Tag: Ananda Assisi

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A walk down memory lane

We’re working with Crystal Clarity Publishers on an upcoming project and needed some detailed information about the “Joy Is God” recording that we did in Ananda Assisi back in 2005.

Our memories were fuzzy so I had to search and search until I found a copy of the CD with the original liner notes (it’s changed several times since it first came out). And what a find!

We were ensconced for two days in Swami Kriyananda’s home near the Assisi retreat center (he was in India). Our recording engineer drove down from Lugano in a van containing his mobile recording studio, which he parked outside Swamiji’s house.

The musicians were from Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and America — all of them dear friends and great devotees. I wish we could have remained close to all of them, but almost twenty years have passed and it’s not easy to stay connected when you lead busy lives on separate continents.

What I love most of all is this shot of Ramesha and me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen myself looking happier than in this photo.

Joy is God, indeed!

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Buon Ferragosto!

Italians on vacation. Photo by Michaela on Unsplash

“Buon Ferragosto!” is what I’m seeing everywhere I look on Facebook today.

It brings back memories of Ananda Assisi’s busiest season, as well as of monumental traffic jams when we (occasionally) forgot and made the mistake of traveling on the actual day. Not a good idea.

Fortunately, the memories are mostly very sweet.

But what exactly is Ferragosto? It’s a public holiday that originated back in 18 BC (that’s a really long time ago!) and is still celebrated throughout Italy on August 15th.

The name translates to Feriae (Festival) Augusti (for Augustus, the Roman emperor). Emperor Augustus made August 1st a day of rest after laborers had spent weeks working hard on the farms and in the fields.

The custom was for the workers to wish their employers “Buon Ferragosto” and receive a monetary bonus in return. This became law during the Renaissance throughout the papal states.

Then, starting around the 5th century, the Catholic Church moved the observance of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary to the same date. For observant Catholics in countries like Italy, Spain, Greece, Mexico, etc., August 15 is right up there with Easter and Christmas.

August 15 also just happens to be the birthday of one of my favorite humans: our friend and colleague in the music ministry, Jeannie! 💖

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A sacred addition to our home

During our brief time at Ananda Assisi, we finally had a chance to visit our friend, Shantidev, at his Meditation Art studio.

I had been admiring Shantidev’s artwork for some time and, once we were there in person and I saw this beautiful (but small) spiritual eye, I just knew we needed it for our (small) apartment.

We had it shipped home and it finally arrived the other day. Needless to say, we love it!

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Catching up in Assisi

Today — from start to finish — was about catching up with friends from Ananda Assisi we hadn’t seen in years.

I feel like we did about a month’s worth of connecting in one long day.

We enjoyed Sunday service, laughed a lot, exchanged many hugs, shared news, and also sang. An altogether lovely day.

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The beauty and peace of Umbria

A typical Umbrian scene

This is the view from where we’re staying in our friend’s Airbnb near Ananda Assisi.

In the five years since we were last in Umbria I had almost forgotten just how beautiful these hillside views are…and how it’s what you see in pretty much any direction you look.

And then there’s the quiet and sense of peace that pervades the area. Ramesha and I were speculating that perhaps it has to do with the fact that the vast majority of visitors to this area are religious/spiritual tourists — drawn to Assisi because of St Francis.

Whatever the reason, my soul loves it here.

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Quando il gatto?

I hope Mantrini won’t mind, but I just have to share this story…

As I’ve mentioned before, I was one of six Americans who moved to Ananda Assisi in 2002 as part of a singing group that toured Italy for a couple of years. Of course, we all tried to learn some Italian as quickly as possible.

We were frequently at the home of our manager, Rosella (for meetings, rehearsal, coffee, or delicious meals), and there were usually a few outdoor cats hanging around.

The Italian word for cat is “gatto.”

As we were arriving at Rosella’s one afternoon Mantrini (another one of the singers) didn’t see any cats, so she asked: “Quando il gatto?” (When is the cat?).

Now, we all knew that what she meant to say was: “Dov’è il gatto” (Where is the cat?), but it was too adorably funny and we couldn’t resist teasing her about it for days.

Fast forward to our first three-week tour, which included Lugano. Much hilarity ensued when we happened to see the boutique, “Il Gatto”!

Now that you know the backstory, I’m sure you can appreciate how delighted I was to discover that the “Il Gatto” boutique is still there, reminding me of those sweet memories from over twenty years ago.

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A blast from the past

Marie, Triveni, Simone, Bhagavati, Simo, Manuel, Sonya, Ramesha

Just found this photo from my time living in Lugano — feels like eons ago!

This was our meditation group choir preparing to perform at an event at which Shivani (one of the main teachers from Ananda Assisi) was speaking.

Amazing to realize this was almost twenty years ago now.

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United in God, music, and laughter

We met through our spiritual community, so a love for God was what we shared before we even became acquainted.

We laughed a lot as our friendship grew. In fact, the first gift I ever gave him was a favorite photo of Swami Kriyananda laughing uproariously.

But I’m pretty sure love started to grow the first time we rehearsed together for a concert. It was like recognizing a kindred spirit (and, yes, we recently finished watching Anne of Green Gables!). 😄

The pictures above are from the weekend of our wedding at Ananda Assisi (we had two ceremonies, in order to accommodate family on both continents).

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Wedding memories

  • Ananda Palo Alto – July 5, 2004
  • Ananda Assisi – July 18, 2004

While looking for something else entirely, I stumbled upon a bunch of photos from both of our wedding ceremonies: July 5 at Ananda Palo Alto and July 18 at Ananda Assisi, sixteen years ago!

I had forgotten just how vibrant and colorful our Palo Alto wedding altar was (thanks, Manisha!).

And I think in tomorrow’s blog post I’ll tell the story of my wedding sari and how it came to be (I don’t think I’ve shared the story in a previous blog post, have I???).

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Look what I found!

I was looking for something else entirely, but found this treasure instead. I believe this was a Sunday service at Ananda Assisi shortly before Swami Kriyananda moved to India in November 2003; Ramesha and I had been together less than a month!

And aren’t I wearing the loveliest shawl? I adored that shawl and the way it matched virtually everything in my wardrobe. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of thinking it could be washed in cold water and was heartbroken when it shrank to less than a quarter of its size.😢

Ah, memories!