Past Articles

I found a fascinating tidbit on the web this morning, since I got up very early. It was about abandoned cities, and in the story I read about the Ryugyong Hotel, a 105-story hotel shaped like a mountain that is abandoned in North Korea’s capital city of Pyongyang. The building, […]

I am trying to be productive amid the din of the chaos that running a cafe creates. Scheduling is much harder than I ever thought it would be, and the cacaphony of who can’t work when and who wants to get more hours when they want them is intimidating. It […]

One of the most basic things I’ve always tried to teach my kids is to make eye contact when you are speaking to someone. It’s simple and you’d think it would be something you don’t have to teach. Yet it was painful for my son Sam at some points in […]

Saturday night I ended up in Marshalls. While Cindy shopped for lingerie, I sat in a chair and watched Russian immigrants chatting and noticed how many of the rest of the people in the store were obese. In front of me was a rack of non-woven polypropylene shopping bags, navy […]

Today I used caps, and bummed somebody out. I was sending in an ad proof for our Deerfield Attractions advertising program at the Advocate. And I sent the change back for a second time, as they had not fixed the first little typo after the first proof was sent. So […]

There’s a bumper sticker that’s trite but true, it’s posted in my title. I am happy to report that the maxim has proved true once again, and a good friend has come to her senses. The election proves how polarized this country is, and as sad as that may be, […]

From Chamonix France 08

Back to the action at the cafe, where it never stops. I had to stop by Gillette’s today, to look into a new giant refrigerator for the cafe. And a new slicer too. I have some promising new people who are looking for work, so that’s a good thing. I […]

This was taken at the Refugio at the top of the mountain in the Gran Paradiso National Park. While trips like this are full of fun moments, it quickly becomes clear that it’s time to go home. I look forward to at least a month sticking around before heading out […]

Sitting next to Paola Musolino at Piazza di Po restaurant, she told me more about Eataly, this sensational temple to food and wine that’s put Torino on the culinary map. “They are planning to open in Rockefeller Center in New York,” she told me. Then I asked her about Slow […]

We set off in the bus to another awesome promonotory from which to view the Alps and this beautiful countryside. Winding our way through a mountain village, we took a turn and then began winding up steeper and steeper hills. The bus could barely make it around the hairpins, and […]

Shelley photographs Liz while the cow looks on near Perosa Argentina, Italy.