A DC Year in Review, 2013

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2013 was another fun year on this blog! No overseas trips to write about, but we did have a nice trip to Martha's Vineyard in August. Of course I always find beauty on this beautiful North Shore of Boston that I live on, as well as in my own back yard. As in previous years readers popped in from all over the globe, especially from the USA, and second in rank for the second year in a row was Russia, which always surprises me! Visitors have been from China, the UK, Canada, Italy, Dubai, The United Arab Emirates, Germany, France, Australia, Oman, South Africa, India, the Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Turkey, Mexico, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Ghana, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Latvia, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Iraq, Romania, Bulgaria, Egypt, the Czech Republic and the Republic of Moldova. Thank you all for stopping by!!

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Many adventurous cooks out there visited my pine needle smoked mussels post... did you cook them yourselves and how did you like them? My smokey tomato soup post, which was published on Tastespotting.com is ever popular. Healthy food posts like salads, especially my orange sesame kale salad and my carpaccio beet root salad were very popular this year—kale is so very zeitgeist! My Grilled peaches and burrata post was very popular, and all of you party people seemed to like my Saturday Sippers posts which spotlighted a different cocktail over the summer months. Two drinks in particular—the Nick and Nora martini and the The Johnny Appleseed—were super hot. Maybe I'll have to do the drinks again next summer… hmmm?

Artists, my Bernini's Apollo and Daphne post in September of 2012 still gets lots and lots of visits. That sculpture is very well known and admired. And of course the Rhinoceros in art post brings back readers time and time again, and in that vein I made a Mermaid in Art post collection that's very popular with readers. My Stealing from the peacock post from previous years is ever popular… I love those green and blue colors too. And a few of my own art work posts got visits from many Pinterest people, such as my Bird's Nest and Fiery Path paintings. Finally, my Falling for Fornasetti post has been crazy popular!

Olivia De Havilland from my Gorgeous portraits series still receives the most visits of all the gorgeous portraits I've posted on… even more than Peter O'Toole, who just recently died and was quite famous himself. 

Garden enthusiasts still loyally read about the Foo dogs from our very own garden, and misc. other garden posts are regularly hit upon as well. Nice to know folks like getting their hands dirty as much as I do.

Movie buffs, you all seem to love my Vertical Viewing posts, where I talk about several different versions of the same story. My Shakespeare's Tempest post from 2011 still generates the mosts hits. Russian Ark, A Walk Through Russian History, remains very revered.

I could go on but I'll stop. Oh, one last mention… My pink Hérmes scarf post from 2011 is (surprisingly) still must visited post—who doesn't love Hermés? 

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Thanks again for visiting the DC blog throughout the year, and be well!

Happy New Year!

A DC Year in Review, 2012

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2012 was another fun year! Though I didn't go on a cool trip Italy this year, I still try to make every day special anyway—locally and in my own back yard. Readers popped in from all over the globe. Not surprisingly, the most visits came from the good old USA, and, like last year, second in rank was Russia. Visitors also came from the usual list of countries... China, the UK, Canada, Italy, Germany, France, and Australia, India, the Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Turkey, Mexico, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Ghana, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Latvia, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Iraq, Romania, Bulgaria, Egypt, Dubai, the Czech Republic and the Republic of Moldova. Thanks you all for stopping by, whether you have me bookmarked on your computers or find me via a web search.

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I got the most visits this year on my smokey tomato soup post, which was published on Tastespotting.com. Guess I should give them a shout-out for all the traffic! Foodies also visited my Anna + Mary for Brunch post (our Bloody Mary and Pommes Anna brunch), and my Pesto tortellini appie post. That last one sort of surprised me because it was such a simple creation. Sometimes it's just the simple things though, right? The second most popular post this year was called Stealing from the peacock, where I shared several of my blue and green paintings. I'm glad that those the tomato soup post and this peacock painting post were the most popular this year because they were my creations. 

The rest are in no particular order: On my Sticks and stones post, I tipped my hat to the outdoor artist Andy Goldsworthy, which generated a lot of visits. Other artsy visitors clicked on my post about Vintage Envelope artist Mark Powell and paper artist Sabeena Karnik, on my ABCs post.

Louise Bourgeois and Veronica Lake from my Gorgeous portrait series generated large interest. People who visited my Split personality post were very curious about a rare black and orange lobster, and armchair travelers visited my Carnevale de Venezia post. Foo dogs from my own garden and Chinese dragons from my Happy Chinese New Year! were also popular posts. Cape Cod fans visited our Cape Light post, where Dan and I shared several of our photos from an autumn visit there. Still very popular from 2011 has been my Rhinoceros posting about the rhino in art through the ages and in various mediums (paintings, sculptures, etc.), especially Salvador Dali's rhino sculpture. Bernini's Apollo and Daphne post in September still gets lots and lots of visits. Who knew those two kids were so popular? And Shakespeare's Tempest post from 2011 still brings readers to my blog. I also have to mention my pink Hérmes scarf... always a favorite. And finally, seems lots of you visitors were interested A clean slate— starting the year out fresh. and new. Which brings us full circle to the end of 2012 and the start of 2013. 

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Thanks again for visiting the DC blog throughout the year, and be well!

Happy New Year!

A DC Year in Review, 2011

2011 was a fun year! Throughout the year this blog attracted viewers from all over the globe with the most visits coming from the USA, and a surprising second place visiting from Russia! Following closely behind were the UK, Canada, Italy, Germany, France, and Australia. Other regular mouse clickers came from India, the Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Turkey, Mexico, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Ghana, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Latvia, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Iraq, Romania, Bulgaria, Egypt, Dubai, the Czech Republic and even lesser known countries such as the Republic of Moldova. 

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My top hits included the following: First up (and by a landslide) was the Rhinoceros posting from back in April, when I posted the rhino in art through the ages and in various mediums, paintings, sculptures, etc. Visitors were particularly interested in two pieces—Salvador Dali's rhino sculpture and Albrecht Dürer's rhino woodcut print. I always wonder if my international visitors are budding art students and keep hoping they will leave comments so we can all find out. A close second top hit was my Ophelia Drowned post, which was posted late in the year in November—those were all riffs on one of the original Ophelia paintings by John Everett Millais. Who can resist those beautiful Ophelia photographs? My Cinema Italiano—La Dolce Vita post was a popular hit; were you all film buffs that visited or do you just like to hear Kate Hudson singing Cinema Italiano? To all of you literary folks that clicked their way to the Shakespeare's Tempest post—are you just cheating on your Shakespeare homework? No doubt it was was Royal watchers who checked into my Kiss Me Kate posting, with Kate and Will's first official kiss along with other famous kisses in history. All you foodies checked into my Lobster and pasta... with a twist posting, which showcased my divine lobster with vanilla champagne sauce recipe, and the fashionistas of the world peeked in on my Pink Hermès scarf  posting in July in which I showed off my 50th birthday present. Brides and friends of bridal couturier Harper Della-Piana visited my Day of Harper-Razzi  and Wrapture in the garden! postings that described the wedding photo shoot that took place in my garden in July. I wonder if it was art students who visited the I'm your Venus posting, on which over a dozen different Venus paintings, inspired from Velasquez's and Manet's Venus paintings, are shown. And Italian sculpture enthusiasts checked in on my Bernini's Apollo and Daphne post in September, just one of hundreds of sculptures I saw during my trip to Italy in the fall, and also got lots of visits from the cyber world. Back in July I wrote a post about the Dale Chihuly glass sculptures at the MFA and that generated a lot of hits after I was  mentioned in a Boston Globe article. But the post that got the most hits in a single day was my Pork and butternut squash stew recipe from November, the day after it was published on Tastespotting.com.

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And finally, the post that generated the most comments? ... The French canned Tuna post from early December. Thanks to all you creative and poetic peeps who shared your Tuna Haiku poems with the world. They were all very fun.

Thanks again for visiting the DC blog throughout the year!

Happy New Year!