Quilting is one of those things, along with knitting and taffy pulling, that seems like it should be reserved for older women from pioneer days. Contrary to this stereotype, Denyse Schmidt of Denyse Schmidt Quilts is a modern woman born and raised in central Massachusetts who simply has a passion (and a talent) for patchwork.

She was raised in a family where hand-making things was normal: her father and mother made furniture and clothes in their spare time, and while they never made a career out of their talents, Denyse was inspired to take her capacity for creation a bit further.

After studying graphic design and working in a myriad of industries, Denyse finally “patched together” her experiences to create her very own patchwork quilt company, and it’s anything but old-fashioned.

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Why am I here? How is each of us a part of each other’s pain and sorrow? Is it too late to help heal the world? Nearly 40 years ago, Marvin Gaye’s brilliant soul/jazz/rock soliloquy lifted the lid on the corruption and complacency at the heart of Vietnam-era America. It’s a document that may not wholly answer what it’s like to be a human being in the modern age. But to this day, I can’t hear this collection without questioning whether I could be making a better job of my life.

Angry yet forgiving, insistent yet tender, graphic yet ethereal, specific yet universal, What’s Going On is as integrated and contradictory as the human condition itself. Yet through it all, the pure conviction of a single soul struggling to make sense of the chaos that life is rings as true as a clap of thunder. From the opening clarion call of the title track’s saxophone to the apocalyptic gospel of the closing Inner City Blues, Marvin ruthlessly bares his own troubled soul and so helps us reconnect with our own. No cut-and-dried tracks here. Instead songs fuse and merge till the whole becomes a symphonic mantra. Strings and piano interweave to evoke both our interdependence and the moral complexities of the issues we face. Rhythms pulse, posit and provoke. Choruses tumble down like cresting waves to clear our eyes and revitalise our consciousness. Less a simple piece of music, What’s Going On offers sustenance to the spiritually famished. For the lost we all sometimes are, it’s a glimmer of light.

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There is an age old saying that fashion changes like the weather, one minute a trend or style is in and the next it is more out than George Michael in a public restroom. If indeed fashion does change like the weather and with today’s global warming effect making weather so unpredictable, fashion should be constantly updated rather than just being all about Spring/Summer or Autumn/Winter.

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Is there anything more quintessentially New York than a jaw-droppingly good cocktail? There’s certainly nothing that I’ve seen amusing New Yorkers so much as gathering for a great libation. And, lest anyone raise claims of concern over a city built around sinful sipping, bear in mind that the classic New York cocktail is all about quality not quantity.

When in the Big Apple and thirsty, seek out the drinks that will reside forever in your mind as measures against which other drinks, of similar names and ingredients, will be compared for analysis and will rarely rise to the challenge. Drinks like these:

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Cartier: Innovation through the 20th Century is a 280-page catalogue of 175 objects that epitomize the trend-setting influence Cartier has had in the world of serious bling. It was originally published to coincide with the summer 2007 exhibition by the same name at The Moscow Kremlin Museums.

The book’s main author, François Chaille, has penned four of Rizzoli’s Cartier books and is an authority on high-priced accessories such as neckwear, timepieces and writing instruments - that’s ties, watches and pens for the rest of us. Other authors of Cartier: Innovation through the 20th century include Michel Aliaga, Cartier’s Deputy Director for Information and Research, and Larissa Peshekhonova, Curator of Modern Jewellery, Kremlin Museums. Their essays manage to make history interesting, even to me.

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