Dinner at Andrea's home, the people portion of the evening

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. . .

Matt Barbara, Pam and Dewey (left-right)

Barbara (left) and Pam

Andrea

Dewey

Matt and Barbara

Whale watching out of Boston harbor, revisited

It's all about the people, silly, people watching that is. But whichever you prefer, it's a great way to kill five hours or so on a beautiful summer day. At least in Boston (or rather out of it). These were taken a few years back. . .

Landing at Logan Airport

Firenze for the locals, Florence for the touristi

Piazza della Repubblica

Piazza della Repubblica

Update from Grand Rapids - a caramel nut tart and Christmas lights at Meijer Gardens

Well, it's been 11 days since we were freed from our ball-and-chain in Rhode Island. Since then, our lives have continued to evolve here in the Wolverine State: Susie teaching the occasional class and right now focused on orders of shortbread gift boxes for a few friends while I'm still archiving photos and will most likely continue for the next few months.

But new projects beckon: I'm  working on putting together a guide of major sculptures in Pere-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, with the indefatigable assistance of Marie B., and hope to build a website devoted just to that subject over the holidays. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, the weather has been wonderful and unseasonably warm with little precipitation. Aside from a couple of inches  of snow so far this winter has seen temperatures hovering in the high 40s to high 50s. This weekend promises to get up to the 60s by Sunday. Amazing!

One of Susie's recent special orders involved her luscious caramel nut tart using five different nuts (pistachios, pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts but no peanuts) muddled together with her homemade caramel sauce and voila!

an arrangement of lilies given to Susie by a client

Last Sunday evening we took the opportunity to pay a nighttime visit to Meijer Gardens to enjoy not just a special member's only evening but the gorgeous lights and decorations:

lights near the pedestrian entrance 

lots of music and fun things to do, for the kids especially

the arid garden

In the Railway Garden were some extraordinary replicas, all made out of wood, of various buildings, many Grand Rapids landmarks:

Palazzo in Perugia, Italy

Temple Emmanuel

St. Mark's church

Sunday at Clear Lake, checking on the Christmas Tree farm

Susie cutting some greens for decoration

Uncle John explaining the nuances of a particular tree

Siena, Italy

For those who have been here, a glance back at the past; for those who haven't yet found their way to Siena, a look forward into the future. . .

crossing the Piazza del Campo

apartment building wall near the basilica of San Francesco

overlooking the Piazza del Campo

Siena from il Crete

uno vicolo

Alfieri, flag-bearers

Piazza del Campo