MMXIV

No one likes goodbyes. Least of all me. But after 670 posts, I have decided to call it quits. And what a journey it has been. Together we have travelled to the four corners of the globe, uncovering architectural gems. Voyeuristically peeking through cracks and crevices, into windows and behind doors, all to find the illusive phenomenon known as Style.

To ring in 2014, here are fourteen of my favourite and more personal postings:

1. The Legacy of Utata Mandela (here)
2. Alphaville on the Esplanade (here)
3. Chandler House (here)
4. By the Rivers of Babylonstoren (here)
5. S.O.S. (here)
6. Three months in Cape Town: A Snapshot (here)
7. Our House at the End of our Street: Finale (here... and more here)
8. Searching for Sugar Man - Tribeca, New York (here)
9. New Year's Eve: Seen and Heard at the Stork Club (here)
10. Passage to Africa III - Stowe (Part I) (here)
11. In the Ring with Brooklyn Circus (here)
12. On Location: B'More (here)
13. My husband said I should call this Buying at Brimfield with my Husband's Money (here)
14. Quagga (here)

To all those who journeyed with me and offered input and appreciation, thank you and an enormously happy 2014.

*

Here is my last and final posting. My home in Cape Town...

André Dubreuil

Artist André Dubreuil has devoted 20 years to the meticulous restoration of his family's grand 18th-century chateau. 

When I am surrounded by beauty, whether it’s in nature or with objects, that’s when I am at my happiest... When I am here, I never want to leave, he says as he heads down a tree-lined driveway to the 18th-century estate.

Well, I would also be chained to the place if I were he. Sigh, swoon and suspire...

Read more here

Longing for Babylonstoren...

After pouring over photos from the past year, I came across these of a visit to Babylonstoren last winter. What a place! Must get my fix soon...

A Winter Landscape

Beautiful, aren't they? 

By artist, Martin Beek...

The winter landscapes began in late October. They are often based around Ipsden or Oxfordshire locations, most were drawn in or near to my car on the way to work. They are often bleak open places, influenced by Graham Sutherland's etchings or Rembrandt's small landscapes, they are bisected by the page divide...

Via here

Farming never looked so glamorous...

Believe it or not, this is the Agriculture Museum in Városliget, Budapest...

Via here

Merry Christmahanakwanzika

Jardim Botânico Bosque Rodrigues Alves

Via here (Read more here)

Unruffled

Photographed by Beppe Brancato for Casa Vogue...

Via here

Teal and Green

Kate Moss photographed by Mario Testino for the December (2013) issue of Vogue...

Ballinlough Castle, County Westmeath

See more here. Via here

A Fine Frenzy

In the house of Catherine Martin and Baz Luhrman...

See more here

The Legacy of uTata Mandela

Mourning a Leader, Celebrating a Legacy - the South African Parliament pays tribute to a great man. It was a privilege for my family and I to be able to walk through the grounds of parliament in Cape Town yesterday. We were very moved by what we saw...

Patina

Via here