Kumari of Kathmandu
The Kumari’s temple in Kathmandu, Nepal is one of the favorite places I’ve visited, probably because while I was standing in the courtyard the young, kohl-eyed Kumari herself—as described in Encyclopedia of the Exquisite—appeared in the temple window like a…
Botanical Beauties
How is it possible that I have yet to visit Harvard’s glass flowers? My husband has been trying to get me there for years. People I hardly know insist that I go. I’ve read all about the collection and it’s…
Idleness by the Numbers
I’ve been too busy, so today I looked back at Essays in Idleness, by the medieval Japanese monk and scholar Yoshida Kenko (1283-1352). I need Kenko to remind me what it’s all about. “What a strange, demented feeling it gives me when…
World on a String
There may be snow on the ground here in Maine, erectile but the sight of these gorgeous string-flower creations from Amsterdam is making it feel like Spring. I am obsessed. This clever florist has taken the Japanese art of bonasai—and…
Comments