Snow, Movies, and One Really Good Book

Park City, Utah

The magical setting for the Sundance Film Festival

This past weekend my dream of visiting a winter wonderland (read here) came true.  We spent a long weekend staying with friends in Deer Valley, Utah and were able to see five of the films that were shown at the Sundance Film Festival. Snow, movies, a magical setting, and one great book.  It was the perfect winter weekend.  

The Movies --

Ashton Kutcher in "Jobs," a biopic about Steve Jobs

The stars Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad and the director Joshua Michael Stern (center)

"Before Midnight" with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy

The third movie in Richard Linklater's trilogy

All of the films we saw were enjoyable; these were my favorites:

"Jobs" -- Ashton Kutcher gives an excellent performance as Steve Jobs.  The film take us back to the beginning of Jobs' career when he was a student at Reed College.  The time period of the seventies and eighties is vividly brought to life through sets, costumes, and some really great music.  We watch Steve Jobs as he goes from a young man who dropped out of college and created Apple computers in his parents' garage to the moment in his career when he is about to release the IPhone.  It is a fascinating story and a terrific film. 

"Before Midnight" --  This is the third film in the trilogy directed by Richard Linklater.  It continues the love story between two characters, an American man Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and a French woman Celine (Julie Delpy).  The characters initially met on a train bound for Vienna in the 1995 film "Before Sunrise." They are reunited nine years later in the 2004 film "Before Sunset."  In "Before Midnight"  the characters are married, have children and are vacationing in Greece. They are in their forties, still in love, but dealing with the complications of their lives.  The witty and smart banter is one of the joys of the movie.  If you like great writing and dialogue, you will love this film.

We also saw and enjoyed "Don Jon's Addiction," "Afternoon Delight," and "The Way, Way Back."

The Setting -- 

 Beautiful Deer Valley
I loved having dinner one night at the Stein Erikson Lodge

The Snow --

There was plenty!
Here are skiers enjoying the snow as seen from our window in the morning

The snow continued to fall all weekend

The Book --

With all that snow, there were delays getting out of Salt Lake City.  Fortunately, I had a really good book to help me get through the long hours of waiting.  The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman fit the bill perfectly.  It follows the private lives of the reporters and editors who work for an English-language newspaper in Rome.  From the moment I began reading it, I was enchanted.  This novel is funny and poignant and includes a cast of characters that you will never forget.  Each chapter is about a particular journalist at the paper, from the editor in chief to the copy editor.  Although each chapter could stand on its own as a great short story, they are all connected and add up to a vivid portrait of this eccentric and nostalgic world, that of the newsroom.   This book is so good that it has me wondering, will someone turn it into a film?

I hope you have a chance to see these films -- they were all purchased and should be released in 2013  -- and to read this enchanting book by Tom Rachman.

Photo one via here, photo two via here, photo three via here, photo four via here, photo five via here 

Cold Comforts

Stein Eriksen Lodge Deer Valley in Park City, Utah

Do you remember the scene in the film "White Christmas" when Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen dream about going to Vermont and all that snow?  Well, I have been doing a little dreaming of my own. Right now, roaring fires and hot chocolate in a snowy environment sound awfully good to me.

Maybe romantic snowy scenes have been on my mind precisely because there is no snow where I live.  It has, however, been unseasonably cold here in Los Angeles.  Some people are not very happy about the weather, but I love it.  Taking a walk on a brisk morning is invigorating and inspiring.  There is a sense of feeling alive that comes from being outside in the cold weather.  (My apologies to those of you who live in a frigid climate and are sick of it by now!)   Lighting the fireplace in the early afternoon and snuggling in with a cup of tea and a good book is also my idea of happiness.  The crisp and brisk weather has me feeling nostalgic about snowy scenes from my youth in New England and craving a cozy hotel set in a winter environment.

I did a little research and came up with some inviting places to stay in the cold winter months.  These are not hotels that take you away from the cold, but put you right in it and provide all the cozy comforts to keep you warm.  You can be active outdoors by day, and snuggle fireside by night.  And you could also stay inside all day and find plenty to do. But no matter how you decide to spend your time, you would find yourself ensconced in the most comfortable surroundings.  These cold winter days are a great time to engage in some armchair traveling and wanderlust.  If you are dreaming of a scene right out of Currier and Ives that comes with lots of old-fashioned comfort to keep you warm and snug, these places are for you.  They would be perfect for an idyllic winter escape.  We can dream, can't we?

The Pitcher Inn in Warren, Vermont
I have stayed here and it is truly magical!

  Matakauri Lodge in Queenstown, New Zealand

Rusty Parrot Lodge & Spa in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Hotel Madeline and New Sheridan Hotel in Telluride, Colorado

Winvian Resort in Litchfield, Conn.

Twin Farms in Barnard, Vermont

Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colorado

Triple Creek Ranch in Darby, Montana

Stowe Mountain Lodge and Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont

Fire-lit Cove at Lake Placid Lodge in Lake Placid, New York

These magical spots are the stuff of fantasy.  They conjure up images of sitting by the fire, thawing out and staying warm with a glass of wine and cheese fondue.  I can imagine being fireside for hours and catching up with some great books, working on jigsaw puzzles, making S'mores, and drinking hot toddies.  (I have never been sure exactly what those are, but they sound delicious!)   Jane Austen wrote, "Ah there is nothing like staying at home, for real comfort." Yes, that is true and and these warm and welcoming places promise a "home away from home" and some old-fashioned comforts to help you appreciate the beauty of winter.   I'm ready, when do we leave?


Photos three and eight via here, photos one, six, seven and nine via here, photos four, five and ten via here, photo two via here, photo eleven via here

Favorite Finds in Napa

Napa, the famous wine region in northern California, is truly a feast for all the senses.  First there is the beautiful natural scenery.  Country roads that wind through miles and miles of vineyards and trees.  At the end of the afternoon, the lighting is golden and lovely and produces scenes such as the one above.  Then of course there is the wine, some of the best you will ever taste.  And to go with that wine is delicious food at an array of excellent restaurants.  I was there recently and had some fantastic meals.  Foodies will feel like they've gone to heaven here.  The little town of St. Helena is lined with cookware stores featuring every pot, pan, or specialty gadget for home cooking you could think of. Chocolate shops, olive oil purveyors, specialty linens, garden stores, and even a fabulous rare book store are in abundance.  Here are some of the places and products that stood out during a recent visit to Napa:

The food was so good in Napa.  Press is one of the best restaurants in the area.

Sunflowers greet you at the entrance of Press Restaurant

 The meal begins with this delectable bread basket filled with gougeres, brioche rolls and bread sticks

The streets of St. Helena have a great collection of food and wine shops.  Woodhouse Chocolate is one of the prettiest and carries delicious chocolate candy.

The packaging is gorgeous 

Olivier is a purveyor of great food products as well as beautiful ceramic products for the kitchen.  I couldn't resist buying one of the charming olive oil dispensers pictured above.

The St. Helena Olive Oil Company has some of the best olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar I have ever tasted.  I left with a bottle of each.

More gourmet food products at St. Helena Olive Oil Company

They carry many types of gourmet salt

Acres Home and Garden was a treasure trove of everything for the gardener

Every corner of the store was loaded with unusual and beautiful gardening products

It is hard to believe that these flowers are not real

Jan De Luz carries beautiful embroidered linens which they will also monogram for you

A little nook at Jan De Luz for travel books

Another great restaurant for dinner

As the last golden days of summer come to an end, Napa is a great place to spend them.  The country roads and vineyards, the lush natural scenery, the delicious food and the legendary wines all add up to a beautiful trip filled with great inspiration.  It's hard to believe, but fall is right around the corner...

Eye Candy

I have been working on organizing my study, a room that has been taken over by too many books!  My study was supposed to be a room for reading and writing, an orderly room where you could find a book if you needed to or locate an article on that writer that you love.  The dream was that books would fill the book shelves and files provided with inspiration would fill the cabinets.  When we moved to our house ten years ago I unpacked a lot of things from the old house and stored them in those study cabinets, meaning to get to them one day and replace them with files, but somehow never got to it.  Ten years have passed and the files have never been made.  And books have been piling up all over the place.

A couple of weeks ago I made up my mind to begin this project.  I started by going through everything in those cabinet drawers, which included many treasures from the past:  articles, magazines, catalogues, stationary, cards, everything I had been collecting over the years.  To keep or throw away, that was the question.  The goal was to clean out the drawers and make space for the files.  Oh the amount of things I threw away!  But, there were also many treasures -- one of my favorite discoveries were the postcards and catalogues I have been collecting over the years from our travels and visits to museums, art galleries, and historic houses.  I put some of them out on my desk and I loved the collage they made.  A friend of mine described them as "eye candy."  And she was right.  I just love them!

Here are some of my favorites:

Duncan Grant, "At the Ballet" (1938) from The Bloomsbury Workshop in London

This  London gallery had an exhibition of works by Vanessa Bell, many years ago

I probably received this invitation in the mail

Vanessa Bell, "Self Portrait" (c.1958) from Charleston in Sussex, England

Catalogue for an exhibition of works by Roger Fry at The Bloomsbury Workshop

Notecard with a drawing of Knole, the ancestral home of Vita Sackville-West in Kent, England

Painting of Lady Ottoline Morrell by Simon Bussy (1920) at the National Portrait Gallery in London

The Bronte sisters, oil painting by Branwell Bronte at the National Portrait Gallery

Bloomsbury Silhouettes, 5 postcards by Anna Fewster, bought at Charleston last year

Snapshots into the past and reminders of travels and interests from many years ago -- these are just some of the souvenirs I have discovered during my adventures in cleaning up my study.  It feels a bit like a travel diary.  And there is so much more...I had no idea this would be so much fun!

More Italian Postcards

Portofino, Italy

"Such beauty; and she there to see it.  Such beauty; and she alive to feel it.   Her face was bathed in light.  Lovely scents came up to the window and caressed her.  A tiny breeze gently lifted her hair.  Far out in the bay a cluster of almost motionless fishing boats hovered like a flock of white birds on the tranquil seal  How beautiful, how beautiful. Not to have died before this...to have been allowed to see, breathe, feel this...She stared, her lips were parted. Happy? Poor, ordinary, everyday word.  But what could one say, how could one describe it?  It was as though she could hardly stay inside herself, it was as though she were too small to hold so much of joy, it was as though she were washed through with light.  And how astonishing to feel this sheer bliss..."

--  Elizabeth Von Arnim, "The Enchanted April"

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"Sunshine and wisteria" -- that was the promise of the advertisement for a small castle on the shores of the Mediterranean that take four women to Italy in "The Enchanted April."  In this book Elizabeth Von Arnim wrote about the miraculous effects of an Italian holiday and the restorative powers of Italy.  It tells the story of four repressed English women who travel from England to Italy and stay in an enchanting castle for a month.  Their lives change and their hearts soften because of the natural beauty of their surroundings -- the "sunshine and wisteria" of their rented castle in Italy.  It is there that they find love and happiness, and are also able to liberate their true natures.   Elizabeth Von Arnim wrote the book while staying at the Portofino Castello in the 1920's during the month of April.

If you are dreaming about Italy and would love to spend a month in the glorious Italian countryside,  read "The Enchanted April."  It will take you there.  Elizabeth Von Arnim's classic book is an inspiring and delightful read and evokes all the sensual pleasures of Italy.  It will make you want to go to Italy and also want to know these women.

Books and travel take us places.  If you can't get to the Italian Riviera or Tuscany this summer, there are many books that will take you there.   Go here for more suggestions.

Have a lovely weekend!

Photo via here

Dreaming About Italy

Ravello, Italy

Photo via here

Happy Summer!  What are your vacation plans?  I will be staying close to home most of the time, but I have been dreaming of far flung destinations.  Especially Ravello, Capri, Positano...oh those names conjure up such beautiful images.  Gorgeous scenery, delicious food, great wines, the Mediterranean, magnificent views, glamour, getting away from it all...  I have never traveled to this region, but its beauty is legendary. Twice in one day two different friends mentioned Ravello to me. One was on her way there for a  vacation (lucky girl!) and another was reading a book set in Ravello.  I am half Italian and spent a lot of time with my Italian grandparents when I was young.  They were always cooking delicious food for me and "mangia bene" was a frequent refrain in their house. My grandfather had a vegetable garden in his backyard and I spent many happy hours there as a child wandering through the tomato plants and swinging on the hammock.  I have always wanted to go to Rome and Naples, their birthplaces, and trace the footsteps of my ancestors.

Venice, 2005

I have been to Italy once and oh, how I loved it!  We went to Venice, Florence, and Rome, the three cities that I imagine everyone starts out with.  However, I am hoping one day to travel to the Amalfi Coast and experience the true La Dolce Vita.  In the meantime, I am gravitating towards books about Italy.  Summer is here and Italy beckons. There are so many good ones to choose from:

Who can forget the scene in "The Enchanted April" when Lottie, one of the four Englishwomen who have traveled to Italy, throws open the windows of their Tuscan villa and sees their Italian paradise for the first time.  That setting has transformative powers for all of them.

E.M. Forster's first novel is about his signature themes:  the collision of cultures and the hypocrisy and snobbishness of Edwardian England.  The story concerns an English widow who goes to Italy and marries an Italian.  I haven't read this one for a while, but I remember enjoying it.  I love this new edition by Vintage Classics.

"A Room With a View" is a gem, romantic and optimistic, once again about young people escaping their restrictive lives and finding love and happiness in Italy.  And who can forget the beautiful movie starring Helena Bonham Carter and the scene where Lucy Honeychurch and George Emerson walk in the meadow carpeted with bluebells!

This book must have been responsible for a surge of people buying and restoring villas in Tuscany. Frances Mayes made it sound so romantic and life in Tuscany so beautiful and simple.

"A Year int the World" is another book by Frances Mayes that I have been reading.  She writes about the allure of travel and the many places that she has visited all around the world and what they have meant to her.  I love her thoughtful reflections about travel.  She visits many spots in Italy outside of Tuscany.

A vintage book on Italian cooking given to me by my daughter, don't you love the cover?

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And here are some that I have accumulated over the years, but haven't had a chance to read:

In these essays Henry James writes of the qualities he admires about Italy, as well as the political shifts and cultural revolutions he observed at the time (from 1872 -1909).

"Innocence" by Penelope Fitzgerald is described as a "delectable comedy of manners" that takes place in Italy in 1955.  The story concerns an old Florentine family struggling after the war to keep their villa and farm going.

Author Shirley Hazzard writes about her friendship with the writer Graham Greene on the island of Capri.  He came to Capri each summer for years and it was there that they formed their friendship. 

"A Book of Secrets" sounds intriguing, the subtitle is "Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers." It tells several different stories that took place in the beautiful and mysterious Villa Cimbrone in Ravello.  Can't wait to read this one.

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Monique at her blog Bringing Travel Home just mentioned a new book "La Bella Lingua" about the beauty of the Italian language.  The author Dianne Hales writes about her "love affair with Italian, the world's most enchanting language."  It sounds excellent!

Many writers have celebrated the beauty and pleasures of Italy in their books, using Italy as a metaphor for love and liberation.  Elizabeth Von Armin, E.M. Forster, and Henry James all wrote about characters finding themselves in Italy. Tell me, are you dreaming about Italy and if so, what books are taking you there?  Have you been to Italy?  Please tell me about your favorite region or city. We can all be armchair travelers!