Archive for September 2011

A master class in story-telling.

Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly - master story-teller

In a small bar in lower Manhattan last night, an Australian singer-songwriter showed me just what great story telling is all about.

Paul Kelly has written a lot of songs in the past 30 years – and over two nights he’s playing a slection of them …. in alphabetical order.

He made me cry three times (or was it four) – and he only got as far as L.

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Not getting arrested is fun too…

Driving into New Mexico

Driving into New Mexico

…or what I did on my vacation, Part 2

I’ve always found the story of the Manhattan project fascinating – this ultra-secret project developed on an isolated plateau in New Mexico.

It was known as ‘Project Y”.

It all sounds like something out of a movie, but it was very real and it really did change the face of the world in which I grew up.

It was therefore inevitable that while on holiday in the south-west, we should turn towards Los Alamos.

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What I did on my vacation – Part 1.

My first sight of a cliff dwelling.

My first sight of a cliff dwelling.

My head is full of the strangest facts – and it’s all my parents’ fault.

When I was a kid, they brought a never-ending stream of books into the house. The types of books were often surprising – I think a lot of the time my parents got them because they were cheap (we didn’t have a lot of money). I read those books from cover to cover – even the encyclopedia!

One which totally captured my imagination at the age of about 10 was a book about the cliff dwellings in the South West of the USA – at Mesa Verde and the surrounding areas.

I was fascinated by the ancient culture that had built such amazing homes – and then just vanished.

Well – I’ve finally been to those cliff dwellings – and all I can say is “Wow!” Read the rest of this entry »