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I’m excited about going to the big opening night at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls, which has a new leader and a new and diverse slate of music, drama and spoken word acts coming up for the new year.  Friday’s event will feature Red Baraat, who thrilled the crowd […]

It’s a leap year day, so we won’t be seeing any posts dated February 29 for another four years. I laughed out loud when I read Dan Neil’s review of the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu, including this brilliant passage…from the WSJ. “Cars like the Malibu are the motor pool’s most selfless […]

Some random thoughts on this soggy, chilly sorta-snow day. I read today about another heroin bust in Deerfield on Interstate 91.  Every time they nab a dealer, it’s always because they have easy-to-spot problems with their cars. Yesterday’s criminal/junkies had a broken brake light.  Others get stopped for speeding, or […]

We arrived the  way most everyone gets to Laguna Beach, on California Rte 133, Canyon Road, the biggest bottleneck here when July and August roll around.  I hiked up on top of a mountain next to the ocean here with Doug Oyen, a guide with La Vida Laguna a company that […]

What fantastic day we had in the Coachella Valley!  We met up with Dick Hoffman, a 17-year veteran guide with Desert Adventures, who piled us into a 1981 Jeep CJ, that holds eight passengers, with three across seating in the back.  We set off to explore the oasis that surrounds […]

Palm Springs was a surprise after the drive through the desert.  After passing so many chain restaurants and big box stores, it was a treat to arrive downtown to find people walking around the sidewalks, and to duck into local stores and closely spaced businesses. Our first stop was the […]

In the evening light after a very warm day in Long Beach, Naples Island was full of families with kids splashing in Alamitos Bay and others embarking  out in the sunset on paddle boards, one girl chatting on her cell with no fear of the consequences of falling off the wobbly […]

When we set up a trip to Southern California for our February vacation, Long Beach was one of the cities suggested to me by California tourism. I had no idea what I’d see in Long Beach, I only knew that the Queen Mary had been docked here since 1967, and […]

It’s an institution that I’ve never set foot in.  The white restaurant, set back from road, with the big parking lot in Hadley, across from the Mountain Farms Mall.  The crowded lot said a lot. Indeed the place was packed when Ed, John and I showed up for lunch. We […]

I have been trying hard to improve my GoNOMAD newsletter opening rate, realizing that you can’t just assume that people will open every email. You have to put more into it.  I did some reading and was quite inspired by a blog that challenged my thinking.  Though the blog maintains […]