March 2, 2026
gem
cooking, travel
bee, bees, cooking, crocus, leuven, photography
You may have seen these two famous actors in this short film they produced. Turns out they live in Leuven. Stop one of the big 3C birthday extravaganza was centered at their house.
We spent a fair amount of time wandering around town.
Leuven has its share of students (and they returned to class just after we got into town).
It rained. Like crazy. We walked 13.5km anywway.
The city wall.
Yo on a bridge with a god sighting…
The crocuses in full swing and filled with bees.
They are concerned about another Eve in Leuven.
We also had some excellent meals with our hosts.
February 7, 2026
gem
food, travel, who knows
beverly hills, corpse reviver #2, donnie, escuela, LA, lucky tiki, osteria vera, r2, tail o the pup, the roodftop, wine
I had not been to a R2 in LA for a while. 2025 was that kind of year. But things are settling back to normal after a marriage, a death, a birth, a trip to france, and a huge talk in Brazil. 2026 is off to a fabulous start.
We wined and dined at Osteria Vera coordinated by Jay (always a consummate host).
The food was outstanding.
As was the company.
—-
After lunch (which was by no means rushed), Donnie and David and I busted loose in LA (starting right across the street at Baltaire for a Corpse Reviver #2.
Then it was off to the Rooftop in Beverly Hills to watch the sun go down. It did. Spectacularly,
.
Relax? Who us?
Little tiny Hollywood.
Finally we hit Tail of the Pup for a secret tiki or two.
And then it was off to school for family dinner. Escuela was loud enough to be a middle school even without all of the Rivers’.
Just damn fun. We resolved to bring along the wives next go round (if they wanna come).
January 17, 2026
gem
travel
christmas market, claudia, gem, germany, heidelberg, markus, romey
Who knew that the Christmas market was still going. After Christmas even!
The gang’s all here.
And the sun sank.
And the lights glowed.
December 25, 2025
gem
concert, travel
all of tomorrow, austin, austin city limits, billy strings, bluegrass, cabin song, concert, katy daly, little maggie, shady grove, slow train, way downtown
Austin City Limits clinched the deal.
Lots of old school bluegrass. Ironically the standup bass was “unplugged” into an electric bass. The venue…yea please.
It all starts with fiddle.
September 23, 2025
gem
art, museum, travel
art, art museum, brazil, degas, magritte, MASP, São Paulo, van gogh
Since our first visit was interrupted by 50,000 protesters, we returned to see the original MASP wing on our last day in São Paulo.
There were cars in the street and commerce was proceeding apace. Late stage capitalism perks along with one or two corporations owning everything.
Curation was interesting in this wing. Hodge podge to be sure (with bad lighting), but some masterpieces on display.
The best stuff was not really from Brazi.
Van Gogh does eye
Magritte does eye
LGBTQ Jesus from the middle ages.
Degas dances in São Paulo as well.
Degas does eye
The brutalist architecture does its thing.
September 23, 2025
gem
art, fashion, film, photography, politics, travel
1960s, art, art museum, brazil, gem, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, romey, São Paulo, travel
What do you do when you are in São Paulo on a thunderous rainy Monday (the day that much is closed)? Seek out the Pinacoteca, and experience some art. Visit both sides with a sprint between rainstorms.
The space is beautifully assembled of old and new in contrast. The curation follows this concept and lacks only professional lighting. Brazil could use some NY light people in all of its museums.
Two views.
The exhibits are spotty, but there are always jewels to be found.
Some of the sculpture is exquisite.
Romey in a pink box.
This is not art!
Channel Emily.
And then brave the rain, walking through the huge unfamiliar trees of Brazil.
Arriving at the Contemporary building just as the power flickers and the clouds unleash.
Enter the late ’60s and the dissolution of dictatorship. Yankees out of vietnam.
BLUM!
Then have a late lunch while you wait for the rain to abate. Banana milk punch for the win.
September 22, 2025
gem
art, concert, travel
audio, brazil, christian, concert, esperanza spalding, fabio, live music, romey, São Paulo, shotgun app, travel
When we were looking for a concert to attend Saturday night in the São Paulo Spring, we were surprised by the pickings. Not much going on even though the city is huge. A conversation in Brazil with a young show producer told the tale of why, the gist of it being that a post COVID explosion of creativity is drawing to a close and the performers are exhausted. But the constraints led us directly to an exceptional treat—Esperanza Spalding in Brazil.
Magical.
We did require some help from our new friend Christian (a USP fresh out Ph.D.) who was able to use the local shotgun app to get tickets. I tried that earlier from the US with no luck since the app required a Brazilian citizen ID number.
In a small world phenomenon, we ran into Fabio Kon and his wife while waiting in line to get into the venue.
It was nice to spend some time with the locals. LOL. Here are some pictures and videos of the show.
There was some waiting around to do from 8pm to 10pm, but it was all worth it.
.
We were, in fact, in Brazil…as you can hear.
.
A commentary in AI and jazz. Computer speed and human speed compared.
When we got back to the rosewood after the show, we had a late night snack at 1:30am.
September 18, 2025
gem
flowers, garden, travel
christian, garden, Jardim Botânico, monkies, São Paulo, Spring
The monkeys were making lots of noise.
But the Spring was pretty quiet.
I found my statue in São Paulo.
We saw capybaras…kinda
Special thanks to Christian for showing us around.
August 1, 2025
gem
cooking, dogs, ocean, travel, wedding
anne, april, gøran, lisa, noelie, rhine, the stick, wedding
After all of the planning, and then the actual event itself, we were ready to put our feet up. So we did.
The Stick with Göran, Anne, Noelie, Lisa, Rhine and April—hosted by the newly married McGraws! Late May is perfection at the beach. No people.
Oh yeah, the dogs came too. We rented a huge vehicle in Pittsburgh to cart everyone and all their stuff down.
Now back to those feet…
About the only complication was figuring out the state of the improperly-installed dishwasher. We built our own sign to signify state. It was good in theory. LOL.
As always, cooking was an important part of our beach time. Romey and Lisa made a delicious meal indeed.
The dogs felt left out.
The view from the porch leads to inner peace.
We did make a few cocktails.
Tranquility…unless you are a ball.
Just add more olives.
Starts like this…
Ends up like this. Thanks John and Joan!
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