As you’re reading this post, I’m throwing last-minute essentials into my suitcase before leaving for a week in London and Edinburgh. Thanks to the low-fare transatlantic carrier Norwegian Air International now with more direct flights to London than any US airline and a British travel agency, I found a vacation package unable to ignore. TWO…
WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS…
Did I ever mention my appointment with a Des Moines, Iowa psychologist. In my mid-thirties, I was needing counseling and advice. After talking to me for 30 minutes he remarked that ‘I would hit my head incessantly against the wall to get something done.’ Heck, I smiled broadly, got all puffed up, considering that a…
ALL ABOARD: MY TWEAKS to HAPPY
As counterintuitive as this may seem, Summer 2017 has been wonderful, my happiest since Alzheimer’s knocked at our door thirteen years ago. That’s in spite of, maybe even more so because our country and world is in, let’s admit it, chaos. It’s darn hard these days to stay aboard that happy train. Even Joy the…
SUMMER’S HOME STRETCH with FRIENDS
THE COSMO GIRL I first met Karen Kribs, above, fifteen years ago when we joined our mutual friend, Nancy Alciatore, for a month of immersion study at the Institut de Français located on the Côte d’Azur in Villefranche-sur-Mer. Nancy, fluent in French, tested into the Advancé 1 class. Karen and I, both neophytes, were placed…
JULY from EVERY ANGLE
Last summer my USFS volunteer colleague, Deb, was on bus duty at the Maroon Bells pick up station. It was July, peak tourist season and we were overwhelmed by the crowds, sometimes welcoming over 1,000 visitors each day. The Bells, a priceless treasure, is the most photographed site in Colorado/Rocky Mountains. After work, during our…
FOODIE THERAPY: LET’S DO IT
When I was first married and my husband a graduate student at Florida State University, my cooking skills were, to be generous, limited. I worked with a rotating schedule of five dishes: tuna noodle casserole; spare ribs; goulash; pork chops and hamburgers. To get to seven, I relied on goulash and tuna for leftovers. Somewhat…
WHAT’S ON YOUR BACK BURNER?
Count on it. The day I drive back to Aspen, after a winter absence, it is always snowing. My last Thursday’s arrival didn’t disappoint, a real blizzard. But after picking up my keys at The Gant’s office and corralling Dan, who drew the short straw, we got my car unloaded. Home, very sweet Home. This…
WANT the RAINBOW? WELCOME the RAIN.
Not for one moment do I begrudge water-deprived California a drop of moisture. After suffering through five years of drought, losing 102 million trees in its stricken forests, this state needed a miracle. Obviously Mother Nature heard the plea, tweeted Mt.Olympus and Zeus, the Greek god of clouds, rain, thunder and lightning answered the call….
MONTEREY, STEINBECK & HUMPBACK WHALES
This week’s post, falling on March 17th, was shaping up so nicely. Today is St. Patrick’s Day, a time even for Irish wannabes to make merry. Take advantage of this holiday to laugh and be spontaneously rambunctious. I dare you. Erin Go Bragh. Also worth sharing, my recent 5-day trip to Monterey, a coastal city…
A DUTCH BABY, DULCE de LECHE & BIG QUESTION
It poured last week. Rains were so heavy that 188,000 people were evacuated from a three-county area in northern California. A possible dam failure at Lake Oroville, a reservoir that supplies much of California’s drinking water, threatened to break, sending a 30-foot wall of water down its emergency spillway. Oroville Dam is the largest earth-filled…
#Everyonehasastory, #Cookthebookfridays,
“Everyone has a story, the air is full of stories.” Isabelle Allende Do you realize January 2017 has packed its bag, left the house and won’t return? Already two days into February, it’s Groundhog Day. Punxutawney Phil saw his shadow. Looking ahead, (or, not,) Super Bowl Sunday, the Oscars and Presidents’ week-end are in the…
GO FISH: BRANDADE de MORUE
This post is dedicated, with fondness, to Dr. David Yokum, who was a prominent thoracic surgeon and catfish guy. Being Iowa born and bred in the Fifties/Sixties meant odds are heavily weighted to a meat-and-potatoes palate. In the Corn State then there were approximately 200,000, 150-170 acre family farms. Each August at the Delaware County…
