It was the thing I didn’t want to do, travel to Europe. Did I hear myself? My mother wanted to go, I didn’t. My mother expressed interest in traveling to Lourdes (no "s"), where one of the most visited religious sites for Catholics is located, the Grotto of Massabielle. Apparitions of the Virgin Mary appeared... Continue Reading →
Letting go of expectations
I was sitting at a table for two as a party of one in a restaurant in Trento (Italy), mulling over the choices on the menu. I was alone, but let’s face it, solo travel isn’t what it used to be. You can just about always phone a friend. Which is what I did. I... Continue Reading →
The Bill Clinton Incident
I had not thought a lot about the consequences of living in a small city, in a small country with a small population before I moved to Bergen. None of that entered my mind. What kept me up at night was the possibility of getting trapped there in winter. That the airport would be closed... Continue Reading →
Craving cronuts
A cronut. I couldn’t think of a better reason driving me to travel to Las Vegas for 48 hours in the middle of the week. I’ve seen the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I’ve even climbed it. I’ve taken the vaporetti (water taxi) in Venice from one island to the next. I’ve even been to the... Continue Reading →
Goldilocks and the Three Bears Syndrome
My brother is the kind of dad who goes out early on a Saturday morning to buy fresh blueberries for pancakes requested for breakfast by his four year old daughter. Or who bakes moon-sized chocolate chip cookies on his day off just for her, a prize for when she eats the kind of food a... Continue Reading →
Crime scene parmigiano
We think of Thanksgiving as a standard holiday, with a standard meal, and yet, there’s no standard way of celebrating Thanksgiving. Some like turkey. Some don’t. Some like a roasted turkey. Some like a deep fried turkey. Or an ice cream turkey. Some have a glazed ham or steaks or a pork roast or vegan... Continue Reading →
Short story: The beach restaurant
A meet cute that happens at the beach...enjoy! Francesca breathed in the sea air as she opened the patio doors to her restaurant with a view of the Pacific Ocean. The marine layer was just beginning to break while some of the later surfers traipsed down to the beach for their morning appointment with wave... Continue Reading →
Adventure travel and the laundromat
Sometimes I don’t understand why I remember so vividly the least remarkable events in my life. Like the first time I used a laundromat. I was at college, my first year, my first couple of weeks. I remember it because I was discovering I had mononucleosis. I put my clothes in the machine. I was... Continue Reading →
The birth of goddess goop
Freelance work has its plusses. A stranger at a fancy dinner said to me last week, “Oh, you can work from anywhere.” Sure, I can wake up and start to work when I want from wherever I want – in my bed, from a fabulous resort in Indonesia, on a train. It doesn’t matter as... Continue Reading →
Don’t knock diving the house reef
When I started diving, I made a promise to myself to take a dive trip at least once a year. I did a pretty good job sticking with that philosophy for a couple of decades. Well, until the pandemic. Then any plans I had before the lockdowns were delayed and then delayed, and then delayed... Continue Reading →