So then there are the crepes....

In my frenzy yesterday I neglected to mention the best of all - crepes. They make them in the little kiosks on the sidewalk, and you get them filled with just about anything, in any combo from fish to meats to cheeses, to jams, creams or just plain butter and sugar. Then they fold them up in a neat pocket and off you go.



Okay, so we did do something here and there other than to eat. But it was an important thing, I will have to say.



This morning we walked around the streets a bit after breakfast at the hotel, and bought a bit of last minute stuff. We were waiting for a car to take us to the train - and I do haveto say that of anyplace we have been so far it is the French that sem to know what they are doing. The driver got us a porter at the station and onto the train; we had first-class seats which we expected to be comfortable but this was more so - and the surprise of all was that they fed us - very well.



We travelled through the countryside, and I really have to comment that I can't really imagine flying here if you can take the train. Off and down through the Chunnel, and here we are in London. We are staying in Kensington which is a very lively area full of shops, cafes and not far from Harrod's, so Mary is in her element. I think this evening we are going to just take it easy, scan the TV for some US programs and relax. Tomorrow we plan on taking an "on and off" bus tour around the city to get a feel for the terrain...and from there, who knows!



Ciao

I can't quite get off that kick.

Paris - and street food

We have been thoroughly enjoying Paris, the views, the sights, the rain and the street food. It has been raining off and on since we have been here - not hard, just the light drizzle we are accustomed to in Seattle, and the first evening we were here, when the sky turned froma clear blue to a threatening gray we immediately took a walk through the Tuileries. Interesting, Parisians all put up umbrellas at the slightest hint of moisture - unlike we Northwesterners who have to be facing Noah's flood before giving in to open one. But it does not inhibit the locals from going out - in fact I think the crowd in the garden was even more lively than they had been earlier. We watched a vendor rent pond boats to the kids, and parents sat by the side of the fountain drinking tea and espresso. Civilization is good.

Rome had seemed a bit harsh to us, and Paris has been just the opposite. People are happy, the traffic is not as frantic - and then there's the food. Street food. there are vendors everywhere, selling incredible pasries to eat on the spot, and croque monsieur (ham and cheese sandwiches grilled with more cheese on top - could it get better....and big slices of quiche with anything and everything inside from salmon to potatoes (don't knock it til you try it...)

More pastries.

Okay so about the sights - we had planned on first hitting the Louvre but it was closed. So we ewent to the D'Orsay - it is an astounding collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. While I have seen masterworks by any one of these greats over the years, the brilliance comes through when you can stand in a ddoorway and compare the oeuvre of one to the other - like the undertone of Renoir (blue and sienna) with that of Monet (pink). AAnd then there are the works themselves, walking around the corner to find yourself nose to nose with Whistler's Mother or two VanGogh self portraits painted two years apartt in very different styles, the first confident and satisfied, the second made with short, less arrogant strokes and showing a face that had gone gaunt and eyes that no longer pierced through the paint.

Did I mention the onion soup? you get it at the corner shops as well; it is paler and lighter than waht we know at home, and the cheese and bread on top are crisp and rich. Goes very well with a Croque Monsieur.

Our room at the Regina has a tiny balcony, we look out at the upper floors of the Louvre and just to the right over the Tuileries to the Eiffel Tower. The light show is wonderful at night - I had always thought it would be a little hokey but it is enything but. In addition with the alternating clouds and pink and gray sky, the show is all the more dramatic - added to last night by a full moon circling overhead.

The Louvre is an experience in itself. It would be possible to spend months there and not really see it all - but we did our best in a day. Venus D, Winged Victory, and Mona of course - the latter behind a wall of glass and super protected as was The Pieta in Rome - it is true that to get a good look at her it would be better to study a good art book - but to experience it in the same room is irreplaceable. Miles later and ready to leave we followed the signs to the exit which are not all that truthful, and we found ourselves a bit lost, ending up in the sub floor level walking through the moat of the original castle. I thought it was cool, but I thinik Mary was happy to emerge eventually under the bright light of the I M Pei pyramid.

Palmiers. We have Palmiers at home, but here they are denser, the cookie a little more chewy and rich - it needs less sugar than the ones we find at home. Makes a good late night snack.

The Ile de Citi is much smaller than i had imagined, and a lot of it is covered by government buildings. In fact a lot of the streets were closed off this afternoon by platoons of Gendarmes - I am thinkning maybe the new President was about to drive through. I had really hoped to see Ste Chappelle but the line was enormous, so instead it was off to the other end of ther island to visit Notre Dame, which is as dark, enormous and slightly creepy as you would imagine, as well as the archaeological excavations under the plaza revealing the foundations and first floor remnants of the original Roman city built there. After that, circling through the center of the island revealed a huge plant and flower market with dozens of shops and vendors - I would have bought a lot of stuff for the garden at home but everything I wanted weighed a ton so had to settle for some seed packets of crenelated tomatoes and pumpkins.

There was a pastry I had this afternoon, light, kind of like an eclair shell but sweeter and crunchier, filled with a cream flavored with praline. Also worthy is the dense chocolate cake similar to a very dark brownie, drenched in almond-flavored liquid cream...oh and the almond tards which are like a thick rich cookie...

Anyway, it is a city that has truly captured both of us. It is much too big to see in four days, too much to see in a month. I suppose that's why so many people want to stay forever. If not for the views, for the food.

I am going back up to the room now, the sun should be setting and I don't want to miss seeing the lights come on. Then we're going to walk over to the Louvre to take some evening photos. Maybe a couple of Palmiers.

Bon Soir

Rome - just a little more Rom-ing....

Well, we had a few hours before the train left Rome so we hired Maxisimo our driver from the prior day to come back to the hotel and load up our luggage and us, and take us for another drive around. Instead of more in-city sights, we went to a hilltop with a wonderful view of the whole city - it looked a lot less croded from up theree, anda memorial to Garibaldi. There was a large park with hundreds of columns topped by busts of various soldiers, and it was a very quiet, welcoming place. From there we drove through a very nice older residential part of the city and out through one of the original gates in the Medieval wall surrounding the old city. There we saw a stone pyramid build by Caius XXX (I lost his name) as a tomb for himself and his family, which ahd literally been built into the later Medieval wall...it really was a very spectacular spot. We made a turn onto the "new" Appian way, and followed it to eventually turn down the "old" Appian way, the ancient road which among other things had been the site for the tombs of thousands of nobile Romans. The toms are mostly rubble along the roadway, punctuated by anaoccasional column or archway, and the road itself occasil;anny revbeals the original stonework making for abumpy drive...I have to wonder how the Romans ever managed to stay on their chariots! No wonder the dignitaries all got carred!

We followed the road out into the countryside, open fields covered in purple wildflowers. We went under a bridgew and there in front of us was miles of almost-intact Aquaducts, built in three levels in order to bring three different types of water in from various parts of the hills. The way they were built had intruiguing sluce mecanisms to pump the water along to get it even uphil when necessary...it was a magnificent sight!

From there, Max took us to the trainyard and got us loaded into our train compartment. We settled in and had brought a light dinner with us to eat in our room instead of eatingin the dining car. Since we had left the company of the group we had traveled with through Italy, it was nice to be able to sit back and enjoy the scenery in quiet. We went to sleep watching the countryside of Northern Italy pass by, and woke up to the fiels of Southern France.

Max's tour retrieved our view of Rome - it was not so bad after all.

Rome, a nice place to visti but I wouldn't want to live here....

We have been in Rome the past three days, and I have to say that I thi8nk that while the sights are incredible, it is probably the least favorite I have for our tour so far. We have seen the vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, the "old" Papal apartments, the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and the ancient city; I do have to comment that there is a sense of history that sweeps threough you when you walk through the forum on the excavated pavestones that Caesar and Mark Anthony walked - and the ruins are a sight I will keep in my memory forever.

The city of Rome is enormous, the population with recent immigration is in the tens of millions (no one is quite sure as to an accurate count) and my consideration is colored by the fact it has been unseasonably hot and humid here, with temps in the 90's and humidty equally as high. But even aside from that, we had been told by our Host Allisandra (who we found out is a Countess, a storyfor later) that Rome is a "rough" city. Her terminology is sometimes convoluted and so we had taken this to mean that it is geared to pilgrims who look for bargains, cheap places to eat etc...but I have to say that it also has a knock-about characteristic - it moves fast and the people while friendly are much more abrupt and impatient than elsewhere in Italy. I don't mind it being headstrong, but there is very little room for negotiation - and I am sure that Mary will have a few comments to make as to the relative levels of respect for men against those of women here.

It's a must to see, but now I do feel that I've been there, done that and am ready to move onward tonight.

Assisi

This morning we went to Assisi, a beautiful drive through the Umbrian hills. We first visited St. Mary Angelus which is a church within a Cathedral - literally. It is a huge church built to enclose the tiny stone chapel rebuilt by St. Francis as well as the spot where St Francis' own cell had been, where he died. From there we hiked up this hillside (this part of the world is nothing but hikes up the hills, as only very small vehicles are allowed onm thenarrow streets - and a taxi ride can be harrowing, maybe with the intent to convert anyone non-Catholic.) AT the top we we had a guide, a friar named Ed, who toured us through the Basilica of St Francis - actually two Basilicas one on top of the other and a chapel underneath built around the actual tomb. It was a fascinating look, the lower two levels by far more intruiguing than the main Basilica at the top, even though it is the top one that is the more famous for its frescoes by Giotto. If you remember, a few years ago the basilica roof collapsed in a 6.5 earthquake, but today you'd never know.

After that we walked around the town a bit, but stayed pretty close to the main square. ONe thing that particularly caught our attention are the doves that are strung on wires over the squares dotting Assisi. These a re a project by a group of nuns who apparently are selling the doves made of soft white plastic as a fundraising project for Dahrfur; The effect is moving, and we got the address so that we can maybe send for some from home, to hang from the trees in our front yard.

We were scheduled to go on to Gubbio this afternoon, another small Medieval village. We were to have dinner with our host Allisandra in her villa, an 800 year old palace oin the HIstorical Registry, but we opted to return to Spello to do some shopping and to catch our breath. The countryside is just too beautiful not to take time to just sit back and breathe.

Florence, Siena, Spello - Umbria

Been a busy two days - as I mentioned in my last posting, we visited the Bargello Museum yesterday morning. The Bargello houses a huge collection mostly sculpture, specializing in Cellini, Bellini Donetello and Micaelangelo. For anyone interested, a highlight is the Winged Mercury aka the FTD logo. It also houses the "finalists" in the competition for the doors of the Duomo Baptistry, which were infamously torn loose when the Arno flooded in the 1960's.

The Bargello itself was the former Hall of Justice, built about 1230; the original building was quite spectacular, but it was later turned into a prison, its couryard apparenly the scene of a lot of beheadings. In the late 1800's it was turned into a private residence for (our equivalent of ) the Chief Magistrate, so the cells were taken back out and the courtyard was cleaned up.

After lunch, Mary and I headed for the Pitti Palace, the "new Palace" built in the 16th century by the Medici's, which is suurounded by its gardens, the Bobili. Unfortunately the Royal apartments were closed for the day, but Mary did get a treat as the clothing and costume galleries were open. After a stop for Gelato, we headed off down the street toward the Ponte Vecchio, through a shopping area that is touristy but which does have some interesting specialties. We found a shop that sells its own family-printed art papers, one of the few things I had specifically wanted to bring back with me, so I stocked up and got their interenet address to order more from home.

We had dinner at a nice cafe - pasta and Duck with Oranges, then we hopped into a cab for a concert of Mozart in an incredible church built in 1494.

This morning we headed out early, leaving Florence, traveling through Tuscany and stopping for a few hours in Siena. This town was a bit of a surprise to me - it is heavily Medieval, once (and still) a very wealthy banking center. The heart of town is occupied by a 400 foot tall Campanile and a huge bowl-shaped "Campo" (square), and the city has as its lifeblood an annual horse race that runs the perimeter of the Campo. The city is divided into 17 districts, each one represented by a particular animal - such as the "goose district" or the "elephant district." It is hard to define what exactly this means, as the districts historically would not intermingle - the kept extremely exclusive except to come together for one 90-second horse race once a year. Each district sponsors a horse, and the competition is fierce - the stones surrounding the Campo are covered with dirt, bets are made, and the winner is revelled for the entire rest of the year. This event causes hundreds of thousands of visitors to jam into the Campo, similar to the running of the Bulls in Barcelona - and the people all have their affiliations worn on their sleeves, openly and almost-lightheartedly "badmouthing" the others.

We left there in the early afternoon, passing down into the heart of Umbria to Spello, where we are staying the next couple of nights.

Spello is a miraculously preserved Medieval town. It is unique in that it is on a hilltop - not that there are not walled towns like this on almost every major hill, but that it is a Roman city, not Etruscan - the rule of thumb is that the Etruscans built on the hills, the Romans in the valleys. Nevertheless, to reach the top, any large vehicles haver to be abandoned at the foot of the hll, and there is a substantial climb to the top unless a taxi can be procured which is a feat. The entry to the city is through a gate dating back to the the early Empire, about 2500 years ago. The Roman gate was added onto and incorporated into the walls built around the city in 1200. The streets are extremely narrow, and all the houses date to the 13th century. The Hotel Silla where I am sitting now is one such structure, typical for this part of the world, beautiful and historic and yet modern inside.

Tomorrow we will be up early to tour nearby Assisi; we passed it on the way here, it is an extraordinary sight. After that we are driving to Gubbio, to where our host here has her 800-year old Palazzo where we will be eating dinner.

Firenze

We arrived yesterday in Florence, the weather is warm, probably about 75 and the air everywhere is heavily scented with Jasmine. Our hotel is on the south shore of the Arno, and if we were not surrrounded by trees wwe would be looking straight across from the balcony of our room to the Uffizi, and we are just East of the Ponte Vecchio. Mary rested and visited with a friend we have met on the trip, and I took a long walk, getting back just in time to change and go to the dinner our guide had arranged at a local Trattoria - courses of pasta, beans and roast pork. I would have been back sooner but managed to get onto the outside of the huge ancient wall that once surrounded all of Florence...so I had to walk the length of it until I finally found a huge wood and iron gate through, finding myself in a maze of houses shops dating from the middle ages.

Today Mary and I hired a car and driver for the day, who took us up to the overlook at the Michelangelo plaza, home to the first of two "fake" David's....and then we drove to the Romanesque church at San Mineto, the second oldest in Florence. The Cemetary contains the tomb of the "father" of Pinocchio, but I was unable to determine which one - I should have paid more attention to the name, as there was no puppet engraved on the tomb to alert me as I had hoped.

Giorgio, our driver, then took us to the Ferragamo museum so that Mary could give homage to her Patron Saint. It was actually quite interesting, having the shoe-lasts to virtually every famous woman and man in film and the last century of history as well as a sampling of a lot of bizarre shoes made by the famous shop.

We then traveled to the Palazzo Strozzi, where an excellent Cezanne exhibit was on display - we had read about it at home and planned on seeing it when here.

From there it was on to the church of San Croce, and sat through about half of the mass in Italian next to the tombs of Machiavelli, Gallileo, Marconi,Dante and Michelangelo. It was obviously moving and inspiring. We found Giorgio again and stopped for sandwiches (the bread and tomatoes here are worth the stop) and ate while circling the Duomo in our Mercedes...it was very Royal to drive through the unwashed masses, munching and swigging. We had planned on stopping but the lines were just too prohibitive so decided to go on to the Uffizi. We met our guide there in Signora square, in front of the second "fake" David, and toured the Uffizi's collections which include Botticelli's Venus and Three Graces.

From there, Giorgio drove us to the Accademia, where the "real" David lives. I do have to comment to the fact that having seen copies all your life does not give you any hint as to the effect of the original - somehow it cannot be copied. There too were the unfinished "slaves" that Michelangelo left - it was pretty incredible.

Tomorrow we have a reservation for a tour of the Bargello, then probably will go to the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens. And we will eat more sanwiches, of course. And pasta.

We now are sitting on the terrace at the hotel, just letting our feet catch up with us, and will find a nice quiet spot for dinner. It has been quite a day -

Venice, home at last

I have to say that the days and nights we have spent here in Venice have truly told me that I have been here in a former life. I have never felt so instantly at home.

We have walked miles, the downside of the city is the fact that the bridges do wear your feet down, and while the water taxis and Vaporettos get you from major place to major place, it is the tiny back streets that hold the magic. Once away from the thousands of truly tourist shops (even those hold a level of intrigue) we have seen tiny antique shops and art stalls, and trattorias filled wtih sandwiches. I had coffee at the (reportedly) first-ever coffee shop in Venice, off San Marco, built in 1720. Our hotel was built in 1600, and is only feet away from Piazza San Marco - where one evening we danced while the orchestra (one of thee taking turns playing) played on.

Two days ago our hotel arranged a private boat to take us to Murano, and to watch the glassblowers at work. We walked to the Rialto and got into our launch to sail off up the Grand Canal under the Rialto bridge. Having seen the glassworks in Washington and Oregon and had our own hands on blowing pipes only a few weeks ago it was fascinating to watch these men who had apprenticed at 12 turn out the delicate pieces of a large chandelier while our guide explained the history and chemical differences of the Italian glass.

After a fast walkabout the city with guide who pointed out the major sights and laced them with bits of history (who knows - or cares - if they are true) We visited the Ducal palace yesterday - a champion feat since it includes a walk through the "new" prison from which Casanova escaped, and crossed the Bridge of Sighs twice. More stairs! We also visited the exhibit here of Sargent's Venetial paintings, on loan from around the world, most of which have not been back here in over a century. We had a lunch of Prosciutto (here it is "raw ham") and melon, relaxed for while and went walking around the area a bit more. We have been in two hotels here, the first being the Bonvecciati - a very beautiful old hotel to which we arrived by private water taxi from the airport and debarked onto a set of stairs rising out of the water ton the doorstep. The second is the Villa Igea which is on Campo Zaccharia, inside the gate of the former Convent where (again) notoriously Casanova left his mark. Directly across the square is the ancient 10th centuryBasilica of S Zaccariah, father of John the Baptist, where for a small donation (okay the monk grabs you if you try to make your way without making the donation) you can pass behind the door to the sacristy to see the huge paintings by Tintoretto and Canova, and then down a narrow set of stairs into the crypt, it is dark, vaulted, and flooded, you walk on a raised wooden platform, to see the casket deep in the recesses.

Last evening we went to a concert, in an old chapel off St Marks to hear a performance off Vivaldi, featuring the Four Seasons. It was very special to hear it in the city where it was written, and coincidentally I today found the curch on the GC where all Vivaldi's music was first performed, as wella s a smallre church behind where he had been baptised. We spent this morning at the Accademia, one of the finest collections of Renaissance art in the world, then took a long walk to La Fenice, the opera house which burned in 1996 but which has recently been fully rebuilt and restored. After lunch at a cafe, Mary and I walked back via Santa Maria and relaxed a bit. While mary put her feet up I walked to St Georgio, a greek enclave which boasts a remarkable museum of Cretan icons.

Tonight, we have decided to relax and just enjoy the smell of the air. We have tickets to the Opera, Madame Butterfly, but frankly the walk is considerable and since we are leaving tomorrow for our next destination decided that we'd rather enjoy the sunset over St Mark's.

The one thing I will say is that there has always been this comment that the sky in Venice is different than anyplace else, and I have to admit I have eschewed it as romantic claptrap - but I have found it to ber true; on a warm eveing like this, the air (which is notably humid) forms a mist that connects to the ever-present fluffy clouds, causing the setting sun to cast a pink and green glow to the sky that somhow melts perfectly inyo the marble and stucco city. I have sat wondering if the colors of the city were created top match the sky, or if the sky is reflecting the colors of the city. Nevertheless, the sight of the Winged Lion aginst the pale sky is truly a wonder of the World.

We are off to buy a mask forMary and then to buy a little dinner. Ciao Bella.

The Yanks have come!!!

Well, we have arrived on the shores, we are in London for the day and night - a stopover for the next leg but it allows us to catch up on the time change. Mary was able to sleep on the overnight flight out of Seatac, but I - true to form - took two Benedryl and a sleeping pill and still was there to see the light on the horizon as we crossed the Polar Cap. Oh well, the plane had good movies - at least they seemed good at 2 AM.

So here we are, the hotel we are in really is a bit remote and we had some plans for the afternoon but decided to relax. It is interesting how soon you can adapt though - as I sit here at 8PM and realize that it is still noon at home. The wonders of flight!

So off we go, to rest up, take a hot shower and prepare for the Airport again tomorrow morning. It's almost like the Amazing Race - but without the prizes along the way. We'll have to pick up some prizes of our own. I think We'll be able to manage that.

Later!

Adventure is worthwhile in itself.

- Amelia Earhart



And so our adventure begins....



We are off, planes trains and automobiles ahead, roads to drive, sights to see and experiences to log. Mary and I have stuffed our bags loosely to allow for a return trip loaded with treasure. Papi and Cat are in the safe care of Jane Longo. I alerted ADT that Jane would be at our house, so that if she triggers the alarm she does not get hauled off to the pokey. I have heavily salted the garden with Sluggo to thwart the takeover while we are gone by the gargantuan snails who I know are lurking and hoping to do the backstroke in our hot tub.


So where will we be? The greatest adventures are borne up in mystery. And while we have a plan, our agenda is open enough to allow for stops along the way to absorb the flavors. We have always trod the road less travelled, and while this one has had many feet on it before, hopefully our turn will give it a new look - like a photograph not of a famous wall, but of a single brick handmade centuries ago.


Stay tuned.

Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?

- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Okay, so I'm thinking it is time for us to take Mr. President aside and give him some instruction on speechmaking. The man simply can't keep a line straight, as exemplified by his greetings to THE Queen, suggesting that she had last been in the US in 1776. We all know she has a few years ground off her tread, but honestly she seems to be a little more on top of things than we give her credit for. Poor George, his mind is there reading the prompter but his mouth has run on ahead to see what's on the dessert cart.

He tried to make it better by suggesting that she was giving him the look that Mom/Barbara gives him when he has screwed up - but to stand there and effectively tell THE Queen that she's old enough to be his Mom seems to me to be an even greater lurch into the Deep. Even though she probably is old enough, if we haven't alienated enough world leaders yet I am really thinking we might want to hold onto the few we have left. At this point it would seem altogether unsurprising if THE Queen turned to George and told him "That's it, I'm outta here and by the way I'm taking BACK control of the U.S.".

I think we need to help poor George - since he can't quite seem to control what comes out of his mouth, maybe everyone he greets should be challenging him to a tongue-twister...after eight or nine months of that, his brain might just catch up to his mouth, and we can try him out again on some minor world leader, to see if he can make all the way through a speech without inviting nuCUlar attack. Of course, by that time he will almost have run through his eight long years, but at least he might be trusted to give an eloquent farewell.

Success didn't spoil me; I've always been insufferable.

- Fran Lebowitz



I have been following the plight of America's Sweetheart, Paris Hilton. Poor Paris. She is just so misunderstood, and now she is off to the slammer. Hard Time. 45 days for Criminal Spoildness. As if taking away her Bently was not enough. Andjust after she gave away her pet rat.

Oh that was a dog.

Anyway, times are hard for our American Icons...and it was not as if Paris had not already put in her time; after all there was that TV series where she schlepped through the hard life, scrubbing floors and selling cheeseburgers. And it's not like she killed anybody. Not that we know of. All we know is that she has represented an ideal, a razor-thin anemic clotheshanger that managed to camp it up in front of the camera and who got paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for 10-minute personal appearances to class up parties.

Obviously the judge was just jealous. Oh well though, I think Paris had already declared that she was just months away from dropping out of public life. Maybe while she's in the tank she can learn how to knit - she might just come up with a new sweater craze like Martha Stewart did when she emerged.

I can't wait. Meanwhile the dog might be able to get a job at Taco Bell.

Someone asked someone who was about my age: 'How are you?' The answer was, 'Fine. If you don't ask for details.'"

- Katherine Hepburn


Oh so true.....

To see things in the seed, that is genius.

- Lao-Tzu (604-531BC) Chinese Philosopher, Co-founder of Taoism

Neighbor Chuck (I will protect his name so will refer to him as Mr. Smith) called me the other evening; he was working in the yard and had given one of his larger/heavier Bonsai trees a good soaking and was hoping for an assist to lift it up onto a pedestal. I was glad to help and when we moved it he was sad to see that the dark place it had been sitting had caused a baring of several key branches. I looked at it and commented that I personally saw a beauty in the dead parts of the tree, that it demonstrated the struggle which I personally think is the essence of Bonsai. I told him that it had great Ka.

Ka is the force in Stephen King's Dark Tower series that leads all living (and unliving) creatures. It is the will of Gan - the approximate equivalent of destiny, or fate, in the fictional language High Speech. It is the force that causes a destiny to happen, but is not necessarily impossible to surpass. Ka can be considered to be a guide, a destination, but is certainly not a plan - at least, not one that is known to mortals. Ka is not necessarily a force of good or evil; it manipulates both sides, and seems to have no definite morality of its own.
From Wikipedia

Personally I really admire this strength, it outweighs Chi because it goes beyond the measurement of soul. It is the strength that keeps us moving forward, the goal that is in play but it is open to change. We can't modify destiny, but we can influence Ka.

The tree looks rather content on its new perch, and the bare branches in my estimation are a reminder that all that happens in life is not good, but it may be necessary to achieve destiny. I need to keep that thought.