Albanian Beauty & Its 700,000 Bunkers: Profiling a Man Who Built Them

As our minibus chugged through the Albanian countryside during our 6-hour trip, my husband and I inadvertently created a new car ‘game’ to pass the time: who could first spy a bunker as a new one appeared in the ever-changing panorama? With nearly 700,000 bunkers still dotting the southeast European nation’s landscape even today, the game didn’t prove challenging.

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An Afternoon With Eat, Pray, Love’s Ketut Liyer

Eat, Pray, Love ’s footprint is everywhere in Ubud, where the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, spent her love chapter. From the plethora of single women of all ages who pound Ubud’s streets, to the clichéd tours and Balinese people who name-drop the locals who were characters in the best-seller, the book’s influence is ever-evident.

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 Europe Somewhere in Time: An Interview with Artist & Photographer, Maurice Sapiro

I recently happened upon the beautiful, timeless work of Maurice Sapiro, an accomplished photographer, painter and sculptor who calls Connecticut home. The images from his Europe gallery, circa 1956, are what captivated me: honey-toned scenes of Venetian gondoliers gracefully powering delicate boats across a lagoon; black and white images of Bavarians in frenzied celebration; silhouetted-figures spying London’s Tower Bridge under a veil of fog; and tiny figures standing among the lacy rivets of the Eiffel Tower.

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Exploring the Mysticism of Greece’s Byzantine Icons: Profiling Iconographer Dimitrios Moulas

In a two-room workshop that is dwarfed by the surrounding massive Meteora rock formations, 38 year-old Greek iconographer Dimitrios Moulas demonstrates admirable focus towards his subject – an icon that will soon represent Jesus Christ. With a delicate paintbrush in hand, he carefully draws fine facial hairs. After a few moments have passed, the hairs have been transformed into a wispy mustache.

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Lessons from Erna Blonek: Remembering a Talented Musician, Teacher & Friend

In a black and white image, bordered in a simple silver frame on my piano, she is seated behind the wheel of a classic roadster. Coyly sporting a riding cap, cream-colored driving gloves, and her trademark smile is a woman who not only taught me arpeggios, flats and sharps, but about life, its remarkable coincidences and values that we should hold dear.

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Seeing Beyond a Physical Challenge: Profiling the Inspirational Isabell Pfeufer

The farewell presents they gave Isabell Pfeufer were unique, but so were the lessons she taught students at Patrick Henry Elementary School in Heidelberg, Germany.

During her last afternoon in Jenny L’Esperance’s second- and third-grade class, students showered Isabell Pfeufer – who has been completely blind since birth – with sensory tokens of their affection.

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