Five European Manor Getaways

Posh places...

 

Ashford Castle, Ireland, architecturaldigest.com

 

 

 

 

 

Five European Manor Getaways

 

 

If you are looking for a different kind of getaway this summer, architecturaldigest.com has some interesting suggestions.
 

Consider five stylish manor retreats that the website says are newly opened.
 

 For descriptions by Alyssa Bird of some nice looking places and a slide show: http://www.architecturaldigest.com/ad/travel/2014/european-country-manor-getaways-slideshow?title=1

 

 

Time Machine: 2600 Years in Five Minutes

From ancient Rome to the present...

 

Cultural history, naturevideo, huffingtonpost.com

 

 

 

 

Time Machine:  2600 Years in Five Minutes

 

 

 

If you could compress 2600 years of cultural history into one moment, it might look something like the illustration above, reports Kevin Short on huffingtonpost.com.

 

This fascinating visual, created by Maximilian Schich, an art historian at the University of Texas at Dallas, depicts the birth and death locations of some of history's most influential people.

 

The mapping starts in 600 BC, around the time the Roman Empire was founded, and ends in 2012.

 

For more, including a remarkable video:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/02/human-culture-map_n_5644472.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darien, Rowayton Real Estate Markets Mixed as of July 31

Year-to-date update:

 

Hybrid Lilies, K. Allen, August 2014, Darien

 

 

 

 

Darien, Rowayton Real Estate Markets Mixed as of July 31

 

 

Darien and Rowayton residential real estate market results were mixed as of July 31, according to a report today by the Darien MLS.

 

The latest year-to-date results, compared with the similar 2013 period, showed:

 

-- The average sale price in each community rose:  2.1 percent in Darien and 6.6 percent in Rowayton.

 

-- Sales volume in both declined:  -10 percent in Darien and -7.3 percent in Rowayton.

 

-- Sales in both were off:  -11.9 percent in Darien and -13 percent in Rowayton.

 

For more: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Musical Moments: Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody

Famous piece, remarkable performance...

 

Valentina Lisitsa, aimageartists.com

 

 

 

 

Musical Moments:  Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody

 

 

Musical Moments features music and artists I've enjoyed over the years.

 

 I hope you'll enjoy Valentina Lisitsa's remarkable performance of Franz Liszt's famous Hungarian Rhapsody:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdH1hSWGFGU

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closings Top Darien Weekly Real Estate Results

Slower summer market...

 

Light Beyond the Marsh, Donald Demers, jrusselljinishiangallery.com

   

 

 

 

Closings Top Darien Weekly Real Estate Results

 

 

 

Fourteen closings topped Darien weekly residential real estate results for the week ending today.

 

Results in other major categories, according to the Darien MLS, were: 

 

-- Seven new listings of property for sale;

-- Five price changes;

-- Four accepted offers, and

-- Nine properties going under contract.

 

For more:

 

 

 

Coming Soon: Harper's Bazaar Iconic September Issue

30 years and one trimmed Chanel skirt in the making...

 

Harper's Bazaar, huffingtonpost.com

 

  

 

 

 

Coming Soon:  Harper's Bazaar Iconic September Issue

 

 

 

Anyone who has ever worked on a highly anticipated September issue of a magazine will tell you it's no easy task, Jamie Feldman reports on huffingtonpost.com.

 

Editors start planning months -- and in Harper's Bazaar's case, 30 years -- in advance, Feldman wrote.

 

Women's Wear Daily reported Thursday that Harper's September issue will feature a spread of "icons' -- Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Claudia Schiffer and Lady Gaga, to name a few -- and three separate covers, according to Feldman.

 

Along the way, fashion director Carine Roitfeld, who was responsible for the project, decided Lady Gaga's Chanel skirt was too long and cut it herself.

 

We'll have to wait until Harper's hits the newsstands August 19 to see the actual results, but for now here's a sneak preview:           http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/31/harpers-bazaar-september-issue-2014_n_5639357.html

 

                

 

Climbing China's Incredible Cliffs

"Holding on for dear life..."

 

Climber waves from atop a karst spire, China, Carsten Peter, nationalgeographic.com

 

 

 

 

Climbing China's Incredible Cliffs

 

 

 

China is home to the world's greatest concentrations of karsts: rocky spires and spillways shaped over millions of years by the elements, which nationalgeographic.com features in an amazing video, The Karsts of China.

 

See how a team of climbers were inspired by what they describe as a surreal landscape and made a "full Hail Mary attempt" at times as they scaled China's wild formations while "holding on for dear life."

 

For an entertaining and spectacular video:  http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/magazine/ngm-china-caves-extended?source=relatedvideo