For the incurably curious
'A destination for the incurably curious'. The personal collection of over one million objects that Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-1936) collected in his lifetime represents the core of The Wellcome Collection, a true wunderkammer cabinet of curiosities, all revolving around the…
Meditate on this
Elsewhere, Pirouette has remarked on the benefits of meditation for children, and simple ways that healthier classroom habits have improved school results. So it's natural to highlight this move at the margins of American schooling to make meditation part of the curriculum.…
Life lessons: Aniki-Bóbó (Manoel de Oliveira)
Rain, rain, rain. What better way to pass a rainy weekend than to catch up on unseen classics? It was high time to become acquainted with the films of Manoel de Oliveira, native of Porto, and the oldest active film director in the world, whose career spanned the silent era
What’s in your Lunchbox?
I miss my lunchbox. In my early school years I went through several. My favourite was probably the Evel Knievel daredevil edition, in death-defying red-white-and-blue. What a great invention, with its embossed drawings and bright colours. In the more stressful moments of the…
Classy Classrooms
When we visited the Lycée Francais de Porto for the very first time, I found myself thinking: "I want to go back to school!". The campus is on the grounds of the Serralves park, the vast landscaped garden of a Portuguese industrialist that were bequeathed to Porto to create the…
Dream House
Rather poetically, an exhibit at the Museum of Childhood in London has coincided with our house hunting in Porto. For a nomadic family like ours, the idea of settling down can feel like a momentous event. We've embarked on this particular adventure en famille. Everyone has their…
Life At Your Own Risk
One of the things I love about living in Portugal is that the Health & Safety Police have not yet made inroads on the territory. Swimming in the Atlantic, walking along sea cliffs in Alentejo, bathing in the mountain streams of Burgo are all at your own risk.
Falling Up
Casa da Musica is a major cultural landmark in our new home of Porto. It is also an improvised skatepark. Skaters and other tricksters come from all over to carve the splendid undulations in which this hard edged concrete crystal palace sits. That's one of the things I love…
Baby, You Can Light My Fire
Mothers are privileged. With the bounty of networks and resources out there (and I'm not talking about Mumsnet...), it must be a cinch to stumble upon good leads for just about anything that Mom might find relevant or inspirational. Dads have to look a little harder...
Monopoly Money
We found an old Monopoly set in the attic of the summer house. My daughters were very keen to learn how to play. So I dusted off my memory of the rules, tried to recollect the Franc/ Dollar exchange rate (this set is from circa 1970), and we got down to business.
Parenting by Default vs Parenting by Design
We are obsessed with our kids. Society's move from ancestor worship to descendant worship has made us uninterested in culture, more primitive in our outlook, worse citizens, and ultimately... boring. That seems the Parenting Paradigm as presented by the English media. Readers…