Get Together After 50 Years

On our way back to Spain we had two nights, instead of our usual overnight stop, in Orange because we managed, at last, to meet up with Martin and Madeleine Stern from London. Like us they drive to and from London to Antibes, where they have a place, and they also stop sometimes in Orange.
 

Together with Martin and Madeleine
  

So, we organised to all stay in the same hotel, and it was a wonderful time - it really seemed like we had not been apart for so long and we had so many laughs, it was great! We agreed that we must do it again.


EuroNetsuke Magazine

I was pleasantly surprised when I received an unexpected email from Rosemary Bandini who is the chairwoman of EuroNetsuke, they publish a quarterly magazine for the European members of the International Netsuke Society. She explained that it was not easy to find people that can write well about netsuke, and that she liked my articles. So, she wondered if I could write a new one for the magazine based on my existing one about buying in auction or from dealers, which she particularly liked. Sadly, there would not be any payment, but she promised that there would be a link and a QR code to my website.

I agreed to do it, and I was very pleased that it was published in issue 62 that coincided with Asian Week in London. Also, I was delighted that a photo of Dad with Luigi (at Eskenazi) discussing a netsuke, was included (This was a photo that I had never seen before). From Dad’s expression I suspect this was when he showed Luigi the ivory Eagle clawing a monkey, Masatami netsuke No:69 described in his book ‘Surprise Netsuke’ page 20 (Need to be Logged-on).


Michelle’s Visit

When we arrived back in Switzerland, just after enjoying Jason's visit in Spain, Michelle arrived. We were both feeling very tired which we thought was from the packing and the travelling, but Michelle decided we should do the test for Covid, and we were both positive! Such a shame for Michelle's visit, and worse still, three days later Michelle was positive too! This meant we could not go anywhere. But luckily, Michelle was negative just about three days before her flight back home.