Happy 2015 and big thank you | Why I haven't been blogging

{Spring, Princeton}

In case anyone is still checking this blog, I wanted to say an official goodbye (for now). After an unexpectedly long period of work travel, I was looking forward to blogging again. Then I got sick. It was cancer. Luckily, my prognosis is favorable, but this space will remain quiet while I concentrate on my health.

Although I have not been able to return your kind comments and notes in my absence, I want to thank you all for making my blogging experience so lovely and enriching.

Below, some (pre-hiatus) farewell photos... Sending you best wishes for a happy, healthy 2015!

{Early spring, New York}

{Summer, Boston}

{Summer, San Diego}

{Last but not least: Kona the canoeing canine, Princeton summer}

Weekend explorations: Pedal power

On the streets of Philadelphia... the pedal-powered pubcrawler. Imbibe, work out, and see the sights! Designated drivers (in St. Patrick's Day green) included.

Postcard from Cambridge, Mass.: A tiny tour II

Through the looking glass at Harvard's Science Center. Just a few blocks beyond are (below) the blue plaques of Irving Street, marking the home of psychologist William James (#95) and birthplace of poet e e cummings (across the street). A few doors over is the grey home of American culinary icon Julia Child, who lived and worked for 40 years at #103, broadcasting her shows from its kitchen (now housed at a Smithsonian Museum). Enjoy your weekend!

Postcard from Cambridge, Mass.: A tiny tour

Fun sights: Meerschaums at 127-year-old tobacco shop, Leavitt & Peirce. Below (clockwise from top left), sign for the most expensive sandwich in Harvard Square - $100 caviar "Catherine the Great" (sold here), mini ice rink, thoughtful public bike repair stand, free street corner 'library', and a lovely independent used bookseller (dying breed).

Postcard from Cambridge, Mass.: Whispering arches

Of Sever Hall, Harvard Yard (next to yesterday's library). If you whisper directly into the bricks on one side of the arched doorway, you can hear it on the other side of the arch, 12 feet away.

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Fun Sever story: Writer Gertrude Stein once took a class from psychologist William James (Henry's brother) and during a final exam in Sever, wrote in her exam book: "Dear Professor James, I am so sorry but really I do not feel like an examination paper in philosophy today.” She received a response the next day: “Dear Miss Stein, I understand perfectly how you feel. I often feel like that myself.” James gave her the highest mark in the class.

Postcard from Cambridge, Mass.: Widener Library

Harvard Yard: Walk through yesterday's photo and say hello to 'the mothership' of Harvard's enormous library system, named after a student who died on the Titanic. There's a Gutenberg Bible in there + 57 miles of bookshelves so labyrinthine you could put a minotaur in the middle and no one would notice.

Postcard from Cambridge, Mass.: Enter to grow in wisdom

On a winter's day last week: One of many gates leading into Harvard Yard (where a few years back, one professor exercised his 200-year-old right to graze cows). The arched walkway runs under a freshman dormitory, Wigglesworth, once home to Leonard Bernstein and other famed former students.

Postcards from England: Friday fun

Loved this Moor Hall Primary School sign: "Don't choke us. Fumes are monsters!! Turn off your engine when you are parked." Below, more fun sights to round out the English break. Enjoy your weekend!

Over-the-speed-limit pink mini-scooter 

Interesting sale items

Watching Downton...and too much TV!

Postcard from England: Some sunlight

Despite English storms (hail and all), we got some sunlight in Sutton Coldfield. The area was once Henry VIII's hunting grounds and he favored the town with a royal charter. In 2nd photo, Jeeves loved the sun too!

Postcard from England: A low-key break

Moor Hall grounds, Sutton Coldfield. We enjoyed a low-key Christmas/New Year's break across the pond. Hope your holidays were relaxing and your year's off to a great start - here's to 2014!

Postcard from Washington, DC: Deck the halls II

Somehow, I neglected to show the actual decked halls from DC's Union Station yesterday. Here they are!

Postcard from Washington, DC: Deck the halls

To end my work travels, sunset glow at the capitol and GIANT wreath in the halls outside Union Station.

Recent weeks V: Vanderbilt Mansion, New York

How the other half lives: Gilded Age "summer cottage" of one of America's richest families. Enjoy your weekend!

Recent Weeks IV: Future chefs + Happy Thanksgiving!

 

I couldn't let Thanksgiving pass without mentioning food! Spotted these future chefs at the Culinary Institute of America. This day is about gratitude for a good harvest and other blessings - Happy Thanksgiving!

Recent weeks III: The Hudson River, New York

I showed you the Culinary Institute of America yesterday - this was the view towards the Hudson River.

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{Explorer Henry Hudson is famed for his exploits in the area, but met a sticky end 400 years ago - his crew mutinied and set him, his son, and several men adrift at Canada's Hudson Bay. They were never seen again.}

Recent weeks II: Hudson Valley, New York

Luckily, I got one weekend off and enjoyed autumn sun at the CIA - the Culinary Institute of America. (It's probably a more pleasant destination than the other CIA.)

Postcard from Manhattan: Little wedding scene {+wedding-themed summer farewell}

Gazebo wedding, Central Park lake. The lake is also a lovely place to rowboat. And below, since our summery autumn heatwave is finally ending, a farewell look at that most summery of scenes - weddings.

{Clockwise from bottom left - all Summer 2013: colorful-quirky Princeton, elegant Paris, Cinderella London horse-drawn carriage and its London bride outside St. Paul's Cathedral.}

Postcard from Manhattan: Central Park ballerina

Alas, I couldn't walk closer for a better shot, but she was a fun/sweet/unusual autumn sight. (Lincoln Center, home to two ballet companies and a ballet school, is nearby.)

Postcard from Philadelphia: Barnes Foundation

I'm not always good about mixing work travel and play, but got to visit the Barnes Foundation on Saturday. After much wrangling, its art collection opened last year in a new, modernist space. It is a heaven for Renoir and Cezanne lovers (Cezanne is of my favorite painters), although sadly I could not photograph the art!

{More on the museum's dramatic backstory and the eccentric art collector, Dr. Albert Barnes, here.}

Postcard from Washington, DC: Autumn light

Back from travels at last - hope to share some recent snaps and look forward to visiting your blogs soon!