DANCE PARTY: Robyn

Start your day off with this bird

EAT: Dim Sum

Chinese tapas. From barbequed pork buns to chicken feet. 

Drink gobs of tea to help devour the double delishness.
A recipe for one of the best. 

DRINK: Dark n Stormy

 

The drink. Tasted tonight here by yours truly. 

Delicious.  And great ice cubes to boot!  (It's all in the cubes.)

READ: The Sun Also Rises

Paris, Spain, fishing, bull fights, the Lost Generation, American masterpiece.

This novel was inspired by a trip Hemingway himself took to the bull fights in Pamplona.  Spoiler alert: Hemingway is Jake Barnes

CELEBRATE: Chinese New Year

 

The Year of the Dragon. 

From the South China Morning Post:
The Dragon vibe rolls in with a bang, 

bringing excitement, extremes, and unpredictability. 

Dragon will keep you on your toes this year. 

That's a good thing - we can only grow if we reach beyond our grasp. 

Enter the dragon. Kung hei fat choi.

STYLE: Camouflage

It wasn't until after our boys fought in the Great War that we English-speakers no longer called it dazzle painting. Please don't tell Lisa Frank.

DANCE: Pina Bausch

Revolutionary choreographer. Remarkable company. Blurring the lines between dance and theatre.  Truly breathtaking.

ADVENTURE: Hong Kong

Today we wave arrivederci to 1/2 of BnB creative.  They're off to Hong Kong for big city adventures.  We all look forward to dispatches from the far East.  Bon voyage, gals.  HK's never gonna know what's about to hit it.

ARTIST: Peter Beard

Animal blood, clippings, photographs, hair, mud, you name it, Beard used it.

Karen Blixen's Out of Africa inspired this playboy to travel to Africa and create his masterpieces.

Love. it. Love. him. 

(and that Land Rover ain't bad either...)

EAT: Biscuits

Whether you enjoy the Yank version for breakfast or with chicken, or the Brit iteration with a nice cuppa while watching Downton Abbey, everyone enjoys a good biscuit.

WEAR: Long gloves

Lady fingers.

MUSIC: Woody Guthrie

The king of folk. Check out the album, Mermaid Avenue. The lyrics to all the songs were written by Woody Guthrie sometime before his death in 1967 and put to music by Billy Bragg and Wilco about 30 years later. Lend an ear here. Is Woody strummin' on a tailgate of a Burb in one of those video shots?

ENJOY: Snow Day

Sledding Art Hill, 1904

WEAR: Glasses

Stylish and practical.  Get an inspired pair here.

LOST ART: Shoe shine

Do it yourself.  It will become a calming ritual.  Line 'em up and shine 'em up.

All you need are a few tricks of the trade.

Standard tricks.  Luxury tricks.  Sweet tricks.

INNOVATION: Typewriter

The Italians created an early prototype called Cembalo scrivano o macchina da scrivere a tasti ("Scribe harpsichord, or machine for writing with keys").  The Danish made a Writing Ball.  The word "typewriter" is often cited as the longest English word that can be typed using only one row of keys of a QWERTY  keyboard.  
Mark Twain claims to be the first important writer to hand a publisher a typewritten manuscript for his memoir, Life on the Mississippi. 
And e. e. cummings couldn't have composed this gem without a typewriter.

FOR: Wild Rivers

Now hear this.  A letter from Patagonia founder and owner, Yvon Chouinard.

TRAVEL: A Rail Journey

A dream.  To travel by train...in a big way.  

Ever since reading Agatha Christie's tale 

which unfurls on this iconic locomotive.  All aboard.

BOTANICAL: Poppies

Famous poppy enthusiasts include Van Gogh, Ancient Egyptians, and the Royal British Legion.

ERA: Art Nouveau

Put a bird on it

PLAY: Gin

Birds do it.  Bees do it.  Even educated fleas do it.

Let's do it.  Let's play gin.

Don't know how?  It's easy.

Happy New Year.