#trip diary

there was some nice street/public art in Ithaca! this was one of a series of large murals… all of which were, unusually(?) in a narrow dead end alley.

Percy Shelley, History of a Six Weeks' Tour:

“The rain detained us two days at Ouchy. We however visited Lausanne, and saw Gibbon's house. We were shewn the decayed summer-house where he finished his History, and the old acacias on the terrace, from which he saw Mont Blanc, after having written the last sentence. There is something grand and even touching in the regret which he expresses at the completion of his task. It was conceived amid the ruins of the Capitol. The sudden departure of his cherished and accustomed toil must have left him, like the death of a dear friend, sad and solitary.

My companion gathered some acacia leaves to preserve in remembrance of him. I refrained from doing so, fearing to outrage the greater and more sacred name of Rousseau; the contemplation of whose imperishable creations had left no vacancy in my heart for mortal things. Gibbon had a cold and unimpassioned spirit. I never felt more inclination to rail at the prejudices which cling to such a thing, than now that Julie and Clarens, Lausanne and the Roman Empire, compelled me to a contrast between Rousseau and Gibbon.

When we returned, in the only interval of sunshine during the day, I walked on the pier which the lake was lashing with its waves. A rainbow spanned the lake, or rather rested one extremity of its arch upon the water, and the other at the foot of the mountains of Savoy. Some white houses, I know not if they were those of Mellerie, shone through the yellow fire.”

Byron in a letter to John Murray:

“Ouchy, near Lausanne, June 27th, 1816.

Dear Sir

I am thus far kept by stress of weather on my way back to Diodati near Geneva from a voyage in my boat round the lake - & I enclose you a sprig of Gibbon's Acacia & some rose leaves from his garden - which part of his house I have just seen - you will find honourable mention in his life made of this ‘Acacia’ when he walked out on the night of concluding his history. - The garden - & summerhouse where he composed are neglected - & the last utterly decayed - but they still show it as his ‘Cabinet’ & seem perfectly aware of his memory. - My route - through Flanders - & by the Rhine to Switzerland was all I expected & more. - -

I have traversed all Rousseau's ground - with the Heloise before me - & am struck to a degree with the force & accuracy of his descriptions - & the beauty of their reality: - Meillerie - Clarens - & Vevey - & the Chateau de Chillon are places of which I shall say little - because all I could say must fall short of the impressions they stamp.

Three days ago - we were most nearly wrecked in a Squall off Meillerie - & driven to shore — I ran no risk being so near the rocks and a good swimmer - but our party were wet - & incommoded a good deal: - the wind was strong enough to blow down some trees as we found at landing - however all is righted & right - & we are thus far on return.

Dr. Polidori is not here - - but at Diodati - left behind in hospital with a sprained ancle acquired in tumbling from a wall - he can't jump.* ——“

*This is a reference to the instance where Byron (probably jokingly) suggested that Polidori should jump off a balcony in the rain to impress Mary Shelley. When Polidori actually did it, Byron was shocked and helped him inside to prop him up with a pillow. Polidori was then furious with him. See: Mary Shelley’s contributions concerning the Villa Diodati in Thomas Moore’s Life of Byron

UPDATE: I took my dates from Shelley, but his dates must have been confused and Byron's must be more accurate. Because I'd been confused by Byron's dates in the past, since he often wrote past midnight (thus often referring his prior day as "today"), I had assumed Shelley was more trustworthy. According to Shelley and His Circle vol. 4 pp. 700-701, they left on June 22nd which was a Saturday, and so I believe each day of their trip would be one earlier than I and Shelley stated in these posts.

Taken from Shelley and His Circle:

"TIMETABLE OF THE LAKE GENEVA TOUR

June 22, Saturday: Sailed from Montalègre, slept at Nernier.

June 23, Sunday: Sailed from Nernier, slept at Evian.

June 24, Monday: Sailed from Evian, encountered storm off Meillerie, slept at St. Gingolph.

June 25, Tuesday: Sailed from St. Gingolph, saw the mouths of the Rhone, visited Chillon Castle, landed at Clarens, visited bosquet de Julie, slept at Mme. Pauly's house (Place Gambetta) at Clarens.

June 26, Wednesday: Visited Le Châtelard, and the bosquet de Julie, sailed from Clarens, visited Vevey, slept at the Hotel de l'Ancre at Ouchy.

June 27, Thursday: Visited Gibbon's house at Lausanne, slept at Ouchy.

June 28, Friday: Remained at Ouchy.

June 29, Saturday: Sailed from Ouchy, slept at [?Rolle].

Okay. I'm all packed up except my hair straightener which I'm letting cool off a bit more before I pack it. My electronics are charged including the backup power bank. All charging cables are accounted for and packed within easy reach, except my phone charger, which is literally plugged into the phone I'm posting this on right this second, and which will be put with the other cables as soon as I disconnect. Both laptops and their accessories are packed. I double-checked the bathroom and shower for toiletries and everything is accounted for and packed. I'm wearing my ring and my fitbit so I know I'm not going to forget those. My shoes and my heavy travel hoodie are the only items of clothing not packed and that's bc I'm about to put them on. I made sure all my cards and cash are in my wallet and my wallet is packed within reasonable reach. I...genuinely am ready to go, I think. Just gonna let my straightener cool a little more and let my phone sip power for a few more minutes before I unplug, take my stuff, go downstairs and check out. I'll get a Lyft to the airport and be on my way.

Hello everyone! I’ll be gone for my vacay/business trip to Japan and Taiwan. I’ll be visiting the Ghibli Museum, Enjoying Onsen Hotels, Sightseeing, and stocking up on art supplies/ merch orders! Commission/work/online shop will still be ongoing during this trip, so don’t worry. 

I’ll be updating my trip diary often, so stay tuned and see me and my best friends chloe, emem, and J on this adventure!!

Part 1 of the adventures of Arisa the artist nyan! 

seen in Ithaca

Pictured: squirrel (girl) in her unnatural habitat

got the license sorted. i’d show you, but it’s just a temp, and after i blocked out all the doxxables, there’d just be the F worth seeing. which, admittedly, is super cool, but loses a bit just being printed on cardstock and all.

did a bit of practice driving. nice, but also a little disconcerting how quick it all comes back; even speed regulation, which i was a lil nervous about. prolly still starting my stops from too far back, but i reckon that’s better than trying to do them too close up.

mom keeps playing wiv my hair. in the good way! like, she respects my boundaries wiv it, and doesn’t push me to wear it one way or the other. we tried it down, ‘cause she thinks it looks nicer, but when i told her i just didn’t like it getting in my face so much, she backed off wivout making it an issue.

i do wonder what the dynamics would have been like if i’d figured my shite out a lot closer to the “shaping my daughter into a respectable young woman” window for her. at 46, and she asks me if i’m interested much in makeup, and i say no and why, and she seems at least pretty ok wiv that. would she have pressed the case harder were i 15 or 16? i dunno? i regret i never got the chance to find out, but i do appreciate having the space to self-define now. Entropy knows i had enough going on back then wivout adding hammering-and-tonging it wiv mum to the mix.

she did give me a primer on sewing that i’ve been wanting to get to for yonks. i mean, i tried self-teaching through YouTube, but i never found a video that let me get a close eye on the seamstress’s fingers. so that was nice. she reminded me the bit i’d forgotten from doing embalmer’s sutures that was fucking up the attempts i made since.

finally got that patch sewn on. been wanting that on there forever.

i should not have put my laptop in the living room, 'cause the telly is going to kill me. is more (more!) yellowstone better or worse than talking heads picking the bones of the debate for the umpteenth time, or silly-ass eulogizing over 9-fucking-11? it's all garbo trashfire nonsense.

managed to shift those comics today. mum thinks we got rooked, and maybe we did, but he took those boxes sight-unseen and handed over cash, we coulda given him 500 copies of the most worthless 90's over-print for all he checked. we didn't. but even the best of the lot, they weren't stored in the way that woulda got top dollar, and they was read, some of them an awful lot of times, and that does nothing for "value." 150 for the lot of 'em, plus guy tossed in that other Marvel Rivals Squirrel Girl shows up in that i was lookin' at when we went in last time. yeah. i walked away wiv no complaints and a chunk of the past lighter.

spent most the day driving around wiv mum, and that was all kinds of nice. we talked most the time, not anything real flash or nothing, just chatting, and it was real nice. one thing i wish i got more of a chance at this trip, but that's how things hash out, and there's still a couple days left.