This is an embassy on Picadilly, across from Green Park. The clouds couldn't decide what to do with themselves- bunching into shapes, blocking all but the errant shafts of sunlight, then cloaking themselves in slate gray. In all forms, a majestic backdrop for amazing architecture like this building.
Walking back to the Parklane, listening to Englishman in New York, (Sting-- but of course - you knew that ) I had one of those moments...was walking toward the sunlight and the people coming at me appeared all silhouette and shadow. Very intense.

Earlier - sipping the first of three Americanos with a splsh of milk, I made a list of essays I would like to write. Maybe the next blog and yes, i know i am missing one.

I. Leaves and Litter
II. The Drama of Women’s Footwear
III. The Indiscrete Charm of the Bourgeois
IV. False Choices
V. Literature in Lieu of Human Dialogue
VII. “I Know”; an Expression of Sadness
VIII. Martha’s Appeal
IX. Many Small Changes
X. Moving Toward Daily Morality
XI. Opening China without Misplacing Our Values
XII. Metrics Lie
XIII. Art in the Closet: The Failure to Drive Adoption

This is me in front of the theatre where Phatom of the Oper is still playing.
What is it about that story that is so captivating... at least to women? I guess the premise that there can be intimacy and devotion that supercedes appearances.
Anyway , arrived in London at 7;10 am and walked around all afternoon so that I would adhust to time zone differences. Seems to have worked fairly well. Lovely day. Among the English whimsy... the Favorite Handymn of 2006! Not only hand he jerry-rigged his truck so that the exhaust spewed bubbles, he sang, quite well, over a loudspeaker. Who wouldn't want such a cheerful, ingenious fellow around to help out! 

How can we not believe in ghosts! Sunset on the tombstones. Full moon rising. 

Here is the village-- perhaps the county church Imagine this a stone's throw from your house. Tombstones from the 1600's. Allegedly some 200 years earlier than that-- but will have to see corroboration of that -- which means another visit! Would be very spooky at night. 

Here is an illusion in an illusion-- three shadows at the brink of the haha.

Taken just before we left - a freeze frame of a moment. Ha-has, I learned were a device of estate planners to keep livestock from crossing the perimeter of the grounds and into the surrounding countryside -without the visual scar of a fence. Since a ha-ha is recessed rather than raised, the illusion of unrestricted space is maintained.
(Explanation courtesy of my host.)

Running fence on the grounds of Stowe. Imagine walking the grounds in spring with the opening of Riggoleto wafting through the air and forsythia budding. 

Lovely gazing ball and stream with a glazing of ice. 

House guest and brilliant imp-- sharply cold on the grounds of Stowe. 

Here is the wonderful Waddingdon Estate- aviary, grounds, turrets and gargoyles! 

A weekend in the country...
In the little village of Hoggeston, there are a dozen or two domiciles, some with thatched roofs, some with sheep pens, some with happy families, ( and some, I suppose not.) The properties have names, not numbers, and I was fortunate enough to be a guest in one of these homes. (I will remain sensitive to posting details about someone else's life! Mine may be fair to share but goodness, these dear people are British! )

The ride out went very quickly - good conversation will do that. Friday night stiffness disapated pretty quickly thanks to the availability of children ( yes-- water seeks its own level!) When did children get so SMART! Really--- it is enough to give me a glimmer of hope. Maybe it is that they were younger and still willing to communicate with adults. The two girls were, in a phrase, "chalk and cheese" but lovely to get to know. and fascinating to watch together.

Cross from the property was a pen of sheep, expectant and attentive as an audiance at a concert as i approached. Felt like a conversation between mean the ewes- there I go-- letting slip the level i am at these days! Down the road was the village church-- really quite grand. For 500 years- drawing people together.

Anyway- back to the travelogue: here in Buckingham, there are a number of properties of such historical value that they are part of the National Trust. The National Trust is simply an affiliation of people that care enough about the architectural treasures of the past that they fund their continued upkeep. THe first we visited was the extraordinary palace -like Waddingdon estate, in the stule of a 17C French Chateau.

The next was the wonderful grounds of the Stowe School. I have a lot of pictures .. here are few. The day was very cold-- but it worked well to keep distracting crowds at bay. The day was wonderful and the gerbils of mental activity that scamper and scurry in my kookie mind.. actually stopped. At days end- as we got hit the warmth of the car and i took a bite of double cream chocolate, I felt myself to be, for that moment, blissfully happy. Amazing what peaceful scenery, good company and fresh air can do!

The amiable cyclist showed me his collapsible Broughton, an English bike with smaller tires, that completely collapses for portability.
Amsterdam has such personality! It is quirky, efficient, proud, accessible, haughty and pedestrian, all at the same time. The 16th and 17th century buildings are part of life- not some rarified sample of preserved past. Everyone cycles ( that leaves me out!). They cycle with babies and bags, in the rain and in the cold. Parking lots are filled with cycles. Despite this the city is congested and a bit chaotic- but surprisingly not tense or uptight.

Had dinner with friend Amber at one of the famous “ Brown Cafes” which are named in reference to 400 years of soot and smoke. Again—impossible for me not to believe in ghosts in a building where so many have lived and laughed, supped and wooed. References from literature come back to me and I realize how much more “reporting” and how much less invention there was, in Poe, Dickens, Hardy, Dostoevsky. ( NOT that I remember much at all!!!)

Not the entire city is bandbox. There is a little decay visible—as well as construction. And some of the “modern” architecture struck me nearly as much as the historic. Loved the apartment building kaleidoscope; visual puzzle of contrasting planes of glass.

Traveling by canal to the Riljmuseuem let me take s number of pictures at water level. The pervasiveness of water is a powerful reminder that this is a country that is below sea level and only through extraordinary ingenuity and industriousness does it survive. If there are a people on the planet that could lead the charge to stop global warming—I would think it would be the Dutch. The museum was fun – though cordoned off to a single wing due to remodeling. Several Rembrandts—a painter that still seems completely relevant. Bought a few slices of cheese and began to consider it as a good surrogate for chocolate in terms of indulgence! Also got to visit a coffee house to see how the recreationally indeed spend a Monday night. Best of all—an impromptu kareoke of Volare! Lovely to see people relax a bit.

This looks like a doorway from RENT, Mimi or Musette about to emerge....Bohemia! There is no Bohemia! This is Calcutta. 

This was the most delightful fellow! Glee at making a new friend... 

In contast to the cobblestones, gables and red clay tiles.. were
"Mo-dern" buildings, like this apartment complex. Wiuld be great to see a photrealist painter treat this!  

Cheese maker with blue eyes. And of course, wonderful cheese. 

Picturesque- but at the same time, pulsating with energy. Cyclists, mothers, fathers, couples, lots of action. 

Really lovely! The calm blue corridor...  

A beer wagon that looked completely at home on these streets. Made me imagine my Dad in his early years, before he was married, driving one through the streets of the South side of Chicago .. probably a lot like this. 

Hi there! Wish you were here! Didn't take the canal cruise yet...saving that for dawn.