An extremely hot summer’s day saw me seek shelter  in my favourite cinema. A film about the singer and poet Leonard Cohen caught my eye. Marianne and Leonard: Words of Love. The film documents the relationship of Cohen with Marianne Ihlen, the muse behind the very successful ballad ” So…

A special pre – Christmas treat awaits dear reader…………….another story from our guest writer, Graeme Leith. We bought you the  narrative of Graeme’s life last week in 50 Faces 50 Lives and also a wonderfully funny story by this very talented writer…He’s made a good drop of wine in his…

What a wonderful pre-Christmas present for our Viva 70 readers!  Our Canadian Viva 70 contributors have done it again! This is a story of people making magic happen. The recipe? Take a small group of people with a great idea. Let it ferment.  Mix in large dollops of passion that…

A chance wander through the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne bought me face to face with the amazing photography of Petrina Hicks. She is a Sydney based photographer whose work ” flirts with artiface and perfection.” The scale of her photographs is huge and walking into the exhibition the…

You’ve just celebrated a milestone birthday…for most of our Viva 70 readers that’s men and women over 50. Do you think about how your next decade may be different? Do you imagine what life story you would like to create for your next decade? Do you read books about transition…

“Fashion you can buy, but style you possess. The key to style is learning who you are, which takes years. There’s no how-to road map to style. It’s about self expression and, above all, attitude.” —Iris Apfel   As part of Melbourne Fashion Week I attended a forum of fashion industry…

A weekday ” pop into the gallery moment” and again life delivers jewels. This time in the form of beautiful batiks and paintings. But it’s the paintings that really captured my attention ……… Emily Kam Kngwarray  (1910-1996) was a world renowned indigenous artist who began painting at the age of…

Cristobal Balenciaga was born in the basque country of Spain in 1895  and went on to create one of the most innovative and trend setting fashion houses in the world. Christian Dior, a competitor in the fashion industry described him as ” the master of us all.” He opened his…

Having decided to stay put rather than move house I’m treating myself to a design upgrade and hit the stores for inspiration this week. What’s trending out there? What ideas can I pilfer? What would work for me, my lifestyle and my taste? Three trends stand out in the world…