Friday evening as I was getting dressed to go out to the live music benefit for the childrens' hospital in Kiev, I heard FOTI call my name in a tone of voice which told me there was either a frog situation or a bird situation on the… Read full post »

Yesterday I went to visit Tante Jet in Steenwijk, which is approximately 112 km to the north east of Hengelo. My navigational skills are the stuff of legend but I refused Jet's offer to send me detailed directions to her house. I am golden. I have a Garmin… Read full post »

K. wants ot be friends with you on Facebook

The message flashes in my mailbox on this cold, rainy Monday afternoon. It is a long holiday weekend and although the garden looks beautiful, the cold and damp are keeping me from enjoying it. So I checked my email.… Read full post »

Sifting through the Huffpo this morning, waiting for my CandyCrush lives to be replenished, I happened upon the following article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-niles-phd/personal-development-tips_b_3210519.html?utm_hp_ref=less-stress-more-living

It is a guide of… Read full post »

Finally-- a whole afternoon to paint!

This one was inspired by a beautiful photograph of Miss 10 on the Florida Coast posted by her mom, Marianne Spellman a while back. It made me think of Botticelli, but then, with a twist and in  a different light...

&… Read full post »

It is the 30th of April, Koninginnedag. This is the symbolic (not actual) birthday celebration of the Dutch queen. Normally on this day the Dutch royal family and their entourage visit one of the provinces and join the “folk” in celebrations, mainly old Dutch games a… Read full post »

I live in a Breughel painting. These are some views of the country lanes where I walk my dogs. They are beautiful in all seasons, but at this time of year they are positively enchanting.

 Yes, the sky really is that gray. This is around lunchtime,… Read full post »

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” -- William Morris

 While visiting an art gallery I overheard a client telling the gallery owner that he needed "a piece of art to fit my wall". &nbs… Read full post »

 We've had a bit of bother lately. Things came to a head last week when my husband of 25 years was portrayed as a sinister corporate mastermind and I as his “girlfriend” in the national gutter press.

Our friends' enquiring minds hit the ground running and we were inundated wit… Read full post »

My friends, Erma and Joke went off on adventure to Bali a few weeks ago. They brought presents for all the Divas: a sheaf of rice adorned with the "Om" glyph.

In Bali the Rice Goddess, Dewi Sri has dominion over the moon and the underworld,  as well… Read full post »

The OS Friday Nite Dance Party II: Ladies Night

No Pussy Riot, I'm afraid. They're awful. No Celine Dion either. No Babs, no Adele (although I love her music), and nothing from the current TOP 40 on either side of the pond (dismal stuff). So ladies, grab your partner of… Read full post »

I used to believe that my family had achieved a certain level of status and gentility: we live in a neighborhood known as “the Gold Coast”, the boys excel at school and sport, FOTI is a member of the golf club, our names may occasionally appear in the local paper,… Read full post »

You either love it or you hate it. I happen to love it.

The Urban Dictionary listed the following top 3 definitions for patchouli:

1.

patchouli… Read full post »

This debut collection contains what it says on the front cover: “Poems on Love, Loss, Poverty and War”. What the cover doesn't reveal is the many voices within its pages. By turns the voice is that of the hard-boiled social observer, political commentator, historia… Read full post »

So I now know what 8 am. looks like on a Saturday morning. I'd forgotten because I usually don't surface much before 9:30 but today I'm embracing my inner hippie and after a healthy breakfast of Turkish yogurt and honey and Detox tea, I'm heading off to… Read full post »

Joe College wrote this little piece on the way home last night--- 

I headed home this weekend and was confronted with the usual delays and re-routing you get with the NS (Dutch Railway) but it wasn't so bad this time!

At Amersfoort, which is almost midway,… Read full post »

When the World Traveler and I were 16, we used to tool all around Bucks County and the Jersey shore in his '63 Dodge Dart with his baby sister. Many people thought she was ours. Including the woman at Phil's soda fountain who told me “What a cute… Read full post »

Ray Reilly, hipster extraordinare, gorgeous large guy with a beeeeyoutiful Irish tenor, much older than me, advised, "If you decide to go out there, don't go out alone. I've got a good source for exotics, lemme know and I 'll be your guide."

 But  back then I didn't have… Read full post »

Too good not to share...

I was on the phone with Celtic Sif last night. She'd just returned from a city trip with son Thor, to St. Petersburg (in Russia) and waxed lyrical about the Hermitage. “The artwork was breathtaking,” she said, “but the windows! I wanted to cry...” My enqui/… Read full post »

The past few days I've been in some kind of a funk. I can't concentrate, I'm tired all the time and when I'm not sleeping, it feels as though I'm walking through a waist-high stream of molasses wearing snowshoes.

Saturday night my right ear started to hurt. By the middle of… Read full post »

Joe College burst into song reading this over my shoulder. There are worse ways to start your morning than watching the early duffers on the golf course from the shade of the lanai, drinking coffee with your son singing show tunes in the background.

It… Read full post »

Did you know that July 6th was International Kissing Day?

Neither  did I, and believe me, I am pro-kiss. Well not to the extent that I kiss everybody as a greeting, that just creeps me out. You're either on the kiss list or the non-kiss list but more on that later.… Read full post »