Archives : January-2011

…the Rome-based Italian artist (b. 1955) who is admired by all of my Italian artist friends, has an audio piece which I encountered today in a hallway gallery at MAXXI (making the most of the much appreciated Spring-like weather in Rome, I arrived by bicycle via the path along the Tiber River embankment – also ..

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…from the trees out back are keeping me buzzed on a daily infusion of fresh citrus – when I arrived in September  it was the grapes and figs – later it was the persimmons – and this Spring and Summer I’m looking forward to availing myself of the Roman classics: artichokes a..

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…the fragrant yellow Mimosa tree native to Australia whose clouds of clustered of bright yellow pom-pom flowers are the first sign of spring in the Italian landscape, is already in full bloom out in the back garden – probably since it is protected in a warm little micro-climate by the massive Aurelian Wall that surrounds ..

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…is good, they are devouring my kitchen scraps (about 3 pounds a week), turning it into sweet smelling fertile black-gold worm casting compost, and reproducing like crazy (lots of little babies) – all from the comfort of their plastic bin which feels like the essential heart of the Roman Rooftop Homestead, the highlight of each ..

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…is the evocative name of the just inaugurated online shop of the handmade and eclectic goods whose inventory will constantly shift based on the whims of those doing the making: my sister Emily & her friend Jen. (dullDiamond website) Hello we’re Emily and Jen <<<< AKA dullDiamond >>>> Two friends who happen to be mothers ..

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…like all great medieval Italian hilltowns (we are in the Maremma of Southwest Tuscany), provides that brilliant vivid contrast between the feeling of dense urbanism on the inside, and the seemingly infinite expanse of rolling rural cultivated countryside on outside, just on the other side of the fortified walls – reminding me of my romantic ..

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