Now that you've identified your circle of suns, shall we go play? 

For style inspiration, I was thinking Palm Royale.  Not sure those gals had much fun -  but the outfits?  We swooned.  Let's turn our Chanel and Celine sunglasses toward Sarah Wetenhall (in the orange hat, on the left).  She's the owner and CEO of the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach... she can be our muse this week.

Today's note is more of a postcard.  I've been on the east coast of Florida - Palm Beach, Delray and Hobe Sound - staying with dear old friends and cavorting with new and old ones.   The land of pink bougainvillea climbing white brick walls.  White rattan chairs and iced teas with lime.   Fun was decidedly had by all.   And I learned more than a soupçon about style from these elegant ladies.  More on that when I return home.   READ MORE

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I've been admiring this beautiful work by David Hockney.  Let's stand together for a minute and drink it in.   What's your favorite part?   Perhaps it's his deft hand with color -  the way the water turns from that mesmerizing dusky blue to an opalescent pinky green in the shallows.   Or maybe it's that long ribbon of reflection that feels like an invitation ... come step into the line of light.   Or maybe it's those tiny incandescent droplets, like fireflies blinking along the path?   The whole thing just feels like a long, slow exhale.  And yet it's so simple.  Thank you, Mr. Hockney.

C.S. Lewis wrote ... "We are mirrors whose brightness is wholly derived from the sun that shines upon us."   READ MORE

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Have you read "Circe" or "The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller?  I just loved the former, and, this weekend, picked up the latter.  Perhaps it was yet another snowy evening in Virginia that beckoned me to the Greek Islands.  Or maybe it was this review by Ann Patchett:  "A scholar's homage to The Iliad, a startling original work of art ... A book I could not put down".

Which is how I found myself down a Greek rabbit hole, visiting with the ancient gods, and reconsidering the muse.

I'd always pictured the classical muse as a beautiful woman of leisure, reclining on a chaise being fed grapes by a pipe playing boy with goat legs.  A strapping mortal man stands nearby, absorbing her feminine glow while creating his work of genius.  Seems I had this wrong.   READ MORE

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