The Mirror Man of Cartegena does a brisk business in souvenir mirrors, hand-painted while you wait

Our guide led us down a narrow street in Cartegena where we encountered a man sitting on the pavement painting local scenes on little rectangle mirrors. He promised to demonstrate his technique by finishing a mirror in "two minutes, uh, maybe 20 seconds." He worked rapidly and a steady hand, working mostly with his fingers but adding a few fine brush strokes near the end. Everyone seemed mesmerized. I don't think anyone was timing him. When he finished he drew applause from the tour group. The guide translated the deal for him: one mirror for $7, or two for $10. The bargain hunters in our group knew a deal when they saw one. I don't think anyone bought just one mirror. Ours grace the wall in the foyer, a reminder of our trip to Colombia. I wondered if our guide gets a cut, or if the painter is his brother-in-law.

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In Aruba, a shopping haven ... for the ladies

I came upon this scene in Aruba, but it’s a universal phenomenon. The women shop and the men look for a place to sit. This would be a good entry for a funny parody account on Instagram called “Shopping With Their Ladies: The Miserable Men of Instagram.” A couple of years ago, a mall in Shanghai introduced “husband rest cabins”, spaces with comfortable leather chairs and video games where husbands could relax while their wives shop to their heart’s content. It wasn’t quite so fancy in Aruba.

What better place to grow beautiful things than in a garden?

By Linda Foxlow I had not known what to expect when we went to the home of the impressionist painter Claude Monet in Giverny, France in March 2023. I had, of course, seen pictures, and Monet’s beautiful paintings. But the gardens themselves defy description. I’m using this glimpse of a small part of the gardens and the window through which the artist viewed his incredible setting to announce a new endeavor. We travel extensively each year, and there are abundant opportunities to see some of the world’s most beautiful places. Naturally, I try to capture some small part of that as we travel. It was suggested that we ought to share some of those images from time to time, and so that is what we are doing. You can find this images and a few we have posted on Fine Art America . We’ll be adding more later. We hope you like them. We’d love to see your comments below.

Fairbanks, Alaska: Day 1 of our 12-day journey in the 49th state

Linda and I cruised Alaska in 2015. This time. with Princess Cruise Lines, we put together a tour that starts with five nights in the interior. Day 4 and it is an amazing experience. Come along with us and feel the magic of our 49th state! That's Denali in the photo at the top. At more than 20,000 feet above sea level, it's the highest peak in North America. Denali had been the traditional name for generations but in the Alaska Gold Rush days in 1896, a prospector is said to have named it Mount McKinley, to show his support for William McKinley, then a candidate for president. McKinley won and the name stuck, at least until 1975, when a state board tasked with naming places decided the old name, Denali, was better, and made it official. The Federal government kept on calling it Mount McKinley right on up until 2015, when the name was changed to match what Alaskans had been calling it all along. We're told some folks in Ohio weren't too happy about that name chang...

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