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Today is a gorgeous New England Day, still brisk but the sun pelts down and tries to cheer us up. I was on the phone today with a guy from SF who said he was underneath a lemon tree. With computer problems leaving us one machine short, I headed to […]
We met our friend Chris at the Apollo Bar and Grill last night in Easthampton, and the place was packed. They’ve recently added the word bar to their name, but fortunately, that means only one new TV and like last time, it wasn’t even turned on. We got a good […]
We met a driver during our June trip to Medellin Colombia, who told us he used to have a construction company. They built many of the roads we traveled on. But he lost it all when he had to ransom his brother from the hands of FARC guerillas. This week […]
Last night I went to bed with the WSJ, astounded by the rich volume of fascinating content from which to draw conclusions and some of which I thought, would make good blogs. One piece by Mary Anastasia O’Grady pointed out what’s good about NAFTA, and why Mexico’s belligerent unions are […]
Glad to be back in Deerfield after a wonderful and busy weekend in the Big Apple. Got a chance to read Neal Peirce’s column in the Daily Hampshire Gazette over lunch. As he has written previously, Peirce is a bicycling evangelist. He takes any opportunity to write about developments in […]
Day three at the big show. Last night we returned to our favorite Italian Osteria called Gelsi, we discovered this temple of the cuisine of Puglia in 2005, and hadn’t been for a year. The chef came out to chat with us, (but mostly with Cindy in Italian) and we […]
Just back from watching a ridiculously thin woman with an NBC microphone doing a stand-up in front of a bunch of Greek dancers. There also was the new Tourism Minister from South Africa, who we confirmed we’ll get a chance to meet. Now it’s time to wait for the crowds, […]
Awoke in the hotel early, thinking about the show. Got an early call from my manager Lizzy, talking of six inches of fresh snow, and more on the way. Time to close the cafe. oh well. Better than losing bucks all day, and when we heard the other guy, Jerry’s […]
Well, here we are….we’ve set up the booth at the Javits, we’ve even got our Wi-Fi working in the booth, and everything’s set for the big show. Last night we walked the frigid and windy streets, it’s always so great to be back in Manhattan, I thought, and we did […]
Last night I alternated between tossing, turning, shivering and wondering what I should not forget when leave the next morning for New York. It was a difficult night, unsettling, and it reminded me of back when I first opened the cafe and had so many things on my mind. I […]
Yesterday in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, I read a column by editor Jim Foudy about the newly revamped Gazettenet, the paper’s website. Since the beginning of time Steve and I have told the folks over there that they are crazy to keep charging people to view the site, since they […]
Gino Piccin has passed away. I got an email yesterday from his daughter Nancy, she had seen my 2005 blog post about him. When I wrote it, I thought it was the final end of a long battle. Though he was very sick back then, he rallied, and came back […]