“I’m All About Jakes,” Said Shoul. So That’s Where We Ate
For the first time in many months, I chose to dine at Jake’s. It was mostly because my pal Shoul was insistent, telling me that they have new owners, get great local produce, and are sporting a whole new menu. “I”m all about Jakes!” he insisted, when asked about other […]
It’s Friday Night…Have You Got Plans?
Friday presents a conundrum to me almost every week. There is this pressure, this sense that I should have a plan, why didn’t I make a plan, what IS my plan? It’s often a night where my significant other likes to join her pals in her far-off village, and thus, […]
Why Do Men Get So Anxious About a Doctor Visit?
What is it about a doctor’s appointment that makes men so anxious? I have noticed this distinct difference between the sexes; women regularly go to check-ups and follow their doctor’s advice and don’t get nearly as wound up as we men do about simple things like the annual physical. As […]
Mike Kittredge Loves His New Job: The Banker of Bernardston
Michael Kittredge introduced himself to the crowd of Frankin Chamber of Commerce members as “the guy who started that other candle shop down the road.” He also said that he’s now known as Bernardston’s biggest banker after eighteen months in business at the firm he started with his son Mick, […]
Sliding Down the “Institute Hill”: Charlie Cruser Remembered it All One Afternoon
Snow days of yore were wondrous. When I think back on snow as a youth growing up in the village of Blawenburg, my vision of that day gets all gauzy and misty with memories as clear as a tear. I remember one snow day afternoon we had gone sledding down […]
A Chemically Sensitive Woman Asks Me For Help
It’s amazing how quickly a day can change, and completely spin onto its head. We were lounging around, puttering on the computer and watching TV, and the land-line rang. This is only relevant because I almost never, ever answer that old thing. It’s just never for me, since people call […]
Setting the Dates is the First Priority of a Year Traveling
I have a ritual of removing my old calendars off of the wall and when I put the new ones up, one page for each month of 2012, I eagerly await seeing how it will be filled up with travel. People who travel a lot have to pick their spots. […]
My Goals for 2012
It’s now exactly a year since I sat right here on that auspicious date of 1/11/11 and wrote goals for the year. At the time I was reeling by owning an unprofitable cafe that was sucking the life out of my viable web business, so I remember a month later […]
Benin: Where Lions Attack
I came home to the cold but found that my gloves and a brisk walk solved the problem. Then to the treasures that my mailbox always brings. Yesterday I published a story by a young writer named Jonathan David Thompson, who recalled an experience he had in Benin recently. He […]
Chile Rellenos and Attempted Tortillas at the Casa
One of the highlights of this trip has been the food, created by the quiet dynamo Ruby and her assistant who come to the Casa each morning from their home in the native Mexican village of Tuito. Rudimentary Spanish is exchanged by English speaking guests and the cook; Bob and […]
Ten Things to Love About Mexico
1. Kids are everywhere, and they are comfortable playing their own games. Two tiny girls were playing doll games with a pair of scissors and a pen, another pack of kids was using a beached jet ski as their playground…and tag was their game. Videogames? No way! 2. You can […]
We Swam as a Group, Because Everyone Wanted to Be Together
Today brought more wonderful times in the relaxed and easygoing setting that makes Mexico such a great destination. It still amazes me that so many of my American friends and relatives are afraid of coming here…it’s just so relaxed and fantastic. We made an excursion by small boat today to […]
Puerto Vallarta’s Malecon is Where the Action Is
As part of the Casa week experience, we took a dip into the big city of Puerto Vallarta yesterday, and to be true to the local culture, we took a city bus to get there. A young local woman, pregnant with a tiny boy in tow, waited with us, and […]
Overlooking the Ocean, Learning Simple Salsa Moves
Liz Nania is a ball of fire with a huge roster of enthusiastic followers. We found out in Mexico that they’ll even follow her all the way down here to Boca to learn a few new steps! Our week in Casa de los Artistas was billed as a week of […]
The Sounds of Boca Never End
On Mexico’s Pacific coast, a banquet of sounds wafts forth all day and all night. At bedtime, it was a few booms, as loud as a cannon but we assume instead, leftover New Years fireworks blasting from an unseen beach detonation location. In the earliest part of the morning, before […]
At Boca de Tomatlan, the Question is: ‘How Are You Getting Across?’
How are you getting across? Whenever we look out across the river Horcones that’s the decision that has to be made. There are several choices: we could wade across, (but we’re not sure yet how deep it is!) or we could sit in a little dingy and have a […]
Boca de Tomaltan Mexico, Our Home for the Next Six Days
We are flying tomorrow at an insanely ridiculous hour…let’s just say that by the time you reach for a cup of coffee, we will have already been in the air a few hours bearing down on Dallas. Then we will fly to Puerto Vallarta and by 1:30 pm we should […]