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Cruising to a Picnic in a Classic French Ride

Cruising to a Picnic in a Classic French Ride

I began the day behind the wheel of a 1989 Citroen Deux Chevaux, that classic little car the symbolizes France. We chugged over narrow roads, past fields of wheat and sunflowers, and through ancient villages where the iconic cars were greeted with smiles. Didier Montarras has made a career out […]

On a Balmy Evening, The Journalists Want to Eat Locally

On a Balmy Evening, The Journalists Want to Eat Locally

Last night we dined outside in a balmy evening, a relief after the day’s temps were in the upper 90s here in Southwestern France. This weather is unexpected and in most of France, there is a drought parching crops. But in this district, Lot-en-Garonne, golden wheat is being harvested, the […]

In Bordeaux, the Cruise Ships Dock Right In the City

Today I walked the streets of Bordeaux with Stephane Thierry, who for 35 years has run the press marketing for the large region of Aquitaine, that covers five distinct parts, from Perigeaux and the Dordogne in the north all the way down to glitzy Biaritz in the South, and west […]

Tomorrow We Drive to Lot-en-Garonne and Begin our Aquitaine Adventures

I am in Terminal E at Logan, awaiting a night flight that will bring me to Bordeaux on Monday morning. There are few things I can compare to the giddiness and sense of anticipation that I still feel, after hundreds of trips, about a departure. That’s why I’m a traveler, […]

He Hustles Hard, He Sings Sweetly…He’s Lenny, from Greenfield

He Hustles Hard, He Sings Sweetly…He’s Lenny, from Greenfield

Lenny singing Sinatra at the Voo. Lenny Zarcone loves to sing. Right in front of you, right at you, he swoops in with his microphone in one hand, the other arm stretched out, and he sings, sweetly, in tune, right into the faces of his audience. He meets your eye, […]

How Big a Bottle Do You Need to Celebrate a World Championship?

My apologies to the reader who said my last post was too depressing. As a remedy, I’d like to share the exuberance of two world champions, and the very special liquid that they chose to indulge in to celebrate. A story by Jason Gay in the WSJ described two team’s […]

Lady Death Will Find You. Sadly, That Is Guaranteed

In Los Angeles Magazine last night, a ghoulish yet compelling story held my rapt attention. It was about what happens to you when you die. With a pre-amble that waxed philosophic on the inevitability of death despite all of our preoccupations with trying to stay healthy and put off the […]

Socialist Dreams and Beauty Queens: A traveler in Venezuela

I”m reading a book called Socialist Dreams and Beauty Queens: A Couchsurfer’s Memoir of Venezuela by a young English writer named Jamie Maslin. The facts he presents by visiting so many people there have completely changed my opinion of a man who I once thought of as a force for […]

Unnatural Selection: How So Many Girls Were Never Born

In normal human reproduction, there is a natural tendency to have more boys than girls…the ratio is about 104 to 100. But a new book by Mara Hvistendahl has come out about how much this has changed over the past fifty years and the dramatic repercussions that changing this ratio […]

“Fair Game” Tells the Story of Betrayal of an Agent and the Results

Sitting around a dinner table with a group of close friends, wine flowing freely, someone throws out that Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, must be intending to use WMDs. It’s 2003, and the US is just about to launch the Shock and Awe campaign of missiles based on intelligence that proved […]

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