St. Martin 2011

St. Martin - fine food, wine, sun, warmth, comfort and beauty...

 

a fun, warm, sunny getaway from this Minnesota harsh winter...

Back from St. Martin

Welcome home... :(

You Can Poison Our Trees, but...

 ... you can't kill the Auburn spirit!

Seems the Auburn win of the Iron Bowl got the best of this Alabama fan that he would drive 30 miles from his Dadeville, AL home to come poison the 130-year-old trees on Toomer's corner - trees that are the symbol of Auburn spirit for celebratory wins when they are rolled with toilet paper.
  62-year-old Harvey Almorn Updyke
was arrested today and charged with 3 felony charges. 
Read LA Times article here. 
Great one from SI.

 

Let's hope and pray that they live...

Cuttin' the Neck outta my Gray Sweatshirt!

Last night, I revisited one of my all-time fav films Flashdance from 1983 thanks to my new account with Netflix!  I was 16 years old back then and loved this movie so much because of the message of pursuing your dreams, and in Alex's (Jennifer Beal's character) case - to become a professional dancer. She trained in Mawby's bar at night and was a steel worker during the day.  Nick, Michael Nouri's character, goes to the bar and watches Alex dance not realizing who she was - his employ at the steel mill.  Alex, of course, doesn't want to do that kind of dancing forever but was so intimidated to register at the ballet repertory having no formal dance experience whatsoever.  Nick pursues Alex, and while their relationship was at times tumultuous due to Alex's volatile temper, he was such a strong man - classy, genuine, handsome - and encouraged her to pursue her dream.

 

The dances at Mawby's Bar were quite creative and artistic.

 Cynthia Rhodes was Tina, another dancer at Mawby's Bar.  She also played the dance instructor to Patrick Swayze (RIP, Patrick) and Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing - another great dance movie from the 80s!

  The film stars Jennifer Beals and Michael Nouri.

 

You may know by now that Jennifer Beals had a stand in, if you will, for the dance sequences, Marine Jahan a French dancer who was not even credited for her role in the opening or ending credits.  Some people at the time felt deceived when the dancing and the body close-ups were implied to be of Jennifer Beals but instead were of Marine. 

 The soundtrack is awesome and produced an Academy award-winning hit by
Irene Cara - What a Feeling!
Check it out if you've never seen it!  Check it if you have!  Great message, music and dancing.  Strong language and nudity, btw, but great anyway!

This Is How It All Started!

This is how it all started for me 16 years ago when I went to Cortona, Italy with the University of Georgia's studies abroad program in art!  That summer changed me forever!  To me, Cortona is a most enchanting place in it's own rite - dates back to 500 BC, amazing views of the countyside, friendly towns people, being inspired and creative, eating the finest food and wine available to man!  The program is now 41 years old, and I was lucky to have done it in 1994, their 25th year in which we celebrated that year's anniversary with a beautiful Carrera marble (indigenous to Italy and Michelangelo's marble of choice) sculpture created by the program's founder Jack Kehoe.  I could go on and on about this program, but rather you may watch this 15 minute video about the program.  It's both informative and entertaining, and you will see why this program is so very special!

The UGA Cortona Campus Walkthrough from UGA Cortona on Vimeo.

 The rest of these images were ones I took just a month ago during C&C's Tuscan Painting Journey!  Carole Foret (my twin sister) and I (Claire Kayser) take groups of painters to Cortona in September for a week's worth of painting in Cortona!  See all the details on our C&C site!  CHECK OUT THIS SLIDESHOW!
Details of the 2011 journey coming soon, so stay tuned to reserve YOUR spot.  Spots fill fast!

Sarah's "Loving You Is Easy"

Sarah McLachlan - the BOMB!

I have just this week become a huge Sarah McLachlan fan!  I have always liked her music on the radio, but when I went to my 6200-song iTunes library, I was surprised to realize that I owned only one song of hers - not even one of her popular ones like Angel or Building a Mystery!  It was Dirty Little Secret from her Afterglow record.  I don't even know where I got it!  I listened to this only song, and LOVED IT!  So I went to iTunes to get some more of her music, at least the ones I knew, and saw that she just put out a new record after about 8 years.  So, I sampled it and really loved the songs for her silky, smooth, sensuous voice and her passionate, smart lyrics.  Then, I download Laws of Illusion.  I LOVE IT!!!  Then, the rest I've added thus far...