People Watching

June 3, 2024

Exam season is among us! Today I have an exam on the pest portion of disease and pest management, where I have to know bug anatomy, the impact different species have on grapevines, and ways of controlling them. I’ve felt like my skin is crawling all weekend as I’ve been cramming for this test. I don’t have much to share this week, as it’s been spent studying and cleaning and doing lots of boring things.

But, I have noticed a lot of beautiful things while people watching lately, and I wanted to share them. So, grab a cup of tea or coffee (or a spritz) and turn on your imagination (because unfortunately I’m not a painter, and I cannot draw these things to show you).

To set the scene: you are walking on a path surrounded by trees. The air smells like blossoming trees, with the occasional whiff of something that smells the car after a rainy soccer practice (mud and sweat and must). As you keep walking the sweet smell of spring allergies hits you once more.

You hear cars pass, birds chirping, and Italians speaking in their song-like tones. You can’t understand what they are saying, but you do understand the universal language of laughter.

You pass a woman riding her bike with no hands, phone on speaker in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other.

As you walk on you see an elderly nun holding a bouquet of flowers.

You walk by a couple, both blind, holding hands and walking with their canes (…literally the blind leading the blind).

You see two young boys kicking a soccer ball, and after a while an old man with a big belly joins in to play with them.

You see a masculine man walking a fluffy little dog, then another masculine man walking a wolf dog (I can’t tell if it’s more fun to see dogs that look like their owners or dogs that look the exact opposite of them).

You see a young woman hurriedly walking her bike to work because the tire popped (the young woman is me).

Mountains and trees and buildings and views are good, but people are very good.

A quote from The Book Thief:

“I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both.”

In both the good and the bad, I hope you can notice all the beauty around you this week! There is a lot of it to be found.

(I didn’t take any photos this week except this one of my cutie friend Pauline — how beautiful is she hehehe)