I like houses to have names. Houses tell stories and have history, personality and character.  Perhaps it’s my love of narrative……..  or marketing….. but I like a house to express itself and not just be a page out of Home Beautiful.  Some houses are richly scented with history like my …

Picture this… a moody rainy day saying” leave me alone, I just want to hang low today….” 7am mist and mud. The cat is at boarding school while I sit on boxes munching on a stale croissant and a glass of water for breakfast. The big truck pulls up and…

Dear Viva 70 Friends, It seems that even in a pandemic the world can slow but life cannot stop! This week I finalised the sale of my home on Monday and signed a contract on the purchase of a new home on Thursday.  It’s been quite a week! The Moet…

Let’s go arm chair travelling with Graeme Leith as he takes us on a Balinese fishing adventure. Today was fishing day at Candi Dasa. It was arranged for Mider, who owns the boat, to collect me from the bamboo walled and thatch roofed hut “ A.1,” and we’d head off…

Let’s travel in our memories and our minds as we read another lovely story from our dear friend and author, Graeme Leith. Graeme was a frequent traveler to Bali like many of us over the years. As I read this story I can smell the kretek cigarettes and see the…

My Mother (who you are getting to know quite well by now….) was not a good cook.  The key goal of her cooking was to provide food that would make the family feel full ie not hungry. If we ate for an army of 500 and clutched our stomachs because…

This issue of Viva 70 looks at our different responses to the upheavals caused by the Corona virus. We’re blessed to have been gifted this lovely piece from Inge who lives in Nova Scotia, Canada and she was in the US earlier this year. She echoes the words so many…

Maureen lives in Nova Scotia, Canada and has been a friend and supporter of Viva 70 since its creation last year. Before that time we did not know each other. You may remember her beautifully written diary of a foodie trip through Tuscany (Lifestyle, 18-27 March 2019) …wonderful…do revisit this…

I started this article a few weeks ago when the Corona Virus was a ” Chinese phenomenon.” The world was a different place then. As we tutted and expressed concern for our Asian neighbours we went about our daily lives smiling and largely oblivious. And so it was with me….