Two Artists, Color & Light! (See also our album "Two Artists Who Loved Color) One of our favorite past-times here in southern France, is going to art museums. Each of the ones on our circuit are different, but they all produce amazingly intriguing exhibitions each summer. Saturday, June 18, Les & I went to Aix-en-Provence to visit one of our favorite venues, & a new one. Both artists, separated by 50 years, were innovators in their own time. And both...

About 7 years ago, Les & I started our summer with a week in Rome. We spent the whole winter before getting ready for our Roman immersion: read books, watched the TV series "Rome" (bravissimo!), listened to tapes, etc. And while we were in Rome, we did 4 tours with Context travel, whose guides are art historians or architects or someone with a very in-depth knowledge of the city's history. We were totally hooked. I became especially interested in Augustus, th...

We're back! After a fun 5 days of family & friends in Chicago, Les & I took off for Paris, on May 31, arriving June 1. We are very happy to be back in our second country, & to be out of the ugly US election cycle. But if we thought we were going to the idyllic land of liberty, equality & fraternity, we found out quickly that France has its own issues, & they are big ones. France is experiencing the same social unrest that seems to be happenin...

Final Blog for Summer 2015! We can't believe it, but another lovely summer has flown by here in the south of France. It's time to pack the bags, head to Paris (Aug 24) for our flight to Chicago (Aug 25), then our drive to Charleston, after a few days with family. We'll be back in Charleston Aug 31, & moving into our new space Sept 1. We are ready. Over the past few weeks, we've gone back to our favorites: The Mediterranean Sea, The Cevennes Mountains, & ...

You may remember that last year, Les & I were here in France on the 100th annivesary of the start of WWI. On August 1, 2014, all over France, the tocsin (the village alert system left over from the Middle Ages) was rung to commemorate the call to arms. 6 planes from the French Air Force flew over our house. We visited a wonderful exhibit in Marseilles showing how the French government, & Marseille's businessmen, financed the war. It also displayed many pr...