Art bridges cultures... Art museums often lend each other masterpieces. This year, however, marked a first -- a large-scale show by a major Western museum in Iran! The world's largest museum, the Louvre, proudly calls it, “…an outstanding cultural and diplomatic event for both countries.” The Louvre contributed fifty masterpieces for "The Louvre at Tehran" to celebrate… Continue reading Part 1: The Louvre visits Tehran→
Yesterday saw a whole bunch of us interested folks going to explore the arboretum at Ardnagashel in Glengarriff, West Cork, but apart from admiring the wonderful trees we also received lots of information on the seaweeds and lichens along this stretch of coast. Ardnagashel was established by the Hutchins family and it was as part of the Heritage Week of Ireland that these activities took place, in memory of Ellen Hutchins (1785-1815)who was a remarkable Irish Botanist. The talks on the lichens and seaweeds were given by Howard Fox, who is the State Botanist (National Botanic Gardens) and by Maria Cullen. This ‘life’ introduction to the seaweeds and the lichens of the coast of Bantry Bay was so very interesting. a true first introduction in this field for me. Later in the afternoon Madeline Hutchins (Ellen’s great great grand niece) took us through the forested area of this garden and…
This is the first of several posts on my a-w-e-s-o-m-e vacation to Spain and France. It's no wonder that my upcoming novel is called, "Flamenco & the Sitting Cat"! Barcelona is wonderful off-season. In October, the weather was mild and the densely populated ancient city offered my husband and me a great start to a Spain/France… Continue reading Beautiful Barcelona, Spain by da-AL→
