Lion of Venice

A

Lion of Venice

s will quickly be made apparent to the dimmest of tourists by their resident Venetian handlers, the lion is the symbol of Venice. So I thought I might show one, alive and very much well, sunning his/her self on the handrail of a bridge in Cannaregio. The second image is of his/her lair, showing him/her at lower right just at the point of jumping up onto the bridge again. But what attracts me to all this is the presence of an alternate universe I could quite willingly have lived in, and may yet agree to, if the offer comes along in time. How extremely pleasant to be a boatwright (even for the pleasure of the English word) in Venice, in so charming an environment: an obviously warm and comfortable little house, a suggestion of a garden at left, a canal certainly, a yard full of boats the object of one's craft and looking very well because of it. I happened a few days later to pass by when the (predictably congenial) owner was coming out of that house; so of course I asked him the name of the lion; he asked which one, and I couldn't answer, since I hadn't met the others; so he told me there were four of them, and told me their names, which were fanciful, and which I'm afraid I've forgotten. Still, it's nice to know they're there, even if I'm not yet.

The lion's lair