEK

2011-04-25T06:15:00.003-04:00

Well, my final week of the semester has started as I leave on Saturday, 31 April. Besides a week in which I check off my "things to do list" (finish up coursework, grade, scan student work and store things until next January) Rome is in the midst of a huge celebration. Though Easter week culminated with Easter Sunday, this coming Sunday (May 1) is the beatification of Pope John Paul II. The city is filled with pilgrims and tourists. Also, the sale of JPII trinkets is in full force. Christ in the Temple??