(...speaking of UP, who loves Dug? What a great film!) I tell ya, not too much gets me down. For long, anyways. I am kicking some stuff to the curb these days. Especially stuff that bears negative energy. A storm blew through the other night. Trees were downed, houses wrecked, and the da...

Oh, I know it's not right. Oh, I know it's wrong. Smoking. I mean, my mother is a doctor. My brother is a doctor. My father is a health specialist. There are no excuses really. But there's something about smoking.......smoking an apple shisha that has me throwing caution to the wind. Now ...

Who wouldn't want to join in the fun of this? Happy Bench Monday, to all. If you are on flickr, get over there and join the fun. It's a blast!! I'm waiting to hear back on an offer. I put an offer on a home. I like it, so keep me in your thoughts today that it will be accepted! :) Dad i...

Beautifully sculpted Italian marble, and what a talent it is to sculpt. I admire those who can sculpt. This is an estate near my home where you can walk the gardens and tour the home. It was a gloriously sunny morning and while walking through my young daughter said to me, "Mommy is your he...

Oh, they had run out of money long ago. But they had priorities, after all. And that's why they were now the proud owners of Marrakech's tiniest basketball court. 500 feet of concrete they had poured themselves. Let's just say there was a lot of dribbling going on....

It wasn't the first time that she had seen magical beings in these parts. Indeed, it wasn't even the second time. But nonetheless, this latest sighting came as a remarkable surprise. What ever was she talking about....? Why the often-whispered-about-but-rarely-seen-in-the-last-century........

Last week, two new winged messenger photographs arrived from the lovely Gillian in Oshawa, Ontario.The first photograph was of the wings laying on top of a steamer trunk and the second one was of the wings in Toronto, in front of Lake Ontario. I asked Gillian why she chose to place the win...

It was a sunny afternoon in Marrakech and she was out walking with her boy. They thought they were alone but no, oh no, they weren’t. Because they were being watched, you see. Watched closely. In case they made one false step. In case they made one wrong move…… And there they were -- she ...

Ah, it's amazing what good food, good wine, and good friends can do to restore the spirits. And so it was with some relish that the whole family headed out for a very special lunch chez des amis in Marrakech. There were crusty baguettes.... including delicious gourmet ones with all kinds o...

Okay, it is quite apparent that I'm tiring fast of this bland winter's landscape, it's oatmeal palette is getting on my nerves. The heap of melting snow out front is replete with exhaust coloured dirt and odd bits of trash from where it lay hidden over the past frigid months. I cracked open ...

Ah, it's amazing what good food, good wine, and good friends can do to restore the spirits. And so it was with some relish that the whole family headed out for a very special lunch chez des amis in Marrakech. There were crusty baguettes.... including delicious gourmet ones with all kinds o...

Her husband was tired. He was tired of building Peacock Pavilions. He was tired of the mess and the noise and the cost. He was tired of everything - just everything - going wrong. She tried to tell him that beauty would grow from a thing with thorns. that sometimes things upside down and back...

This swan was originally slated to appear only in my flickr set, {solitary sister~} But here is the swan, now part of the latest sea to sky collaborative sunday photo. I went down to the lake, to snap photos of gulls with a rather large and fun lens I have, and the swan walked right up to me,...

This week I am daydreaming of walking along a familiar dirt road in the late afternoon on a warm summer's day. The tops of the trees are brushed with gold and the crickets are serenading one another in the blue-green shadows of the long grass. In my mind, I imagine myself there, and J is there...

My journals are peculiar things. Absent are chronologically ordered entries. The scribblings within are dated; not in any order though. I don't even write in them from front to back, sometimes I open to a page at random and begin to write... The writings they hold dear play out much like my...

Oh this land of theirs. This 8.5 acres of Marrakech land of theirs. With empty pockets, they wondered what to do with it. There were the olive trees to be sure. But, ahem, what about the rest? Unfortunately, the landscaper (sigh)….still hadn’t shown up. In the mean time, trespassers of a...

Original finish, Buffet a deux corps, 19th-century Austrian or Swiss. For nearly six years, the huge buffet cabinet was a focal point in the salon. It seemed - well, dated. And she was tired of looking at it. So she consulted a Parisienne friend, an expert in revamping old furniture to give it ...

While they were painting, while they were stenciling, while they were stippling...there were things cooking in the kitchen at Peacock Pavilions. It started with the right ingredients. Like Moroccan couscous. And fresh vegetables from a nearby garden. Tossed in a pot. And cooked simply....

She had a dream file. Oh, you know the kind -- the file filled with pages torn out of magazines that were the stuff of dreams......The perfect couch in the perfect color. The loveliest curtains in the loveliest fabric. The prettiest bed with the prettiest sheets. Sigh, the stunning livingroo...

Grand Central Terminal, NYC “We are not victims of aging, sickness and death. These are part of scenery, not the seer, who is immune to any form of change. This seer is the spirit, the expression of eternal being.” ~Deepak Chopra Olivia my eldest is a deep thinker. She is prone to going in...

EDIT: Please go vote HERE for my friend Maryam. She is a nominee for Best African Weblog. She is in my sidebar as Maryam Montague, and her blog MY MARRAKESH is simply gorgeous. But don't wait, vote each day until January 13th please! Thank you! *************** Today's inbox was flooded wi...