Surrealistic stone sculptures. Stone is often associated with its coldness and hardness, but this only inspired Ito Hirotoshi Itoh, a graduate of Tokyo National Fine Arts University, to challenge it. The rocks in his work seem soft and flexible. This takes us to Clothes in Stone  in Carrara marble, by Alex Seton (Australia). He says that, for a change, we should not think of marble as related to Greek statues only. Just look at this soft and cosy tracksuit on a cold day.

If you happen to be in Europe, remember Grindelwald for a stay and many walks.  Embedded in a welcoming and green hollow, surrounded by a commanding mountainscape and the numerous lookout points along 300 km of walking tracks, and activities make Grindelwald one of the most popular and cosmopolitan holiday and excursion destinations in Switzerland. The first to arrive there were the English at the end of the 18th century and local guides took them up the peaks. In 1912, a railway reached what nowadays is the «Top of Europe» with Europe’s highest railway station and a world-renowned excursion destination within permanent snow and ice. info@grindelwald.swiss.

The sequence of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a spin-off of the Harry Potter series, an attempt to take down the dark wizard Grindelwald. Not in the Swiss mountains but in London and Paris 

The Grinch  is a bitter, grouchy, cave-dwelling creature with a heart “two sizes too small”.  Disguised as Father Christmas he steals all the presents in the village  on Christmas Eve. At dawn the Grinch expects the people to cry out bitterly but he hears them singing a joyous Christmas song, instead. He puzzles until he realizes that “maybe Christmas means a little bit more” than just  feasting. The Grinch’s shrunken heart suddenly grows” three sizes”. The reformed and liberated Grinch begins having second thoughts, and returns to the village to give back all Christmas stuff. He is warmly invited to carve the roast. Let’s revise our attitudes and become friendly Grinches to everyone and all at Christmas and ever after.

Christina Thornton