Obit
R.I.P. George Shearing
August 13, 1919 – February 14, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Monday, February 07, 2011
Weekend (a travelogue by Roscoe)
Going up to the mountains is always a nice change of pace.
There are new things to play with
What's that up there?
Whooooaaaa..it's a lot bigger close up!
The shift in altitude is always interesting.
The day winds down and jets make their way to Geneva.
The Argentine lights up briefly.
Sunset...off to bed.
Going up to the mountains is always a nice change of pace.
There are new things to play with
What's that up there?
Whooooaaaa..it's a lot bigger close up!
The shift in altitude is always interesting.
The day winds down and jets make their way to Geneva.
The Argentine lights up briefly.
Sunset...off to bed.
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Press Leak
A fable for our times:
A fable for our times:
The Dumbing Down of America
by Leonard Pitts Jr.
Once upon a time, there lived a stupid giant.
by Leonard Pitts Jr.
Once upon a time, there lived a stupid giant.
The giant had not always been stupid. Or, perhaps it is more accurate to say the giant had once revered intelligence, reason and the byproducts thereof. Indeed, the giant was renowned for an ingenuity and standard of living that made it the envy of the world.
But much of the world did more than envy the giant. Much of the world admired and respected it. Its basic decency, along with its strength and intelligence, set it apart.
There came a time, however, when, though the giant retained its strength and arguably even its decency, it lost its intelligence.
No one can say exactly how and when the loss occurred. There was no great blast of thunder and lightning to herald it, no sudden instant when the giant's intelligence plummeted dramatically from the instant before.
No, stupidity crept over the giant with the stealth of twilight, a product less of one abrupt moment than of a thousand moments of complacency, of resting on laurels, of allowing curiosity to be teased and bullied out of bright children, of dumbing down textbooks so kids could get better grades with less work, of using ``elite'' like a curse word. And, of behaving as if knowing things, and being able to extrapolate from and otherwise make critical use of, the things one knows, was a betrayal of some fundamental human authenticity -- some need to keep it real.
Read the rest here.
Friday, February 04, 2011
L'Image du Jour
How fabulous are these globes from ImagineNation? Go check out the Maurice Sendak themed one and more here.
How fabulous are these globes from ImagineNation? Go check out the Maurice Sendak themed one and more here.
Thursday, February 03, 2011
L'Image Du Jour
There are a lot of blogs and pages out there with photos from Chernobyl, but these ones grabbed me because most of them are basically average snap shots, but there are a few that are simply haunting. Browse the set here.
There are a lot of blogs and pages out there with photos from Chernobyl, but these ones grabbed me because most of them are basically average snap shots, but there are a few that are simply haunting. Browse the set here.
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
L'Image du Jour
And to keep you in that French state of mind, here's a little Georges Brassens:
I found this fantastic French blog, Le Divan Fumoir Bohémien, and spent most of yesterday drooling over the pictures and finding all kinds of nifty little museums to check out next time we're in Paris.
And to keep you in that French state of mind, here's a little Georges Brassens:
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
L'Image du Jour
The Big G and I were in Paris last month (for our first anniversary!) and found FLEUX, a shop full of weird, wonderous and beautifully designed things for your home, office or life in general. We saw these serving trays arrayed along one large wall ... can something be charming and creepy at the same time? See more here (under plateaux).
Monday, January 31, 2011
Fire Good!
(or she likes it when we've got wood)
We've been conducting a little experiment this winter... heating the house with the fireplace instead of the foul smelling, sooty mazout (oil) in the chauffage (central heating device) and I have to admit, I love it. There is some debate about how carbon neutral burning wood actually is, but the consensus seems to be that the carbon released by burning is not adding to the total carbon footprint, as the tree absorbed the carbon to begin with (the same holds true for petroleum products however that absorption was millions of years ago) and that by burning wood, new trees absorb the carbon faster than the earth does to make coal, etc.
Of course, the Swiss know a thing or two about forest management, having had a couple of thousand years to get it right. Every commune has a forest, that is planted, harvested and neatly stacked for curing and sale, done in that tidy Swiss way. We've burned through about 4 stere (one stere =one cubic meter of wood) so far and it's considerably cheaper than burning oil.
2 stere all stacked.
But for me the very best part is caveman TV. I could sit and watch the fire all day. I am soothed by the glow, excited by the whole chemical process going on and find myself relaxing and thinking about things that seem somehow more important than who is in the top running on X Factor or Master Chef this week.
PS It's also allowed the Big G to make continuous 'wood' jokes as well, much to his endless amusement.
We've been conducting a little experiment this winter... heating the house with the fireplace instead of the foul smelling, sooty mazout (oil) in the chauffage (central heating device) and I have to admit, I love it. There is some debate about how carbon neutral burning wood actually is, but the consensus seems to be that the carbon released by burning is not adding to the total carbon footprint, as the tree absorbed the carbon to begin with (the same holds true for petroleum products however that absorption was millions of years ago) and that by burning wood, new trees absorb the carbon faster than the earth does to make coal, etc.
Of course, the Swiss know a thing or two about forest management, having had a couple of thousand years to get it right. Every commune has a forest, that is planted, harvested and neatly stacked for curing and sale, done in that tidy Swiss way. We've burned through about 4 stere (one stere =one cubic meter of wood) so far and it's considerably cheaper than burning oil.
2 stere all stacked.
But for me the very best part is caveman TV. I could sit and watch the fire all day. I am soothed by the glow, excited by the whole chemical process going on and find myself relaxing and thinking about things that seem somehow more important than who is in the top running on X Factor or Master Chef this week.
PS It's also allowed the Big G to make continuous 'wood' jokes as well, much to his endless amusement.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Friday, December 24, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Press Leak
Best Headline of 2010 (or possibly ever):
'Female squirrels never turn down sex'
Seriously, this is on the CBC News website today!
Also, my apologies for being absent for the last while, this song pretty much sums it up for me:
'Female squirrels never turn down sex'
Seriously, this is on the CBC News website today!
Also, my apologies for being absent for the last while, this song pretty much sums it up for me:
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood
The Big G and I walked over to the next village for lunch yesterday...through the forest
and back to Bioley.
The village is full of little visual delights ...
It was a beautiful day.
The Big G and I walked over to the next village for lunch yesterday...through the forest
and back to Bioley.
The village is full of little visual delights ...
It was a beautiful day.
| U2 - Beautiful Day .mp3 | ||
 | ||
 | Found at bee mp3 search engine |  |
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Please Don't Hate Me Because I'm Lucky
Last week, while we were standing smoking outside a restaurant in Paris (and yes, somehow the anti-smoking league has managed to get even those Gauloise smoking Parisiens to 'step outside') my brother commented on how my good fortune occasionally strikes him as, well, ... irksome. Nevermind the fact:
1) That much of the good fortune in my life has been the result of people I met through him, as well as having him for my brother
2) He was standing WITH me on a street in PARIS !
But he has a point...I have been extremely fortunate for most of my life. This is not to say there weren't times of great economically-driven stress, times when all I wanted was for someone to love/love me who wasn't neurotic and fucked up, when loss and pain and fear broke my heart. But over all, I've been one lucky bitch ... and it's not fair. I'm not a bad person, but I'm not a particularly good one either. There are people in the world who give more of themselves,who do truly good works for simple rewards, people who change this planet for the better and I can only hope they get the joy and happiness from their lives as I do from mine. And I know there are people who seem to have it all; money, love, family, education and they are miserable. So perhaps being fortunate isn't measured only by how much you have or where you have it. Maybe there's an element of perspective to it all.
All of this is a preamble to me posting the photos below. I want to share my pictures, my love of Paris with you, my faithful blogreaders. And if you feel a twinge of envy (justifiable and not really too bad of a sin) please know that there is much in your lives (that you share here on the interwebs) that assures me that you, too, are very fortunate.
We did, indeed, get to stay at the Hotel Caron de Beaumarchais, and it was as charming and wonderful as I had hoped.
We went to Versailles (The Big G had never been) and as it was a Saturday and packed, we spent most of our time wandering around the gardens.
But my favorite thing was just wandering around Paris (although we did see a couple of excellent exhibits Tresor de Medicis and France1500).
1) That much of the good fortune in my life has been the result of people I met through him, as well as having him for my brother
2) He was standing WITH me on a street in PARIS !
But he has a point...I have been extremely fortunate for most of my life. This is not to say there weren't times of great economically-driven stress, times when all I wanted was for someone to love/love me who wasn't neurotic and fucked up, when loss and pain and fear broke my heart. But over all, I've been one lucky bitch ... and it's not fair. I'm not a bad person, but I'm not a particularly good one either. There are people in the world who give more of themselves,who do truly good works for simple rewards, people who change this planet for the better and I can only hope they get the joy and happiness from their lives as I do from mine. And I know there are people who seem to have it all; money, love, family, education and they are miserable. So perhaps being fortunate isn't measured only by how much you have or where you have it. Maybe there's an element of perspective to it all.
All of this is a preamble to me posting the photos below. I want to share my pictures, my love of Paris with you, my faithful blogreaders. And if you feel a twinge of envy (justifiable and not really too bad of a sin) please know that there is much in your lives (that you share here on the interwebs) that assures me that you, too, are very fortunate.
We did, indeed, get to stay at the Hotel Caron de Beaumarchais, and it was as charming and wonderful as I had hoped.
We went to Versailles (The Big G had never been) and as it was a Saturday and packed, we spent most of our time wandering around the gardens.
But my favorite thing was just wandering around Paris (although we did see a couple of excellent exhibits Tresor de Medicis and France1500).
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