“Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.” - Washington Irving A Greek song for Song Satu...

Gourmandism is an act of judgment, by which we prefer things which have a pleasant taste to those which lack this quality.”
- Jean-Anthelme ...

“I quote others in order to better express myself.” Michel Eyquem de Montaigne Today’s birthday flower is the tuberose, Polyanthes tuberosa ...

“The dream reveals the reality which conception lags behind. That is the horror of life.” - Franz Kafka A poem that I wrote when I was a you...

“The true way to render ourselves happy is to love our work and find in it our pleasure.” – Françoise de Motteville Part of my new job invol...

“There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the passion of life.”- Federico Fellini Movies are amazing not only because they ent...

The Romans used lapis as an aphrodisiac. The ground powder was mixed with milk and used as a compress to relieve ulcers and boils and, durin...

During ancient times lapis was ground up and used for medicinal purposes as well as a cosmetic. The Egyptians used Lapis for seals, ground i...

In Europe, this blue rocky material was valued as precious from ancient times when it was used in making jewellery, but also ground up as a ...

“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” - Diogenes Laertius No single artist, no single painting, no analysis of style, genre or ...

“Nostalgia is a seductive liar.” - George Wildman Ball For Song Saturday today, I give you a song by French Singer/Songwriter, Veronique San...

"Only the pure of heart can make good soup" 
- Ludwig van Beethoven We had some rain today and the weather started to cool a lit...

“He who does not know foreign languages does not know anything about his own.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe February 21st is celebrated as I...

“It is never too late to have a happy childhood.” - Tom Robbins At what point do we stop being children and enter that curious phase of adol...

"God means us to be free. With divine daring, He gave us the power of choice." - Cecil B. DeMille Reality check: Am alive, yes ju...

“No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough." - Roger Ebert We watched an interesting French movie yesterday and in som...

In 1939 Vollard was killed in an accident and the artist was thus released from his contract. It left behind it an important question: what ...

Rouault produced several illustrations for books under the influence of Ambroise Vollard (the famous art dealer with whom Rouault signed a c...

“Crucifixion” (1937-1939). Many great artists have painted crucifixions and each manages to convey a depth of meaning that his or her art en...

“Legendary Landscape” (1936). This is a great favourite of mine. The paint has been applied to the canvas with abandon and one can become im...