Jesus Christ Pantocrator
Haggia Sophia, Istanbul
The Calling of Peter and Andrew
Caravaggio
The Last Supper
Leonardo da Vinci
The Crucifixion
Matthias Grunewald
The Resurrection
Raffaelino del Garbo
Mary praying
Lifeteen
This is where I grew up and lived until I was 23 years old, and it is also where I will retire.
Looking towards my brother's property from my back yard
My brother's house and the barn
A view west from the farmhouse that Frank Wilcox made famous in one of his paintings
My Mom and Dad
Mowing the new planting of trees
The woodlot with a fresh cover of March snow
I've called Texas home since 1981 and we've had this place in Conroe since 1999.
The hacienda with Mexican plum, Mayhaw Hawthorne, and Redbud in bloom
Redbuds and Mexican plum
Parsley Hawthorne
The TEXAS garden
The Texas state flower, the Bluebonnet
Can't have a ranch without a tractor
And it isn't Texas without some great BBQ - and this old hoss, even though on it's last legs, still can churn out some delicious oak wood BBQ
I started my career with ExxonMobil working in the Khorat Plateau of North-Central Thailand and never tire of returning to the "Land of Smiles".
The Oriental - the best hotel in the world
Lotus flower
Rice paddy in the Mandarin Oriental village, ChiangMai
One of the highlights of the trip for me was taking a cooking class with my daughter
Aelish and Chef at the market. Part of the class was a trip to a traditional Thai market - very cool
Running low on sauces?
Budhist temple, Chiang Mai
The property at the MO ChiangMai was huge so we travelled around on bikes and had a blast racing at night - here is John hossin' it
Thai girls and Thai silk
Modeling Jim Thompson at the Bamboo Bar, Oriental Hotel, Bangkok
After living in the Middle East for 4 years and then Indonesia, we decided to take a cold weather trip to Lake Como, Italy - it was marvelous. We stayed at the Villa Bellini on the property of Villa Passalacqua, a "5 star property that runs from high up in the village of Moltrasio all the way down to the lake's shore. Over the centuries, the Villa Passalacqua has played host to numerous musicians, artists, writers and statesmen including Napoleon Buonaparte, Vincenzo Bellini and Winston Churchill." http://thevillapassalacqua.com
The Villa Bellini
Lake Como as seen from the Villa Bellini
A view of the lake past the giant pine tree
Our Christmas Tree
The Villa Bellini rooftop terrace
Villa Passalacqua from the lakeside road
Our daily UPHILL walk to Mass - what a blessing
The village of Moltrasio from the top of the hill
Ciao Bella!!!
Our own orange tree
Sunday Lunch
The Sommelier
I made a "business" trip to the Great Barrier Reef to study the reef around Heron Island as an analogue to our Banyu Urip oilfield in Central Java - SWEET!
The lagoon of the reef platform interior
Heron Island beach at low tide
Giant clam on the platform interior
Nesting turtle returning to sea
Driftwood in late afternoon
The Losari Coffee Plantation and Resort is one of the most beautiful places on this earth and is one of my all-time favorite vacation spots.
The original Dutch plantation house
The path to our "joglo" villa
Gunung Merapi as seen from the main lawn
Joglo Bella Vista
Giant bamboo
The coffee roaster - take that Starbucks!
Freshly roasted beans
Freshly roasted beans and gulah merah snack - as good as any chocolate you have ever had
Jamu - a health drink made out of rhizomes, leaves, herbs, and spices
Bali is the exotic island everyone has heard about - and that we have had the privilege and pleasure to visit
At my sister-in-law Jeanine's house. YES! She lives there!
On the way to Ubud we encountered a Hindu festival parade
Kids will be kids
Chasing away the evil spirits
Spectacular river gorge, Ubud. We hiked down to the river and went white-water rafting.
Balinese temple and pond, Ubud
We visited Austria in 2008 to visit my son Patrick who was spending a semester with Franciscan University in Gaming.
In front of St. Stephens, Vienna
Wiener Schnitzel
Stift Melk
Washing down the schnitzel and sausage
It was cold and we walked a lot so we had to carbo-load
I've been to Hong Kong many times - beginning in 1983 when we started drilling in the South China Sea. It remains to this day as one of my favorite cities in the world.
Neon lights - 24/7
Chinese tea tasting and ceremony
Hong Kong Island, Central at night
A night on the town
New Year's Eve at the Four Seasons Hotel
We visited the Orchid Garden at the Botanical Gardens in Singapore in December of 2008. Definitely one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen.
