Traffic Jam :) I have to confess something - don't tell anyone, though.  I have decided that collecting pictures is way more fun than shopping!  Wow!  Did I just say that?  And, George, for one, couldn't be happier!  Hahahaha - not that I am going to abandon shopping or anything - especially at my favorite Food/Farmer's Markets……….. I know I am about the zillionth person to try to get down on paper some clear-headed words about the beauty … [Read more...]

  the rejoinder to my title is, "and how its color improves with the changes in the angle of the sun………. It occurs to me often these days that I am either autodidactic (more than generous) or, probably more accurately, the biggest simpleton of all time, having been largely asleep at the switch or on autopilot for most of my first 60 years of life - for, I am awash in thoughts and occurrences heretofore unexperienced.  What does this mean?   … [Read more...]

I am greatly guilty at being one of those people who rarely takes a moment to contemplate and appreciate the results of the great conglomeration that is the forces of nature mixed together with the ingenious, part-serendipitous and part-determined outcomes of the human race that result in some of the most incredible places in the world.  How people have grown and turned what nature has wrought into seats of distinction and reflection leaves me … [Read more...]

  of course no one can photograph inside the refectory and you are watched like a hawk One of the tickets most sought after in Milano is the one to enter to gaze upon The Last Supper.  Last time I visited we were unable to secure an entry and so, upon the prodding of Ryan, I wrote early to our hotel and they secured two tickets for 8:30 am on our second morning in Milan. I don't think anyone would argue that having the opportunity to gaze … [Read more...]

  I have become several things in middle-age, some of them I know to be not so flattering.  Chief among them, at least on the positive side of things, could be termed "the serial chronicler".  Maybe, if you have to think about it, this is just some hysterical side-effect of passing over the line into a new decade and realizing that just perhaps, you are are on the "other side" of that curve of life and now have some existential need to … [Read more...]

    my goal: le papillon Last year my obsession with butterflies entered my repertoire of photography in earnest.   It is no secret that I am enthralled with the beauty and intricacy of their bodies as they float and swirl around, seemingly in some curious state of combined rapture and work, in their days.  I love to watch them float, dip and soar, land and, seemingly attack their blooms almost in a most determined state of near … [Read more...]

 image courtesy NYT We hunt, we gather, we cook, we bond…….. I had a very busy last 13 days, the culmination of which was the three day celebration of my husband's 60th birthday at our home in Orleans, Ma.  It was great fun despite the days of preparation and usual pre-event(s) jitters.  Happily, all turned out fantastically well and we, all 13 of us, had a great time!  The weather was a glorious preview of Fall on Cape Cod.  We had a great … [Read more...]