Laughter on the 23rd Floor: The Joke’s On Caesar
Stalin has died and Joe McCarthy is saying bad things about General Montgomery. And on stage at Smith College’s Mendenhall Center for the Performing arts, an audience of people old enough to get the jokes was laughing along with a cast who could all easily keep up with Neil Simon’s […]
New Century Theatre: Paying Actors Really Makes a Difference!
One of the reasons that Northampton has been voted one of America’s Best Art Towns is because of our professional theater company, New Century Theatre, which produces a roster of plays each summer. I’m pleased to be sharing news of their first production of the season starting on June 19, […]
Easthampton’s Cultural Chaos 2014
Easthampton is becoming the place to be in Western Mass. On Saturday my friend Jack and I rode our bikes there from Northampton on the bike trail and we joined in the city-wide celebration called Cottage Street Cultural Chaos. Indeed, it was chaos, there was so much going on in […]
Canoeing the Hillsborough River Near Tampa, Watching a Hawk and a Snake
I am just out of the water after a terrific paddle down the Hillsborough river with Michael Cole, a guide for Canoe Adventures located near Tampa. The river is narrow, teeming with bird and reptile life, and was a joy to paddle from end to end. If we had stayed […]
Riding Tampa’s Waterfront trail, the Riverwalk
We rode the waterside bike walking paths in Tampa this morning, beside me was Kevin Craft, who runs the only bike shop in the center of Tampa called City Bike Tampa. I asked him what he thought about the coming municipal bike exchange, as is done in so many cities […]
So You Want a TV Show Filmed In Your City? Here’s Some Good Advice
What does it take to get your destination on television? To answer this burning question here at PRSA, I attended a seminar with three television production company veterans, and they answered the question quite succinctly. For Irene Wong, who runs a production house that makes shows for the Cooking Channel […]
Tampa: Lightning Strikes Frequent and a Train Roils Residents
A Town car picked me up at the airport in Tampa and as we crossed a bridge to turn onto an expressway, we saw a towering black column of a rainstorm, hovering like an apparition above the coast in the distance. “That’s my golf club over there,” the driver told […]
Off to Tampa to Speak and Watch the Rays
I am flying to Tampa Florida this morning, four days in a city I’ve never seen, and a chance to schmooze and sit on a panel. I will be joining members of the Public Relations Society of America, at their annual travel conference. The group is made up of PR […]
Deerfield’s Search for a Town Administrator: The Best Solution is to Hire An Assistant and Promote Kayce Warren
I must admit, I sympathize with the Deerfield Selectboard in their quest to find a new Town Administrator. I attended a meeting a month back and they had three candidates to be interviewed. To me, it was clear that one guy stood above the rest, but after deliberating, the board […]
What do Things Cost in Coimbra, Portugal?
Coimbra Portugal. a round up about how much it costs to live in Coimbra Portugal, a college city where the average wage is just $12,000/ year
Biking Lisbon’s Waterfront: Making Less Room for Cars
Didier Mimoso remembers a time back in 2008 when the monthly revenues from his bike rental service in Lisbon totalled what they now make in one day. He told his manager, Tania Galda, to hang in there–things would get better…and six years later, both Didier and Tania have lots of […]
Asparagus Anyone? Sunday’s the Day to Celebrate the Spear in Hadley!
When I am traveling, sometimes I tell people about the part of the USA where I live. If I’m traveling in May or June, I often explain that I come from the part of the world where the finest asparagus on Earth is grown. That’s one of the best ways […]
Viseu, Serra da Estrela: Central Portugal, Old and New
Central Portugal. Visting Viseu Serra da Estrela a mountainous region with great wines and ancient history and places to see.
Coimbra Brings the Past to Life with Striking Buildings and the World’s Best Library
After a day touring the historic sites of Coimbra, Portugal, my head is swimming with the stunning works, buildings and monuments of this city of 120,000 in the central part of the country. As a travel writer, museums are pretty much a part of every trip I take, yet […]
Armagnac is the Lifeblood of Le Gers in Southwest France
Throughout my visit here in Le Gers, Midi-Pyrenees, there has been one consistent element that has bound together every person we met, every place we saw, and even what we ate. That has been the ancient, sacred drink of Armagnac, which we have sniffed, sipped and quaffed in elegant salons, […]
She’s Bluer than Blue at Bleu de Lectoure in Le Gers, France
Denise Simeon-Lambert has a blue Jaguar parked outside her blue shop which is called Bleu de Lectoure. Her house is blue and she wears a lovely blue scarf on top of a shirt that’s stained with blue dye. Behind her sit vats of dye and every imaginable thing you can […]
Riding the Velo-Rail de Armagnac in Nogaro France
Here’s a fantastic use for an unused train track, without having to rip up all of the rails. The Velo-Rail was built a year ago and has been a hit with families in the town of Nogaro. The machine uses the power of two humans to turn the steel wheels […]