Fairhope Alabama in April smells like honeysuckle and magnolia and the people who live here don’t need to buy Easter lilies at the grocery store because they grow in their backyards this time of year. We were drawn to the fountain at the pier and to the girls posing in Easter dresses. I had forgotten […]
At the Live Butterfly Garden in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, I learned that blue butterflies are common in South America. The Common Blue Morpho is a trickster, though. It’s brown on the outside and only shows its iridescent blue when it opens its wings. Blue Morpho’s are not shy butterflies and are likely […]
Even the escalators seem like part of the art installations at the Hirshhorn Art Museum in D.C. Is that a real bathroom sign or part of the exhibit? Hey, where can I get linoleum like that? I love larger than life Alice in Wonderland installations that stretch the boundaries of reality. According to exhibiting artist […]
My cousin’s daughter who carries my namesake, Colleen, got married in Ireland this summer. Her uncle, my cousin Gerry, posted photos on Facebook of the wedding, along with pictures of his visits to the town our grandmother was born in, Youghal, County Cork, and Roscrea, Tipperary, where our great-grandfather was born. Gerry’s postings prompted me […]
I had never heard of Giant Cell Myocarditis until our friend Jesse was struck with it. It’s a rare viral infection of the heart that is generally fatal without a heart transplant. Nobody knows why Jesse, a vibrant 30 year old, contracted the illness, but he did. He was working with my husband at Inward […]
It took Thomas Jefferson 40 years to finish Monticello because the self-taught architect kept changing his mind. I recently visited the Charlottesville, Virginia, working farm and estate of our 3rd president, the subject of my 4th grade oral report that first made me aware of my fear of public speaking. He wasn’t so much of […]
Here are some selections of Hollywood Boulevard from our vacation photo album. Read about my encounter with Drew Barrymore and my visit with Naomi Caryl HERE. That’s me on the steps of the Kodak Theater. It’s as close to going to the Academy Awards as I’m likely to get. “What Byrce Would Like.” We took […]
Everyone but the Pope is at Venice Beach and they all have something to sell. We didn’t make it to any of the museums or galleries while in Southern California, so we were happy to see the street art and theater in Venice. We even caught a freak show full of live and stuffed two- […]
All I wanna do is have some fun … I got a feeling I’m not the only one … All I wanna do is have some fun … until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard ~ Sheryl Crow The streets in San Diego were dotted with tattoo parlors. Here in Santa Monica it’s […]
Hollywood movie stars are larger than life in our culture and sighting one can be as if a dream archetype has bled through into everyday life. We wake up from such a dream encounter and want to report, ‘I just saw a giant, a unicorn, or maybe Drew Barrymore.’ Yes, it’s true, and it was […]
The Pacific Beach hotel we’re staying at is a photographer’s dream with blooming bird of paradise, mandarin ducks, koi fish, and bright red and turquoise parrots to photograph, not to mention Joe’s hour-and-a-half presentation on mindfulness at the Bridging the Hearts and Minds of Youth conference, which I also videotaped clips of. The upside […]
