A recent article in Barron’s cited research done by colleges in California and Italy on successful aging. Among the obvious bits of advice like eating well, exercising, and having strong social connections was an unexpected finding – be stubborn. Or, as I prefer to think of it, be resilient and determined. Scientists say genetics account […]
Frighteningly enough, the name that keeps coming to mind for me lately is Margaret Atwood. Her Handmaiden’s Tale and similar novels about not-to-distant, very scary futures have been running through my head, try as I might to ignore our dysfunctional and divisive politics. The notion that behavior for which we’d send a five-year-old to his […]
The tumultuous atmosphere around the U.S. election made me decide a getaway was needed to save my sanity, and the more distracting the better. Luckily, there are safe, easy places to travel where I can’t speak or read the language, saving me from constant “breaking news” that merely adds stress. Since romance languages are familiar […]
Remember school days when you’d be asked how you spent your summer vacation? Well, here’s the Cliff Notes version of how I spent my summer, by way of explaining the long delay between blog posts. Happy hours on the deck overlooking the water and laughing at the shenanigans at the boat launch. Hosting book groups, […]
On rare occasions, I have created commissioned paintings – meaning somebody specifically asked me to paint a certain subject. It’s not something I do often, or seek out, as it’s far more stressful than simply painting what I feel like creating. When people request a specific painting, I feel a tremendous obligation to get it […]
Being a great believer in challenging myself to get out of my comfort zone and stretch my brain, I took a class in palette knife painting last month. It was apparently part of a self-improvement kick, as I also took a refresher class on perspective drawing. I figured it would be useful both for the […]
Turns out travel doesn’t have to be international to inspire me to paint. This lesson apparently had to be relearned from the last time we spent a month in New York City, pre-pandemic. That resulted in a series of cityscapes, from Radio City to the Village. This time, we rented an apartment for January and […]
A recent article in Psychology Today addressed so-called weak social ties and their surprising importance to our emotional and physical health. Turns out that chatting with the mailman, being recognized in a favorite store, or even laughing with a stranger in line can improve your well-being. And, of course, you can be the one who […]
Dorothy Parker and her sharp wit are well known, but here’s a quote I hadn’t heard before. “The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” This explains one of the main reasons for my travels. I have an unquenchable urge to see and experience new things, whether tapas and flamenco in […]
Travel always inspires me to paint, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity. The combination of new experiences and unusual sights (and, ultimately, the urge to be home) usually sends me into my studio. I get all pumped up, with hundreds of reference photos for inspiration. We just returned from a trip to Belgium and […]
