I am American by birth and lived in the US until 2003. I worked for many years in my husband’s financial services business, making sure that the administration ran smoothly. Around age 35, I took a break from working and spent some time remodelling an old farmhouse that we had bought near St. Louis, Missouri. I also passed many an hour gardening, as the house came with three acres and I have to admit that I have never grasped the concept of moderation.
When the house was finished and there were blooming plants everywhere, I went back to university where I earned a degree in liberal studies. It had to be liberal studies for me since I was always interested in too many subjects to concentrate on just one. For one of my university courses, I went to Florence, Italy to study art history. I fell in love with that city and with Europe in general, and decided that one day I would live in Europe. My husband, Jeff, and I started travelling to Europe often and we found that we felt very much at home there.
In 2003, we had the opportunity to move to England with a company that Jeff was associated with at the time in the US, and we seized the chance. We moved to London where I once again started working in administration.
Then in 2007, at age 50, I decided it was time to stop working in a sector that I didn’t especially enjoy and to start doing the things that I loved. We bought an apartment in Nice, France and I lived there for eleven years. Now I’m in London – that is, when I’m not travelling to other parts of the world.
I find languages fascinating, and I have studied French and Italian for several years. I love to observe and try to understand the various cultures that I have the opportunity to experience – and, of course, I like to write about them.
Oh Margo – your life sounds like something out of a storybook to me. I raised five kids, designed and opened a restaurant that didn’t survive in our small town, then went back to school to study art in 2012. I was surprised once I got going, that art history was more up my alley than visual art – though I still love to paint and draw. I went on an Art and Culture tour to Berlin with the art history department at my university last May, and on my first trip to Europe with two of my kids the year prior. Florence holds my heart, even though we got pretty ripped off there. 😉 I’ve fallen in love with all of Europe, art history and history as well. Many thanks for your awesome blog.
Hi Lori, It sounds like you’ve had a pretty exciting life yourself! Good for you for going to Art School. It’s never too late to follow your dreams. I took an Art History and Drawing course in Florence in 2000 and the amount of art there was just almost overwhelming. All the best to you in your studies and in your new life adventure.
All the best, -Margo
I’ve just discovered your blog while trying to identify some of the birds in St James’ Park yesterday- I’m now down to 5 unidentified and am desparately searching the internet for juvenile and female plumage of various birds. I can see myself enjoying reading a backlog of your articles, being here in London under the restrictions at present in force means I have to get my travel kicks secondhand. I am sure I will enjoy doing so via your blog.
Hi Barbara,
It’s so nice to meet you (virtually). St. James is a wonderful park for identifying birds. I’ve enjoyed many lovely walks there.
I’m glad you’ve found my blog and I hope you’ll find more articles to enjoy. I have written about the wild parakeets in London: https://curiousrambler.com/londons-parakeets-in-the-parks/ and the pelicans: https://curiousrambler.com/londons-pelicans-in-the-park/ if you are interested in them. And then, of course, I’ve written about a lot of things that aren’t birds. 🙂
So welcome to my blog and I hope it can be a good distraction during lockdown.
All the best,
Margo