Waiting for Summer

/
Before lunch at Palazzo Pizzo (oil on canvas)

This is a very cold February, and the snow has even reached Southern Italy. This is less fun than in more Northern parts of Europe. In the South, the houses are not as well prepared for cold winters. Furhter more, heating costs are very high in Italy. So it happens sometimes in winter, that outside in the sunshine it is warmer than inside the homes.

So, let's think some warm thoughts.

When I look at my newly finished painting (above), I think of summertime in Pizzo. I enjoyed last summer very much, especially the aperitivo "Aperol Spritz" between beach and lunch. I had to paint it in oil on canvas. The view is the one from our kitchen or dining table.

I love rooms with sea view (who does not?). One artist, who's artwork I admire a lot, is Henri Matisse. He actually painted a few rooms with sea view. It is facinating how he captured the atmosphere inside and outside the room.

And that's why I will add this book to my collection. It's all about Matisse' rooms with a view:

About acrylic Buddha Statues, Online Shopping and The Year of the Dragon

/

yellow transparent acrylic Buddha

From my actual hometown Bangkok, Thailand I am writing this. From the Italian side no news so far. Hence, I thought you might enjoy my weekend finds from Bangkok in the meantime. It was a spontaneous trip to the market on Saturday - during the Chinese New Year weekend.

small colourful acrylic Buddha statues

One friend had recently discovered a small stand that sells colourful acrylic Buddha statues. And me and another friend wanted to see where. So we hopped on a taxi.

The small statues are transparent or mat and have a kind of golden antique finish. However the larger statues look at least as good! What a difficult choice!


large acrylic buddhas with matt and golden finish

Via my iPhone I mailed my friend back in Germany this picture directly from the site, asking her which one she would prefer. This is a new dimension of online shopping! She opted for the orange one (that looks too golden in the picture above).

Two hours later I was already back home and did not only collected colorful impressions, but also some decorative objects:

The large orange Buddha 

Acrylic orange Buddha at night

small acrylic transparent buddhas in orange, yellow and clear

And since today is the first day of The Year of the Dragon, I am wishing you a Happy Chinese New Year form Bangkok ! The Dragon is seen as the most powerful sign of the Chinese zodiac. May it be a happy, lucky, healthy, successful and prosperous year for all of you!

Happy New Year of the Dragon from Bangkok

For a few more pictures from Chinatown please visit my Bangkok blog.

Winter in Calabria

/
Camigliatello in La Sila National Park, Calabria

So far this blog was all about renovating and decorating a Beach House.

Now, we did it. Okay, it still needs some improvements and probably constant re-renovation work - but mainly we are done. And we are really happy with the result.

Strangely, when I saw the latest interior magazine AD during our skiing holidays in Europe, with lots of snow outside, and all these cozy homes and restaurants in the mountains with wooden fires inside ... I started dreaming ...

Sounds crazy, I know. - Shouldn't I focus on our beach house?

But then I remembered, that Calabria has not only 800 km of coast line to offer. Calabria is quiet hilly and has mountains up to 2,000 meters high above sea level. And when it snows, you can ski! Yes, there are a few ski lifts!

The most important "ski resorts" in Calabria are Camigliatello and Villaggio Palumbo in La Sila and Gambarie in Aspromonte. Both mountainous regions are National Parks.
 
Pizzo --> Sila  app. 120 km and 1,5h drive (via Google Map)

La Sila is about 120 km North of Pizzo and the Aspromonte about 100 km South.  We could reach a ski resort from Pizzo in aobut 1,5 hours drive ! 

From the sea to the mountains in no time. The highest mountain in Sila, Botte Donato (1,928 m) is covered with snow right now. Information about snow levels at Camigliatello via Skiinfo. There are two ski lifts only, but this will do for us when in Calabria in winter!

This is an excellent reason to push forward the installation of a chimney in our beach house. We could drink hot teas and wine in front of the wooden fire after a day skiing up in the mountains. :-)

And I really enjoyed this magazine, especially the featured home of Aerin Lauder in Aspen.

AD German Edition Dec/Jan 2012

Living room of Aerin Lauder's Aspen home


Wishing you all the best for 2012!

Small Update

/
The new old lamp is installed

Two months ago I posted the last post - and it was about this lamp. It is now installed and Angelo sent me the picture recently, since nothing was happening on my blog ...

I know, the post "summer with friends (part II)" is still missing! And now it's almost Christmas. Maybe when the post is ready I will upload it quietly with an older date - to make it fit to the season?

If you are a frequent or subscribed reader, you will know that our family has moved to Bangkok, Thailand last year. So you might also have heard about the flood in Thailand and around Bangkok. That is what kept me "busy" - at least mentally - for a couple of weeks.

We were lucky, since we live in the flood spared dry heart of the city. But nobody knew that we will stay dry. Everybody was prepared for 1m high flood allover Bangkok. We stocked up drinking water and ready to eat food, we bought candles and water filters, we had sandbags allover the place, sometimes 2m high - everyone in houses had moved furniture upstairs, and some have bought a boat, just in case. Everything was just in case and we were living from day to day, not sure if we were still able to move around the next day. But the flood kept invisible. And Bangkok people - who did not evacuate to home countries or to beach resorts - started "suffering" from invisible stress. Some started to call it "flood-burn-out".

Of course this is a joke - nothing in comparison of what all the other poor people around the dry heart of Bangkok have been suffering. The media has moved on to other subjects long ago. But there are still people flooded in Bangkok! Of course now, all the help can concentrate to dry out the last districts (before year end is target from the government).

So, I have been more on my new Bangkok blog to write about this subject that was in everybodies' heads for more than a month - the FLOOD. If you are interested come over for a visit - maybe for a dry Christmas Walk through Bangkok.


Since the holidays are approaching fast, I want to wish all my readers and supporters
 Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and all the best for the New Year 2012 !
Hope to see you here again next year!

decorating our Xmas tree in Bangkok
(32 degree Celsius in afternoon sun)

A new old lamp

/
old wrought iron gas lamp

My Italian family likes to stroll antique markets and browse antique shops. Variety and prices are more attractive in Italy than in Germany. The latest find of my mother-in-law in Northern Italy is this old wrought iron chandelier that used to have a gas supply in the center of the lamp.

modified by adding new lamp shades and electrical wire

My father in law modified the gas lamp into an electric lamp by adding adding electric cables. Also the three small lamp shades of red glas are newly added. If I want, he said, I can have it for my bed room. Of course, I want! It would go along well with the red in the floor tiles.

original cement tiles with red swastika, an over 3,000 year old symbol for good luck

we had an expert restoring the old flooring 

I am looking forward to see a picture of the chandelier hanging from the ceiling in our bed room. The pictures above were taken in my parents-in-law home in Calabria and in our house in Pizzo.