Inspiration – People & Places

Witnessing the sun paint Uluru at sunrise

We visited Uluru (Ayres Rock) several times and at different times of day. But for me, it never looked lovelier than at day break (about 6am I think it was). This is a spiritual place for the aborigines, and I can see why.

Where I come from

My mom. Her flower garden (very small part of it…a very big part of her). The house I grew up in.

Wearing White

It had been a dream of mine to have this party-a garden party in our back yard, big white tent, everyone dressed in white, gourmet meal and lots of wine. Best part – the circle of friends who made the evening more fanatstic than I could have ever dreamt.

Unspeakable Beauty

This street in a small French town was a perfect beauty in so many indescribable ways.

Unimaginable Capabilities

The Great Wall of China was built at a time, when no one could even imagine that one day man would invent airplanes and simply be able to fly over the wall.

Travelling the world by sea

The Silver Cloud

Time with Mom

With my Mom. At Emeril’s Restaurant. MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas

The Sea

Being at Sea – being so totally removed from land brings a freedom of thought and spirit that may be impossible anywhere else

The Mighty Nile

Luxor, Egypt – the Nile River is one of those seemingly mysterious, mystical places of adventure tales

The love of pets

Our sweet, quirky Bali October 6, 1995 – December 29, 2006

Temporary homes

A place of our own on a hilltop in France Grimaud, France

Sydney

This photo is of my niece, Kim’s, daughter Sydney, who is making a good show of reading a Russell Quant book on the beach. Perhaps this photo shows the very moment that young Syd is discovering what will become a life-long passion for reading. Who knows?

Saskatchewan Sunshine and Water. Our little piece of heaven.

Squinting

Walking the dogs on a summer evening with a champagne sun hanging low in the sun.

Splendour in the Jungle

Teatro Amazonas – the Manaus Operal House – is the most impressive and decadent symbol of Manaus’s Golden Era. Built at the height of the rubber boom at the turn of the 19th century, the Opera House took fifteen years to construct and epitomizes the splendour and elegance of a time when the city was one of the richest in the world. Imagine building this in the middle of the jungle. Wow.

Smiley Culture

Bridgetown, Barbados. Came across this ‘business advertisement’ during a morning jog. This is about willingness to be flexible and make most out of what life has given you.

Rustic Beauty

Peggy’s Cove, NS. As we drove into town and crested a hill, catching sight of the lighthouse, rock formations,brightly-painted houses, lobster traps and tangled fishing nets, there was a sharp intake of breath at the simple gorgeousness of the place

Quiet contemplation at sea

En route from Malaga to Barcelona.

Perfect spots

Finding a little known spot aboard a busy cruise ship, perfect for reading under a blanket with a green apple martini Aboard the inaugural coyage of the SS Silver Spirit – Sanitago, Chile to Los Angeles, CA There was one deck that few people seemed to use. On this particular day, we were getting used to crossing back into the northern hemisphere and the coolness out of the sun – perfect temp for reading on the deck under a woolen blanket that smelled of the sea.

Peoples

Took a voyage into the Atlas Mountains and learned about the Berbers, the mountain people of Morrocco. Basic. Simple. Elegant. Fantastic.

Pastoral perfection

Perfect, ‘Sound of Music’, green rolling hills of rural Switzerland Visiting our friends in Gahwil, Switzerland

Number 10 – Dublin, Ireland

June 2014 – we attended a dinner party at Number 10 on Ormond Quay on our last night in Ireland. A 12,000 sq ft brownstone that from the outside looked like nothing, but inside was glorious, full of art, antiques, candlelight and a jovial host named John who first came to the building to shop when it was an antique store, and left buying the whole thing. What I loved most about it was how it felt like our home, a place full of parties and art and laughter.And yes, we always have candles going.

Making friends of strangers

Making friends at sea Aboard the Silver Cloud

Maiko vs Geiko

Kyoto, 2015 We learned that ‘geisha’ is not a term much cared for anymore (due to negative connotation of geishas as prostitutes). Now its Geiko (or Maiko for a trainee). We had a unique opportunity to have a one-on-one with a maiko. We were blown away by her eloquence and poise and desire to be a vessel of traditional values and skills.

Love of a good dog

Mocha – Best dog in the World March 9, 1993 – February 27, 2007

Lost Opportunity-Modern Relic

One of the fourteen now-decommissioned Concorde supersonic jets is housed in Georgetown, Barbados, a regular destination. Getting up close and inside of this was like a close encounter with a dinosaur. With Concorde grounded after the horrific French accident, somehow it just feels like a step back. But the plane itself and it’s story is a wonderful ode to innovation and creativity and technology.

Living the Big Easy

New Orleans Home of Saints & Sinners Literary Conference

Lemonade from lemons

We’d arrived at our rented house in south of France in pouring rain.We went out to the markets and bought a spectacular feast of breads, cheeses, olives, fruit and wine and had a marvelous indoor picnic. We made our own sun.

Learning

Great Halls of Higher Learning We visited Harvard, just outside of Boston, on a damp fall day, which seemed kind of appropriate. I remember trying to search behind the eyes of a passing student to see if I could catch a glimpse of what greatness lay there.

Anthony Bidulka Laughter of Friends No sound quite like it.

Knowing Each Other Well

This was at our honeymoon brunch where we were made to play a game testing how well we knew one another. We did very well.

Joining Worlds

Passing beneath the impossibly long (13 kilometres/8 mile) Confederation Bridge. In 1997, this behemoth finally joined the Canadian island province of PEI with mainland New Brunswick.

Japanese People

Time and time again, as we travelled in Japan in 2015, we were blown away by the kindness, friendliness and respect shown us. This photo was taken in a out-of-the-way soba noodle house. This guy, knowing no English, still managed to invite us over to his table to try his food and drink.

Japanese Cuisine

Was actually named a UNESCO heritage cuisine in 2013 (France’s cuisine is the only other). We could see why on our visit there in 2015 – from Shabu Shabu to omakase to kaiseki to soba noodles and bean paste sweets – the variety of foods and ways of serving and eating it were astounding.

Human Spirit

There we were, sitting on the deck of our luxury cruise ship, awaiting to disembark in the port of Safaga, Egypt, when at the same time, the poorest of the poor Egyptians were returning home from years in Saudi Arabia where they’d gone to try to make a living, with everything (truly) including the kitchen sink

How You Relate

This is our good friend Moritz. We’ve travelled together a number of times and everywhere he visits he takes time every day to do a sketch. It’s one of the ways he relates and gets comfortable and learns about a new place. Some of us discover a place by walking the streets, dining, buying artifacts, he sketches.

How the World Changes

We were sailing through the narrows of the Amazon River; for 5 hours I was mesmerized by the remoteness and simplicity of life here. Then a motorized canoe slips up alongside us, the girl has quite obviously taken great care to look good and she’s taking pictures of us with an iPhone. Even 3 years ago this wasn’t the case.

Hope

These are just a couple of the children we met while touring the townships that surround Johannessburg, South Africa. What got me about these kids…and really, most everyone we came across in that forsaken place, was their ability to have hope where I could sense none. I learned a lot that day.

Visiting History

It was an odd sensation to be standing in this spot, in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, remembering watching the drama that unfolded here in 1989 on TV.

Hawaiian Sunset

Hawaiian Sunset at House Without a Key Halekulani Hotel, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii

Growing Something

Watching something grow that you have planted is a sensational thing. This is the scene from my office. When I feel the need for some fresh air, or a break from writing, or just need a bit of inspiration or time to think, I enter this little garden I put there, and soak it in. Oftentimes, just a minute or two will do.

Grand Vision

Singapores Marina Bay Sands Hotel – the top was fashioned after the local ‘bum’ boats. Architecture and architects can be simply stunning.

Getting away from it all with Friends

With Shelley, Herb, Dori overlooking Zihuatanejo, Mexico – Feb 2009

Friendships around the World

We were couples from Canada,the US and Switzerland – and yet we found kindred spirits and great companionship despite our vast differences

In the Footsteps

This is the famed Writer’s Bar-Raffles Hotel Singapore, where writers like Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham & Noel Coward have spent time.

Following in ancient footsteps

This photograph does pitifully little to reflect the experience I’d just had. Many of Australia’s aborigines are not happy to have their photograph taken, so I had to settle for this poor reflection of the aftermath. We’d just spent the past hour around a fire-pit at dusk with a young man who’d decided (despite the call of modern day) to follow the traditions of his aborigine ancestors. He showed us his treasures (hand-carved boomerangs, a spear, fur-lined loin cloths that he danced in). He told us about his initiation into manhood (including six deep burn scars on his chest and a kangaroo bone through his nose). He painted himself (belly, hands, face and arms) and painted our arms. He illustrated how they did cave paintings by chewing berries and charcoal and water, then spewing the mixture over whatever it is they wanted to outline. Then we had a go at it. The mixture did not taste very good but it was an exceptional experience to make this handprint painting on paper using the same method. The piece barely survived the trip home, but will always remain a treasured keepsake of an inspirational travel moment.

Endless Beaches

This was in Naples, Florida. I love a beach with long lonely stretches, tall grasses, icing sugar sand, old wood, and salty air. My mind was free to wander.

Reunification

The site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates.

Embracing technology

It was a burning hot day in a desert town and this caleche driver was taking me back to my hotel. He was quite elderly, his horse even older, but once we hit our stride he whipped out his cell phone.

Eerie Beauty

The gracious eerie of sailing into a foggy cove off the coast of Mexico

Eccentricity

Lobby of the quirky Negresco Hotel in Nice which has been lovingly reinvigorated by Madame Jeanne Augier.The art is eclectic, sometimes strange, each floor is decorated in a different theme, there is a famous hotel cat. Truly a bizarre and wonderful place

Dinner parties

Entertaining in different forms – dinner parties, theme parties, pool parties, intimate parties for two or four, or big Christmas parties for two hundred – is not only inspirational for me, it brings such enjoyment to me. And there just isn’t much better than sitting around a table with good friends, food, wine, and conversation.

Determination

As we floated along the Cai Be River in the Mekong Delta, this boat pulled up alongside us and tied themselves to us, offering fresh coconut juice for sale.

Cultural Immersion

Cultural Immersion – allowing a local to adjust my headdress – aka making friends, acceptance, learning – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Creating Beauty from Nothing

Majorelle Gardens is an artist’s landscape botanical garden in Marrakech. Designed by artist Jacques Majorelle in the 20s,. Now owned by Yves St. Laurent, whose ashes were spread there when he died in 1980.

Cold beauty

A Beautiful Cold in my front yard

Change

To be honest, this is what I thought most of Vietnam would look like. Instead, this scene was the exception rather than the rule. Change is definitely afoot in Vietnam.

Bounty

Poor roadside fruit vendor, a rich, colourful masterpiece Guatemala

Behemoths at Sea

We were on the way from Egypt, heading for the Suez Canal, the winds were strong, and there off our bow was this oil platform, blazing away on the wild sea – so big, so foreign, so powerful, so solitary – it spoke of things I know little about – oil, technology, geopolitics, environment, power

Beauty & the Beast

Beauty under the threat of danger Antigua, Guatemala, beneath (one of) its very active volcanos

Beauty in simplicity

Manta, Ecuador

A New Puppy – Kona

Ancient Art

At Athens Archeological Museum

A Good Garden

This garden area at the back of Le Pigonnet in Aix-En-Provence was a true stunner. Trellises heavy with roses, fountains, walkways,private corners to sit in. I love a good garden.