Sometimes we just need a bit of beauty, a reminder that despite the conflict, and crises, and challenges each of us encounter in every corner of the earth, goodness exists, and beauty soothes. Nature is a certain antidote for whatever ails us. Enjoy this glimpse, a photo I took of a sunrise off our balcony in Eastbourne, UK, overlooking the […]
» Read more“There are millions and millions of cells in the body, and each has a purpose, a life and a value,” my friend Nghiep once told me. “Each contributes to our ability to achieve life, intelligence and wisdom.” The objective and reward for all this expended energy and activity, he said, is pure and simple: happiness. And the ultimate source of […]
» Read moreIt’s nearing closing time, so the hunt accelerates. Our eyes peruse the tangle of glass, metal and wood, scanning the confusing landscape for the perfect addition for our new home: a table? Lamp? Chair? Suddenly, there! A four-foot, beveled-edge mirror, tucked behind a stack of cruddy paintings leaning against a wall. Experienced bargain hunters like us know to look beneath […]
» Read moreThe glass doors slide open in the Phnom Penh airport and a face stands out in the crowd. SomOn’s. Eight years ago—almost to the day—the same man greeted us with the same enormous grin. We’d just arrived in a country we knew almost nothing about, and SomOn’s was the first face we saw. This affable man became our regular tuk-tuk […]
» Read moreThe front door swung open at our Airbnb outside Killarney, and the smiling owner ushered us inside. “Leave your bags here,” he said. “Come have a cup of tea.” Almost an hour later, when we headed upstairs to the comfy room he had prepared for us, we’d learned quite a bit about our host, Patrick Tuohy. We’d discovered he was […]
» Read more“You’re going where?” friends asked when we told them about our house-sit on a Greek island. “Never heard of it.” That’s what we love most about Andros. That it’s secluded and isolated—particularly in November. This tiny rocky island in the northernmost region of the Cyclades is quiet at this time of year. So quiet, in fact, that goats sit in […]
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