My doorbell rang at noon and who should be outside? None other than my dear Amy who has flown all the way from Seattle for a little vacation avec moi: a few days in London, followed by a few days in Paris, before a long weekend in Iceland (where we’re hoping to see some northern […]
What if Dr Faustus was a woman? One who sold her soul to the devil to gain independence, in an era when women were the property of men, and then used her powers to take vengeance, heal people, and finally settle down to a quiet life of gardening? Well, that’s roughly how Chris Bush reimagines […]
I’ve been in Luxembourg all week for an EU business summit, which means many interesting-ish meetings and a massive themed costume party. Last year’s theme was The Great Gatsby, which meant I got to wear my tux (always a delight), but this year’s theme was The Future Is Now, which, I’m sorry, but what does […]
Remember the Pink Lady at the art fair? You know, that stunning work by Dutch artist Isabelle van Zeijl which caught my eye and imagination but was out of my comfort zone in both subject matter (no architecture!) and price (gulp) and therefore was not among my purchases that weekend? Well, I couldn’t stop thinking […]
It would seem my sense of scale could use a little fine-tuning. When I saw this piece hanging at the art fair yesterday (in a cavernous former agricultural hall), I would have described it as medium-sized, perhaps even on the smaller side of medium. But now that it’s in the flat, that doesn’t seem quite […]
The London Art Fair happened this week literally across the street from where I live. That, plus the free tickets that the gallerist around the corner sent me, seemed like a sign that universe wanted me to go. Held inside a massive Victorian agricultural hall, the venue was enormous and, on preview night on Tuesday, […]
Remember how I broke my 250-year-old Chinese dish when I (inadvertently) tapped it on a granite countertop while using it to eat a burrito bowl? Well, the Japanese Kintsugi lady has plied her craft and now all is well with the world.
We had to be out of the house in Rotorua by 10:30am (though, because of priorities (kiwis!) and a mix-up in Kevin’s notes, it ended up being closer to 11am) but we didn’t need to be in Auckland for flights and cruise ships until early evening. None of us wanted to waste the extra hours, […]
My last day in New Zealand dawned and I still had not seen a single living kiwi bird. Stuffed dead ones? Yes, in the museum in Auckland. Living ones? Not a one. Apparently they are “elusive” and “on the verge of extinction”. But so help me, I was not about to get on a plane […]
Too late in process of deforesting their island for timber and agriculture, the New Zealanders discovered that their native trees took much longer to regrow than the trees they were used to in Europe and the Americas. They needed to figure out a way to replenish their forests and timberlands without having to wait hundreds […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 