How Gardens are REALLY made: the History of my Raised Terrace Garden
It’s twilight, in late August. After a day of sporadic rain showers the skies are clearing, and a rosy mist fills the air. We’re sitting together on the Raised Terrace…
The Very Best Gardens of the Cotswolds & Nearby Regions
In a normal summer, during non-pandemic-times, I’d be rattling around in England and in Italy, continuing my explorations of landscapes, architecture, art, cultural history and gardens. But now, in year…
Venice: BIENNALE ARTE 2019. Part Two
Of La Biennale’s two permanent venues, I’ve always preferred the Arsenale over the Giardini. The enormous breadth of the Arsenale’s man-made harbor and its lengths of canal-side walkways ( fondamente…
Venice: BIENNALE ARTE 2019. Part One
When it comes to La Biennale, years and fashions pass, but little of its Essence changes, despite various Curators’ declarations that: “THIS Biennale shall be precedent-shattering!” In May of 2011…
Exploring Cornwall’s Seacoast, in Summertime. Part One
Autumn 2018 Journeys towards Cornwall are not usually entertaining. When traveling by car from almost anywhere else in England, the drive will likely be tedious, and delay-prone: Britain’s motorways are…
The Treasures of Tivoli, Italy. Part One: Explorations of the Archaeological Complex at Villa Adriana
Early 2018 Finally, Part One of a long-delayed but essential addendum to my article titled “My Recipe For a Stress-Free Week in Rome,” which I published several years ago [see…
Two Modern Mannerist Homes & Gardens in Italy: Tomaso Buzzi’s LA SCARZUOLA, & Niki de Saint Phalle’s TAROT GARDEN
December 2016 Among all the avenues of self-expression available to humans, one of the most enticing has always been the building of a home and garden. For the mature visual…
Part Two. A Well-Spent Week in Southern Devon, England
May 2016 Six months have elapsed since I published Part One about the summer-of-2015 week when my dear friends Anne and David Guy led me on a long ramble across…
A Well-Spent Week in Southern Devon, England. Part One.
October 2015 I’m back on Terra Firma (aka New Hampshire), after this summer’s very satisfying, month-long expedition to England, where I continued my investigations of Britannia’s landscapes, luminaries, architecture, and…
An Idiosyncratic Survey of Sculpture, in Gardens of the Western World
APRIL, 2015 As we create our gardens, we often find that the presence of plant material alone cannot satisfy our aesthetic sensibilities, and so we begin the often perplexing quest…
Two Mannerist Gardens in Northern Lazio, Italy
For many years, I’d been contemplating making a trek to the hills of Northern Lazio, to see a duo of dramatically different gardens that had long piqued my curiosity. The…
My Recipe for a Stress-Free Week in Rome
November 2014 Winter has just arrived in New Hampshire…with typically indecent haste. For all of us who thrive during summertime, these first days of snow and chill — which promise…
The Crane Estate at Castle Hill, in Ipswich, MA. A Tour of the House & Gardens which exemplify the American Country Place Era.
October 2014. I’m constantly transporting my mind to far-off places…whether I’m plotting my next trip abroad, or I’m reviewing photos taken and books gathered on past journeys, as I compose…
The Chelsea Flower Show of 2014: Contemplating the Biggest Pop-Up Gardens in the World.
Late July 2014. September of 2008: As I was displaying my garden furniture in a rather grotty convention hall in Birmingham, England, I was invited by a representative of the…
Part Five. Rambling Through the Gardens & Estates of Kent, England.
April 30, 2014. In just a matter of days I shall once again be heading out into the World…for a month of still-deeper England-explorations, and also for an additional nine…
Part Four. Rambling Through the Gardens & Estates of Kent, England.
March 2014. Behind the making of every garden there’s a Story. But, interesting stories alone don’t make for interesting gardens. Only in those rare instances when a compelling story is…
Part Three. Rambling Through the Gardens & Estates of Kent, England.
February 2014. On Tuesday, August 6, 2013 my meanderings through Kent continued, as I was led by extraordinary Blue Badge Guide Amanda Hutchinson ( www.southeasttourguides.co.uk ), and expertly driven to…
Part Two. Rambling Through the Gardens & Estates of Kent, England
February 2014. Although not by design, some days of my Kent-Garden-Touring also became days of Finding-the-Haunts-of-Famous-Authors. Kent has always been a fertile place: its beautiful landscapes have nurtured the growing…
Rambling Through the Gardens & Estates of Kent, England. Part One.
January 2014. As we in Northeastern America endure our most violently cold winter of the past 40 years, I’m finding it therapeutic to begin considering my August 2013 perambulations through…
Hudson River Valley Gardens–Part Two: Stonecrop, & Kykuit
December 2013. The impulse to collect–whatever one happens to want to accumulate—is powerful. As one hunts for treasure, each discovery, rather than satisfying, seems instead to whet the appetite; after…
Hudson River Valley Gardens: Part One–Innisfree
December 2013 Now that the first traces of snow have settled upon New England, contemplating greenness—and gardens—seems more therapeutic than ever. Perhaps I’d dawdled about writing this report of my…
Grand Gardens of the Berkshire Hills: Fletcher Steele’s Naumkeag, & Edith Wharton’s The Mount
October 2013. As I approach the 12-month-mark of publishing my Diaries for Armchair Travelers, I marvel that the things which obsess me have been at least of passing interest to…
The Disparate Delights of Four Low Country Plantations
In late April, as I completed my lengthy Armchair Traveler Diary about Historic Charleston, I promised a soon-to-follow companion-piece describing four nearby plantations in South Carolina’s Low Country. I attacked…
Springtime Sauntering through Historic Charleston, South Carolina
For Northern New Englanders, March always seems the cruelest month. Winter–which begins in November–persists…and sometimes mightily. As gray days continued, and new snow piled upon old, I decided that a…
Peabody Essex Museum–The Jewel in Salem’s Crown
February 2013. Salem, Massachusetts. As promised in my previous Armchair Traveler Diary, I’m lingering a bit longer in Salem, Massachusetts…this time for an extended look at the considerable wonders of…
The Steel-Gray Charms of Salem in Wintertime
JANUARY 2013. MARITIME NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE; NEIGHBORING MARBLEHEAD; NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE’S HOUSE OF 7 GABLES; FEDERAL-ARCHITECTURE-HEAVEN ON CHESTNUT STREET. If I had my druthers, I’d be taking pictures and writing in…
Jane Austen & Bath, England
I really wanted to call this Armchair Traveler Chapter “Jane Austen’s Bath.” But holding forth about Jane’s bathing habits would have given me ammunition for a brief and not very…
The Great Canopy of London’s Skies;Getting Older in Greenwich;& Garden-Strolling at Hampton Court Palace
September 25th, 2012. London, England. Over the course of my six recent Diaries for Armchair Travelers, I’ve paid much attention to the landscapes I explored during my month-long journey. But…
Contemplating the Genius of Place & The Places of Geniuses: Liverpool,Ruins at Great Witley,Chawton
September 20th, 2012. Liverpool, England. I was still ailing in body but was otherwise feeling quite exuberant, due to my pleasure at being able to spend time with my British…
Major Ramblings Across the English Countryside: Stowe Landscapes; Hidcote Garden; Severn Valley Railway.
September 17th, 2012—Monday morning. Oxford, England. Having finished my mad dash up to the Cupola of the Sheldonian Theatre, I returned to the Old Bank Hotel, organized my suitcase in 10…
A Bit More London-Lingering; & a Long Weekend in Oxford
September 13th, 2012. Thursday—London. On Wednesday, I’d left the high-summer of Italy and returned to England’s chill. This London stay would be brief: 2 nights and a day. A long…
Florence & Lucca: The Villas, Gardens & Treasures of Tuscany
September 6, 2012 Thursday. My friend Donn Brous and I arrived in Florence on Wednesday afternoon, and we settled into the Hotel Hermitage, which has always been my bolt-hole in…
Venice–The Centurion Palace Hotel; Architecture Biennale; The Historic Regatta.
August 31st, 2012. My afternoon journey from London to Venice/Marco Polo went smoothly. I caught the Gatwick Express at Victoria Station, and arrived at Gatwick Airport, on England’s South coast,…
London in the Rain; Yoko Ono at the Serpentine Gallery; Ballgowns at the V&A
A milestone birthday loomed, and, although it’s politically incorrect to admit, I wasn’t a bit pleased about my incipient old-lady-hood. But, rather than bemoan the inevitable, I decided instead to…