Beautiful and Different - A Closer Look - Fine Jewels

My infatuation with fine jewels is somewhat similar to my deep interest in French châteaux

Tudors to Windsors British Royal Portraits - Background - Essay

Hans Holbein the Younger, Portrait of Henry VIII,
1540, oil on wood, Palazzo Barberini, Rome

"..It’s easy to imagine Henry glittering in the torch light at Whitehall Palace..."

Carolyne Roehm Design and Style - Theta Charity Antiques Show 2018 - Essay

"...posh hotels and restaurants in the area inflated costs, us geezers recall when that part of downtown was an armpit..."

Choosing Red Wine at Sorrento Restaurant - Brunello di Montalcino - Sergio Vazquez - Essay

Montalcino region Sangiovese grapes

"...John’s nose was two inches from a Darioush Napa Valley Cabernet, a Jordan Alexander Valley Cabernet, a Far Niente Russian River Pinot Noir, and a “mild” Brunello..."

Irene’s Cuisine - A Closer Look at 529 Bienville Street, New Orleans

"Began the evening with a drink at one of my favorite dive bars, Chart Room..."

Fernando Casas - Interior with Disappearing Mirror - After Velázquez - A Closer Look - Essay

"Fernando Casas would be residing with the shades at this moment if the tree branch had fallen on his head instead of his arm..."

A Closer Look - Christy Karll’s Painting “Swerve” - Interview

Christy Karll, Swerve, 2018, Oil on archive paper,
17 x 16 1/4 inches (framed), from Barbara Davis gallery

“...You bitch,” I replied.  Surrounded by inspiring architecture.  I on the other hand was in Houston..."

Beef Empanadas with Olives - Seco’s Latin Cuisine - A Closer Look - Essay

Parrilla Seco,” Margarita and Malbec

"...green olives that juice-up Seco’s beef empanadas yanked my mind back to the time I was lost in an olive grove in Spain.."

Giacomo Restaurant’s Teroldego, Foradori, Rotaliano, Trentino 2015 - A Closer Look - Essay

Teroldego, Foradori, Rotaliano, Trentino, 2015

Jose, the waiter at Giacomo, listened politely while I reminisced about “the old days.”

Michelangelo and Pope Paul III Background Story - Michelangelo and the Vatican Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples - Essay

"...his unwavering belief that Michelangelo was as much saint as genius, 'infused with divine grace,' can be tiresome..."

T-Coon’s Restaurant - Savage Breakfast - A Closer Look

"..the reason lawyers and farmers and kids and tourists crowd into T-Coon’s Restaurant..."

Thoughts about Crawfish and Slot Machines - Louisiana Food Politics - Essay

Crawfish Etouffée - Billeaud's No. 3

"...my instinct tells me that only a dumb-ass would boil a sack of crawfish inside..."

Notes on Lynda Frese’s Batwoman - Hilliard Museum - Essay

Lynda Frese, "La Femme Chauve-Souris (Batwoman)," 2013, 11x14” pigment prints,
found postcards, egg tempera, metal foil on gesso board

"... perhaps it was too early in the day for two old broads to be “drankin” at T-Boy’s Lounge..."