On the ground floor of the Musee de l’Orangerie in Paris – a long building by the river banks of the Seine, and at the start of the Jardin des Tuileries – there is an exhibit of eight Monet paintings. The museum website introduces the paintings like so:Offered to the French State by the painter Claude Monet on the...

Wherever I go, I usually bring my backpack. In it, I always keep a few things. First, I try to always bring a book with me. I usually pack a book to read before I leave the house, for the book I am reading is either at my bedside or next to my chair. Right now, I am reading the art of explanation by Ron Atkins, a...

Over the last few months, I have been taking a part-time online course with the V&A focused on the history of art. The course has taken me through eras from Classical art and sculpture all the way to Impressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism. With every lecture, I feel like my mind is being opened, both by the pieces of...

This morning, I ended up on chsmc.org’s “Applying Pixar’s rules of storytelling to writing” post. At the bottom, he quotes: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later. I knew I had to come back to this point. No work is ever wasted. These words have...

A recording of Alors on danse, news of a new exhibition of Michelangelo’s work, an event on creative writing, and information about art history courses all exist side-by-side in the ever-changing landscape that is my browser tabs. Every one is a train of thought: the tabs on music often recommendations by friends,...

Every so often, I open up a blank HTML document and work on a concept design for my website. Sometimes I have a theme, like my blueprint-inspired design, whereas other times I play around and see what I can make. Today I thought: what would my blog look like if it were pink? I came up with this concept design: A...

As I write, it is the late evening. I am getting ready to go to bed. The room is illuminated by fairy lights. I have been trying to go to bed at more reasonable hours of late, but I just saw the ten pointless facts about me blogging challenge and felt inspired to write something down before I go to sleep. I have...

I am standing on Princes Street while waiting for the bookshop to open. There is a drizzle or rain falling from the grey sky. Earlier, I noticed the red of the morning autumn horizon peek through the clouds. I have. As I always do, conviction that the sun will come out. Edinburgh is beautiful in the rain — the water...

This blog post was written using my Royal typewriter.

I purchased a Royal typewriter from a charity shop today. When I got home, I was delighted to find that there was ink ready to use. Shortly thereafter, I started writing.

This morning started as many this year have done: should I get up and explore, or stay in bed for one more hour. The warmth of bed, especially as the days get cooler, is comforting. But I know how great I feel when I get up on time and start the day. I am trying my best to get back into a daily routine. On my...

For most days of the year, the name of my website – James’ Coffee Blog – is followed by a coffee cup emoji. But, on some days, the coffee cup emoji changes. I have a calendar of events for which the emoji changes, including International Day of Peace (September 21st), Burns Night (January 21st), and Web Standards...