am visiting the Gold Coast ‘spreading the love’ to mark the 50th wedding anniversary of my sister Anne and Trevor.

My younger sister Anne and Trevor celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary

 
 

We drove up to Brisbane from the Gold Coast to the home of big brother,Tony and Ruth. Younger brother Mark and Jenny joined us in a very relaxed family pre-Christmas get-together. And so, the four Musgrave siblings were together. Jenny brought along my favourite curried egg sandwiches.

4 Musgrave Siblings and Spouse - at Tony and Ruth's

 
 
Another pre-Christmas lunch, this time at Nobby Beach to share a plate of prawns with my nephew Mark, Chrissy and the girls.

Enjoying lunch al fresco on my sister Anne Schramm 's pool terrace on the Gold Coast. Nephew Mark Schramm and family came down from Brisbane to join us.

 
 
My visit also coincides with the 75th birthday of friend of 50 years, Alan, who came to dinner to share a few glasses of bubbly, and bowls of freshly-peeled prawns.

Prawns for dinner to celebrate the 75th birthday of friend of 50 years, Alan G

I’m not doing anything overtly festive this year but that doesn’t prevent me in the lead up to the ‘main event’ on Christmas Day from setting the scene to mark the festive season.

Gerhard was in yesterday with pots of poinsettia and herbs to give the balcony a touch of Christmas colour (and fresh basil for those summer tomatoes that I’m looking forward to).

Then over the bridge in an Uber to cousin Julie and Dennis’ to join friends for a pre-Christmas meal of Sydney rock oysters, and swordfish from the barbecue. Reminds me that I should go back to swordfish again and got search for my old mango and cucumber salsa recipe as the garnish.

A plaintive plea from 100-year-old Aunt Beth (via a one-finger, one-line email) telling of her craving for some easy to handle stone fruit had me busy pressing the new-season nectarines, plums and apricots at Harris Farm wondering which of the wide choice might be the sweeter, and ready-to-eat. My friend the Chookman, Ian, kindly walked around some little chicken sandwiches to compete the mini-Christmas lunch in Beth’s room.

A plaintive plea from 100-year-old Aunt Beth (via a one-finger, one-line email) telling of her craving for some easy to handle stone fruit had me busy pressing the new-season nectarines, plums and apricots at Harris Farm wondering which of the wide choice might be the sweeter, and ready-to-eat. My friend the Chookman, Ian, kindly walked around some little chicken sandwiches to compete the mini-Christmas lunch in Beth’s room.

The final Christmas touch for my apartment has always has been to retrieve the Lladro ‘Flight into Egypt’ porcelain from its box (that I’d bought years ago in New York with my late good friend, Joe Walsh), and set it up in pride of place, until Epiphany.

Merry Christmas!

usan and I worked together at Amex 65 Broadway in New York in 1975. That’s how far we go back!

The seven years since we all were all together at a Susan and Bill’s previous home on Miami Beach seems more like seven days. Tonight we share a meal, much laughter (and minimal Hillary/Trump differences of opinion) in their new home in Miami Shores – with the four Westies members of the family – Cupcake, Winston, Annabel and Muffin.

Edmundo, Tom, Susan, Peggy, Micky, Bill, Michael

efore coming to North Carolina this weekend, the only thought I had was for a chance to perhaps see some late Fall foliage. I wasn’t disappointed.

The crisp, clean, green of this place is an environment that I embrace – very much like those cold, blue sky days up in Connecticut in the years that I was living here in the US. (And so unlike the piercing cold of air conditioning inside buildings in Miami where I have to carry a coat.) I had a chance to see many beautiful homes set in the woods and on the lake as we drove around visiting artists in the home studios on the annual ‘Open Studio Tour’.

Friend Shaun at Duke University Chapel

The ‘southern drawl’ of so many you come across in the stores and restaurants gives North Carolina a special sense of place here within the US. I love it. At the same time, there’s many foreigners studying here or working in the faculties of the three main universities.

pproaching midnight on US Election night. All I want to do is go to bed and wake up and find this terrible dream is over. Stock market futures are already down 600 points.

The two Michaels experiencing somatic psychological stress as counting comes down to the line

y host Edmundo has had me ‘on the run’ here in Miami since I landed from Chile on Friday morning.

Finally I get to see Edmundo's extensive renovation of his new Coral Gables apartment

Welcome parties on ‘pre-election’ weekend could have been rather dangerous affairs. But I find that most of the guests, Republican or Democrat, have already cast their votes for . . . . . Hillary. “The devil you know” seems to have been the underlying sentiment.

Politics was verboten at the luncheon gathering at the Key Biscayne home of Tere Benach on Sunday, but Aperol Spritz cocktails loosened tongues. Thankfully, respectful and restrained conversation let me understand different points of view while thoroughly enjoying the ‘Arroz con Pollo’ (a delicious Cuban chicken and rice dish) that Tere had made especially in my honour.

Hostess Tere specially prepared Cuban Chicken and Rice with plantains in my honour

At a gathering of old friends at Edmundo’s home from our time at Lake Como , the case of Taittinger didn’t quite make it to the end of the evening, but a quick dash to the cellar to find more bubbly saved the night.

Edmundo, Mark, Jorge, Michael and Michael I

David, Anna and Regina more than kept up with the thirsty guests

dmundo has a new toy – little 2016 Chinese Red Fiat 500 Abarth. Out driving, he loves engaging the ‘Sports’ control button that makes such a terrible noise. Meanwhile I’m admiring the streets of ‘Mediterranean Revival’ Coral Gables with their shaded canopies of mature oaks, and the masses of bougainvillea and pink Bauhinia trees.

Edmundo's noisy little 2016 Chinese Red Fiat 500 Abarth

fter the long flight across the South Pacific to Chile, my first experience on the new Dreamliner of Latam, I’m glad to be met by Hyunju at the airport in Santiago.

more to come

Out for sightseeing, Hyunju and I stop for coffee

reaking the long flight from Europe to Australia in Shanghai for a change seems like a reasonable idea.

I’m staying on the 23rd floor of a brand-new hotel on the Bund with uninterrupted views out over the Huangpu River to the futuristic skyscrapers on the Pudong side. Fortunately, there is no smog and the skies are blue.

Futuristic skyscrapers on the Pudong side of the Huangpu River

On my first visit here in 1985 while I was living in Hong Kong, the whole area was marshes and rice paddies. The changes since then are incredible. Click here to read.

Grey Mao suits and simple clothing of Shanghai in the 80’s has been replaced by conspicuous consumption reflected in the latest Western fashions – clothes and hairstyles. Roads once clogged with bicycles, grey trucks bearing commune numbers, and a few cars are now log-jammed with late model vehicles.

Shanghai Airport on 1985 visit

The Middle Kingdom will rise again, as sure as the sun that beautifully back-lit the silhouetted skyscrapers outside my bedroom window this morning!

A Sunday afternoon stroll along the waterfront promenade gives me a good view of architectural relics along the Bund from Shanghai’s days as a treaty port.  I walk into the now restored Art Deco Peace Hotel looking for the old-timers jazz band, but I’ll need to come back later.

Thankfully, the local government has protected the heritage aspects of this precinct while private interests have restored the beautiful old buildings to their original glory.

A Sunday afternoon stroll along the river gives a good view of architectural relics along the Bund from Shanghai's days as a treaty port.

A taxi-ride away is the buzzing Xintiandi area, part of the old ‘French Concession’. Rather than razing a block of dilapidated shikumen (“stone gate homes”), here again, the Shanghai government (in cooperation with private interests) commissioned an American architect to redesign and renovate them. I went for a walk down memory lane and took an outside table at Wolfgang Puck’s for a good Aussie beef hamburger and a glass of beer to watch the world go by.

Restored shikumen (“stone gate homes”) in the Xintiandi area, part of the old ‘French Concession’

Using the hotel’s handy printed list of places to see in English and Mandarin, I hopped another taxi and went to

f only I could ‘bottle’ the team of Mama Marguerite, her daughter Isabella, and partner Marco, we’d have a veritable ‘living’ cookbook of the best recipes of regional food of Puglia.

The three of them rattle-up to our villa in their little car most nights lugging bags of fresh produce, and it’s through these lovely people, that we’re feeling truly integrated into Puglia . . . and connected to the earth around us.

One day this week, Marco and Isabella even went driving into the countryside to forage under old olive trees to collect a haul of special cardoncelli mushrooms to bake with fresh peppers and Italian sausages for us. (I have this dish on my ‘to do’ list.)

Isabella, Mama Marguerite and Marco - our wonderful chefs

The opportunity to have true locals cook in our own villa kitchen (at reasonable prices), and at such a high standard, is a priceless part of our Puglia experience. We discuss menu options daily (using google translate), and then they buy the fresh vongole or mussels, and all other fresh meat, produce, local sausage and cheeses.

The freshest of seafood - we repeated these sweet little black mussels cooked in their own juices on a couple of occasions

The table 'groans' with regional dishes every night - before we get down to the real business of dining

s the relationships develop we get first-hand experience of the true warmth, life challenges, and generosity of Pugliese people.

Michael Schramm RIP

ast night, the eleven of us in our extended Puglia family joined Anne and Trevor at a Feast Day Mass in the church in Locorotondo to commemorate the first anniversary of their son (and my nephew) Michael’s death last year.

Leaving the villa for the drive to Locorotondo

Fr Frank, my old Amex friend and now the parish priest of two parishes in West Berlin, concelebrated the sung Mass at which the local Fr Francesco offered special prayers for Michael and his family.

The church was full to overflowing. After the Mass a band struck up outside the church and led the local confraternity through colourfully illuminated arches in the narrow streets of this hilltop town – carrying the statue of their patron saint, Our Lady of Seven Sorrows (appropriately for us).

In remembering Michael, we harken back to a very comforting message from good friend Fr Steve Sinn SJ that Trevor and Anne truly appreciated at the time.

“Will always remember my time with you Michael.

Your dreams live on with me and I pray that you walk beside me and guide me.

Peace now my brother.

Procession through the streets after the Mass with the Statue of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows

The two Michaels

Our 2-week stay at Villa Trullo Pinnacolo in the countryside of Pugia was a series of welcomes, reunions, and surprises.  My sister Anne and Trevor and I were ‘in residence’ for the whole fortnight.  The first week revolved around Musgrave family, and in the second week my ‘extended’ family from different parts of the world, all of whom know each other, arrived.

Week 1 - arrival of siblings and cousins at villa Trullo Pinnacolo

Old friends prepare for driving to one of the nearby hill towns for lunch

One of many convivial meals with the Musgraves and Paul

Happy little 'vegemiters'

Frank welcomes the last of the arrivals - Edmundo and Naser

Click here to view Photo Album

he ‘Baroness’ von Stieglitz was in real trouble with her ‘companion’ El Duque de Cobos in an impromptu performance of the Tango and Gypsy Rhumba down by our pool at the villa a couple of nights ago.

El Duque de Cobos choreographed the opening sequence of the Latin Dance ‘performance’ and ‘rehearsed’ the Baroness to ensure a flawless ‘performance’ for the august audience of expectant guests. 

However, the sultry, black-veiled ‘Baroness’ was later chastised severely for not following his specific direction to slap him twice with her fan after he boldly pulls the black veil from her face. Later, the ‘Baroness’ confided that it was the two young chefs, with eyes as big as cannonballs (in wonderment or sheer disbelief), who distracted her.

‘Baroness’ Juanita confided later that she was distracted by the two young chefs, with eyes as big as cannonballs (in wonderment or sheer disbelief), who distracted her. during the 'performance'.

Fortunately, for posterity’s sake, Naser suggested that we get some ‘wedding photos’ while it was still light so that we could share the colour of the costumes more clearly.

Fortunately, for posterity’s sake, Naser suggested that we get some ‘wedding photos’ while it was still light so that we could share the colour of the costumes more clearly.

More to come.

y idea of requiring ‘days’ to explore the 17th century city of Lecce in Puglia takes only a couple of hours in reality. Perhaps we are put off by an aborted first attempt in which we circle the town for an hour looking for a parking spot, the heavens open, and we have no choice than to return home again. After some lunch and a couple of beers in the garden, the idea of a siesta becomes all-consuming.

We are staying at Masseria Trapanà, a restored medieval masseria that was once a fortified farmhouse. It’s located a few miles out of Lecce and set amongst sixty hectares of olive groves. Inside the dry-stone walls, it’s an oasis of cool, with manicured gardens and a carpet of green grass miraculously thriving in the shade of an orchard of citrus trees.

Masseria Trapanà, is a restored medieval masseria that was once a fortified farmhouse.

ver the last couple of years, the property has been painstakingly restored and decorated with impeccable taste by Australian expat Rob Potter-Sanders. (I know of only two others who could have conceived such a tasteful, comfortable establishment, with services to match. My old friend, the late David Michôd, and the omnipresent Edmundo.) The unflappable general manager of the masseria, Giuseppe, is there too keeping the operation quietly ticking-over – leaving us to live without a care in the world.

Surprising to discover then Masseria Rob's mother is a good friend of Pam's back in Sydney

We’re very comfortable here from the outset, but an invasive sense of freedom, after the frustrating wasted morning trying to visit Lecce, seals it for us. Any future sightseeing will be considered only as an adjunct to relaxing in the confines of the masseria!

There’s ne’er a thought to get in the car and drive to town in the evenings for dinner either. We are content to ‘stay home’, turning-up at 8.30pm outdoors under the citrus trees for a four course dinner of simple regional cuisine of the chef’s choosing – and for the princely sum of Euro 35. The enthusiastic, ever-smiling Giorgio, Gian-Marco, and Marco serve the drinks and dance attendance on all the guests – as usual.

‘Kicking-back’ is a luxury. We all reach a point where simply being comfortable in our surroundings is more gratifying than constantly being ‘on the go’.

Paul - just 'kicking-back' in the gardens

After sightseeing in Lecce the following week, we return to the Masseria for one of Rob's 'Aussie' hamburgers - with beetroot and pineapple! (I think Juanita may have even eaten the top bun.)

he public areas and guest rooms are simple and contemporary but retain the limestone characteristics of the region including barrel-vaulted ceilings. Light streams into the expansive sitting areas from huge floor to ceiling windows inviting to kick-back comfortably in oversize comfy sofas with a book, or a glass. Who could want for anything more?

The public areas and guest rooms are simple and contemporary but retain the limestone characteristics of the region including barrel-vaulted ceilings.

A view from one of the 'garden rooms' into the 'olive leaf coloured' tiled swimming pool area

Locorotondo appears ethereally as on a cloud floating above the red dirt, olive groves, and trulli (͚hobbit-like͛, conical stone dwellings) that are scattered across the countryside in the Valle d’Itria in Puglia.

It͛s not just another Italian ͚white city͛ on a hill, but one with an obviously proud community in neat white cottages and colourful blooms along the maze of narrow paved alley-ways. centred around the Cathedral church on top of the hill.

Down in the Friday Market in the piazza and streets below the church there͛s a ͚ring-in͛, an aggressive misfit, not of this happy community.

He is selling the most delicious-looking plump porcini mushrooms the size of dinner plates. Shouting obscenities to be understood by any ear, he grabs Paul͛s camera as he attempts to photograph the ͚mushies͛. Paul’s angry response with equally colourful expletives and red face had me as referee to avoid a nasty incident.

olling thunder and lightning strikes that craze the dark morning sky bode ominously for the planned excursion north of Bari to Molfetta and Trani. These are two old seaports on the Adriatic coast recommended by a good Sydney friend, Barbara, who lived in Italy for years.

Rain buckets down all the way and much too heavy even to stop and make a dash for a coffee break. Arriving in Molfetta as the rain eases and squelching all the way along the seafront under an umbrella to the cathedral, we are rewarded with a festa atmosphere to mark the birthday of Our Lady.

Local bishop catches sight of two soaked Australians and beckons us to say hello , even wearing shorts - and photographed by his young priest assistant.

Perchance, the local bishop catches sight of two soaked Australians and beckons us to say hello and to be photographed by one of his young priest assistants. After ͚saying one͛ in front of the relics of the patron saint Corrado, we step otside to find the clouds parted and patches of blue. Palms around the large enclosed harbour and sweeping limestone piazza add a touch of Arabia to this East-facing Italian city.

Arabic touches in the architecture on the piazza next to the harbour in Molfett1

Molfetti and the old city of Trani just up the coast formed part of the historic routes to the Middle East. They are treasure troves of beautifully restored houses, palazzos, churches and streetscapes, and where, in earlier times, Crusaders, Templars, pilgrims gathered.

n Trani, the finely located cathedral is beautifully located on a promontory jutting-out into the Adriatic. It gleams in what is now a sunny afternoon.

Trani Cathedral dedicated to St Nicholas the Pilgrim - a greek shepherd

With so many tempting restaurants to choose from with the promise of freshly caught seafood from colourful trawlers with fishing nets still on the decks that lined the harbour, we pause at what Paul likes – a ͚cheap and cheerful͛. I͛m subjected to a very ͚rustico͛ lunch of ͚baked leftovers͛ at in a hole in the wall establishment next to a statue of an early pilgrim enroute to Rome from Greece that caught Paul͛s imagination. I now count the hours wondering how long it will take for the pile of re-heated mussels, rice, potatoes, tomatoes and rice doused with oil will take to ͚be my undoing.

My idea of days exploring the 17th century city of Lecce in Puglia, located in the heel of the Italian boot, with its buildings all built from pietra lecese, the creamy white local limestonetakes only a couple of hours in reality. 

Michael in Via Palmieri running up to the Piazza Duomo in Lecce - in that itchy 5 Euro 'paper' hat

Pam and Ken, Juanita and Frank in baroque Lecce

In Piazza del Duomo in Lecce, alongside a tall, tapering bell tower, the city’s 17th-century highly-chiseled Baroque edifice - the Duomo with a Greek marble altar decorated with lapis lazuli.

idding arewell to Rome after a short meet-up with Mark and Jenny, we drive for five hours south towards the ‘heel of the boot’ of Italy. We arrive in Basilicata without a hitch (and driver Paul without shoes!), only to be get lost in the narrow streets of the ‘Sassi’ area of Matera where we’re staying the night – in a cave.

Matera, in Basilicata, has a unique legacy that frames a remarkable setting of almost 10,000 years of continuous human occupation. Here, the history of urban ecology, from sustainability to squalor, inspired UNESCO to designate a World Heritage Site, while its old Jerusalem-like aura captured several movie directors, including Mel Gibson, who used Matera to film ‘The Passion of the Christ’.

In fading light, our first sighting of the ‘sassi’ areas built on the sides of the gorge (and where our hotel is located) is stunning.

This is the scene that stops us in our tracks as we navigated through the winding streets of the Sassi area trying to find our hotel.

Winding down into the gorge we finally find our hotel, the 18-room Albergo Sextantio Le Grotte Della Civita. A porter comes to lug my luggage up the stone steps, but Paul (with one carry-on for the whole month away!) looks after his own.

We join cave dwellers from millennia before in the same caves for an overnight experience – and for a guided tour of the area to better understand the patrimony.

Our quarters in Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita, Matera - three caves deep

e sleep in a cave with a door to the light, but bathe in a candlelit third cave deeper into the limestone mountain.

 

fter the long flight from Singapore, out for a walk late on a Roman Summer afternoon, I pause . . . and enjoy watching kids chasing bubbles in Piazza del Popolo.

ROME . . . In Piazza del Popolo . . . out walking, late on a Roman Summer afternoon.

 

ext day, Paul arrives and it’s time to address both body and soul.

Heading into the old Trastevere area of Rome on a hot Sunday afternoon for a pizza at Dar Poeta, recommended by nephew Mark

 
izza and cold beer in Trastevere sates the hunger on a very hot Roman summer’s day, but we suffer an even hotter one as we set out on pilgrimage along the Tiber on our way to St Peter’s to ‘salve the soul’.

In order to gain our plenary indulgence, we make find the church of San Salvatore in Lauro, one of three designated by Pope Francis for the “Jubilee Year of Mercy”. A prayer at a side altar dedicated to the soon-to-be-canonised Mother Teresa, before crossing the Tiber to Castel Sant’Angelo for the walk up the Via Conciliazione to St Peter’s.

We join the queue for security check before following other pilgrims into the Basilica through the Holy Door to receive Reconciliation, and our indulgences.

Paul and Michael - 'On pilgrimage' along the Tiber towards the Holy Door of St Peter's and our plenary indulgence

Colourful Swiss Guard at the Vatican in traditional uniform at the Vatican

 
y brother Mark and Jenny land in Rome after their 28-hour marathon from Brisbane via Cairns and Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, so it’s great to catch-up. Another late afternoon walk, this time to Caffè Greco on Rome’s Via Condotti where Keats & Byron also drank at the marble tables of this celebrated, richly-ornate 18th-century cafe.

Drinks with my brother Mark and Jenny and Paul turn into 'high tea' at Caffè Greco

Liveried waiters at Caffè Greco on Rome's Via Condotti where Keats & Byron drank coffee at the marble tables of this celebrated, richly-ornate 18th-century cafe.

PHOTO ALBUM:
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CAPTIONS – click on the first photo –> then click on ‘i’ icon in upper right corner.

 
I’m on my way to Italy!
 

n the stopover in Singapore for a night at the Shangri La Hotel (where I first stayed 40+ years ago), I get the chance to catch-up with good friends, Joy Wrix and Alex, who sign me in me to the hallowed surrounds of the old Singapore Cricket Club for lunch.

Time for some excellent local chicken satay and Hainan pork in the once men-only dining area – before coffee and cake on the verandah overlooking the Padang where cricket has been played since British colonial times. Is it any wonder that today most of the active members of the club are cricket-mad Indians?

The casual dining experience is momentarily dramatised when unwittingly I break a major house rule by answering my ringing mobile phone. Joy placates the dining room captain who eventually stops waving his arms in the air at my transgression.

Now for perhaps my favourite airline experience on SWISS International to Zurich and Rome.

Joy and Michael at the Singapore Cricket Club for lunch

An aura of formality still remains in the bones of the wonderful old clubhouse but jackets and ties are no longer 'de rigeur'.

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