Friday 12 February 2010

YOUR HEART'S SUPREME AMBITION....

Everyone has ambition. To see the Northern Lights, maybe. Or to swim with dolphins. Perhaps it's to make a million or the perfect Victoria sandwich.  Big or small - ambition exists in us all. Think of Macbeth......his was the vaulting kind which can  lead to downfall.
One of mine was to pick a pomegranate - a humble little wish, tis true - and it was granted last November, while I was olive harvesting in Umbria.



I wasn't disappointed. In the flesh (ha!) the fruit looked as magical and as rosy-golden as all countless images I'd seen of it suggested.  Luscious and decadent - I wanted to pick up a paintbrush and paint it.  But the only thing I was picking that day was olives....

Do you have any ambitions you hope to achieve this year?

9 comments:

  1. Lovely picture, Shazza. And it's a really unusual wish. Why a pomegranate? So what sparked it? The Proserpine story? A certain Rossetti painting? (The colours would suit you.) The Jo Malone perfume?

    My big wish is to see the Northern lights, and I'm plotting that. But this year I also get two others - I'm going to Venice in seven weeks and four days (and am overexcited about it, as you can tell) and Pompeii, this summer (even more excited about that). Best of all I get to share these with the three people I love most in the world :)

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  2. Yes, to all those - although I prefer the Greek version of the story because I like the name Persephone. LOVE the Rossetti painting (luscious) and Pomegranate Noir is my favourite perfume. How perspicacious of you - perhaps you should be a writer!

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  3. My ambition of the year... I'd say of every year - is travelling all around the world and knowing new places, new traditions, new cultures... (I'd stay in Japan for a month, for example!) - but I have to find a good job which allows me to do that!

    Kate - don't forget to visit The Villa of the Mysteries or Villa dei Misteri in Pompei - where (because of Vesuvio's eruption) a number of bodies were found in this villa, and plaster-of-paris casts were made of them. Macabre? A bit. But very fascinating!
    Years ago, those rooms were closed to the public because of children' visits - but now you can see people who were busy in their ordinary life in a block of stone.

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  4. Dear Sharon. My ambition is to have lunch with you! But I expect you are always too busy. Let me know if you are in London and ever have time free. Yours, Sallie

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  5. My big ambition, as I'm sure you know, is to write a book that an editor at Mills and Boon will love and want to buy. Something I'm working on constantly and I'm having so much fun doing it.
    So glad you managed to pick the pomegranate, Sharon, and have a fabulous time in Venice, Kate, somewhere I hope to go one day.

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  6. I'm with Rachael. To have HM&B say my Historical is the best they have read in a long time - and then promptly offer me a 6 book contract. OK then - a 2 book contract. Have a good weekend. Caroline x

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  7. Good luck with your publication hopes Rachael, Caroline and Jane... and Michela and Kate have made me want to go to Venice - SOON!

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  8. Come back and visit us. The pomegranates here are superb.

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