countdown continued

hey charles,

i'm about to pack up the computer to ship to ukraine so this may be the last blog post for awhile. we leave at dawn on tuesday 1 june. i'll have my cell which will work as long as we're in italia: +39.346.232.2156 thanks so much for the great job you did setting up the blog and your willingness to keep it going during the trip. i finished reading 'what is art' but i'm shipping it to ukraine for reference during the winter there. i'll get it back to you eventually.

a big hug to all, liam

in december 2008 Valentina showed me a book given to her by her life-long friend Roman. a book very well read and with more than 100 years of age it was in pieces. she began reading it and recounting the story to me in Italian from the original Russian. ‘happy families are all happy in a similar way. unhappy families are each unhappy in their own way.’ thus begins Lev Tolstoj’s Anna Karenina. within a few days I bought a copy in Italian and we began reading it aloud as Valentina continued with the original Russian edition of 1903 providing commentary for the discrepancies. I entered into the thoughts of the characters he so vividly brings to life and each one became real and intimate to me. this event initiated the pilgrimage on which we will embark this Tuesday morning, 1 June.

a couple months later, my sister Patricia Dreame told me that her daughter Bonnie Dreame had also begun reading Anna Karenina. for her as well it sparked a life-changing passion for Russian literature, language and culture. following is the eloquent email she sent us this week to wish us well on our trip.

Dear Liam and Valentina,

Hi, it's Bonnie. I just wanted to make sure I sent you an email before you embarked on your journey. I can't wait to read the updates of your progress on the blog, which I have bookmarked on my computer. I know you will carry with you the richness of the life you have built together in Siracusa, through all the countries you visit on your trip. Looking forward to lots of stories of kind people, beautiful sights and sounds, and interesting wildlife.

I also wanted to clarify that even though my tutor is from Georgia, I am learning Russian, not Georgian. My tutor teaches me about the history and culture of Russia as well as the language, and it's delightful to get such a varied education about another country's way of life. I'm also going to a two-week immersion camp for Russian language this summer, so after that, maybe you'll even get an email in Russian.

My love and good wishes are with you through this wonderful new step in your lives.

Bonnie.

countdown for the bicycle trip to Ukraine

23 May, 2010 – as the departure date draws nearer the stress level increases. now, and in general during the course of our relationship, I’m continually amaze that in spite of the stress level or the difficulty of the challenge that faces us, the harmony and the communication between us in the reality of the present is not disturbed. there are no ‘pushed buttons’. there are no hidden agendas. there is only truth and the reality of the present. regardless of the difficulties we will certainly face along the way, I know that with Valentina and only with Valentina, it will be possible to make this trip from west to east.

countdown for the bicycle trip to Ukraine

23 May 2010 – as we prepare for the trip and watch the beautiful life we created here begin to melt away I’m reminded of my last days in America before making the move here almost five years ago. my house in Lexington, KY was known by my friends as ‘the house of joy’. for what I may lack in intelligence and earning power I’m apparently gifted at creating in my surroundings an atmosphere of ease, acceptance and peace. for this I am deeply grateful.

this slow trip by bicycle through Italia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, will be an opportunity to carry from place to place the atmosphere of ease, acceptance and peace to unite all that we meet along the way. while we have hopes of reaching first Kahovka, Ukraine, and then in the spring, Tula, Russia, this will not be a trip, like most, with the purpose of arriving at a particular destination. each and every point along the way, each person with whom we connect will be the fulfillment of a destination reached.

countdown for the bicycle trip to Ukraine

22 May 2010 – yesterday we set up a table in front of San Filippo church for our piazza sale (like a yard sale without grass). it started off slow but picked up around noon and we almost sold enough to pay the shipping for the stuff we sent to Ukraine this morning.



there’s a van that makes a trip each week from Ukraine to Sicily and back. in addition to packages, they bring specialty items to sell on each end. they usually come to Catania,( an hour north of here by car or train. we’ll soon find out the actual travel time by bike), but Valentina talked them into coming to Siracusa this time because we had so much stuff to send. they parked the van in the piazza and came to our door by foot to carry almost 200 kilos of boxes (and a big passion flower vine in a wicker basket). one of the two men is from Tula, Russia, the place of our pilgrimage to the home of Lev Tolstoj. he’s on his way there now after he drops off our things in Kahovka.

I’ll go by train to Catania next Saturday to meet the van with our last box (containing the computer). we won’t leave anything here in Siracusa. this trip will be life-changing. we’ll leave with an open-ended future.

countdown for the bicycle trip to Ukraine

21 May, 2010 - my sister Patricia Dreame, who lives in Decatur, GA, USA, suggested that we look for sponsorship for a 2011-2012 American tour presenting the west to east bike trip with fotos, slides and excepts from our diaries along with a workshop teaching our environment-friendly way of life and the Tolstojan philosophy of pacifism and brotherhood of man.



it would be fantastic if one who reads this wants to take on the challenge, finding the funding for us to come to America from Ukraine, Russia or where ever we might be, and do the tour in as many cities as possible. I’d love for Valentina to see the natural beauty of America and meet my wonderful friends and relatives.

countdown for the bicycle trip to Ukraine

19 May, 2010 - i was known in america as a piano teacher, musician, photographer, pilot, etc. and here in Sicilia as an English teacher, maid, painter, etc. I tend to take my identity from the work that I do. depending on the work itself, the social perception of the work and my personal perception of the work, I may feel proud or humiliated by the work. but in spite of the work I undertake, the truth is that I’m not at all the work that I do. my thoughts and feelings arrive closer to that truth but there’s a point beyond my thoughts and feelings, a point of silence – we may say the state of being; this point, or rather this infinite space, this is in reality who I am.



in this bicycle trip I will look for work to sustain us to the end in Ukraine, in Russia. when i photograph, play music or write I will distance myself from pride as I distance myself from shame while cleaning someone’s house or doing other banal work – I will work free of pride, free of shame in the awareness of my true identity within the state of being.

countdown for the bicycle trip to Ukraine

18 May, 2010 - we go with what we have (or, we do not want what we haven’t got). on the road heading east, Valentina will be on her foldable tricycle, which she uses to sell fresh orange juice, and I’ll take the vintage bicycle I found in the trash and rebuilt (without gears). I’ll document our travels entirely with a film camera – my Leica M6 with one 50mm lens. I was tempted to buy a digital but fortunately, came to my senses realizing that on the road without electricity, without protection from the weather, my Leica is the practical and philosophical solution in accordance with our objective. we’ll ask people we meet to take fotos of us and email them for the blog. if we make it Ukraine as planned, I’ll then process all the film and see what I have. shooting black and white and color slide film I hope to get enough material to do justice to the documentation of the trip.

our life here in Siracusa, Sicilia (Italia) is very modest, simple. we do without hot water, refrigerator, washing machine, heating or air-conditioning, automobile or motor scooter. we recycle our dish water and laundry rinse water to water our many plants (even though our water is included in our rent). perhaps some would call our life-style austere but in reality nothing is lacking. we live very well. we have everything we really need.

when I left America five years ago I sacrificed a lot in the way of material comforts. I rented a four bedroom house with a big yard in the quiet Chevy Chase neighborhood of Lexington, KY. I had a beautiful hard-crafted German grand piano and a big, well-equipped darkroom for my photography work. in making the transition to my new life here in Sicilia I moved my mind-set from thinking ‘what new thing I might afford to buy’ to that of seeing ‘what I might do with out’. it’s sometimes difficult for one to separate ‘wants’ from ‘actual needs’. my life-long desire to make a life for myself in a foreign country was my motivation for sorting it out. everyday I give thanks for what I don’t have as well as for what I do have.

Liam and Valentina - A Simple Twist of Fate

video courtesy of Gabriele Vinci