The City & the Country no.59 – Jan 14 2015

A lovely quiet Christmas, just the three of us, with Chiara soon to set off to Rome with her Bardian fellow-students and beloved art history Professor, Diana. As ever our tree is a pyramid covered in jewels treasured from years past, the whole of Chiara’s life set out in ornaments made by Claire or fashioned by her, plus a few gifted to us or found along the way. At 22 Chiara still wants Christmas stockings. What joy! This will have been her last Christmas while an undergrad, but surely not her last with us – or her last Christmas stocking. And perhaps Claire and I should give each other stockings even if we’re alone in far-flung places: much of the next 2 years, it seems, may be spent abroad; destinations partly unknown; among them Berlin, if my fellowship at the prestigious Wissenschaftskolleg comes through, thanks to my dear sponsor and friend of 50 years’ standing, Stephen Greenblatt.

To season the Season, a visit to the Buddhist temple high above us on Mt. Overlook, with its gorgeous gold roof ornaments and heavenly temple interior (which I dared not photograph), the most peaceful place I know. According to a good friend once attached to the temple, this peace is an illusion that leaves visitors happy; the reality, as of any institution I’ve ever known or heard of, is the same old human reality, regardless of nation, tribe or creed: jealousies, in-fighting…