Free email notices whenever a new article is posted. And unsubscribe anytime.
I boarded a bus early this morning after a reviving pep talk from CBS sports guy James JB Brown, quarterback Dan Marino and Pepper Schwartz. The three stood before 700 or so volunteers at the Life@50+ National Event in Atlanta to encourage them on as they undertook many different projects […]
Today I’m flying to Atlanta for a three-day conference devoted to those of us who have already reached 50 years of age. It’s the Fall 2o13 Life@50+ National Event of the AARP. You might recognize these people as voting bloc that politicians fear the most–and the people who mail you […]
I am so excited about our town’s newest addition….Mosaic Cafe! Ever since we had to close the GONOMAD Cafe in the center of town, I have been thinking about how much a little village needs a cafe. When Mary began taking a writing workshop at Ruth’s cafe (in the former […]
I was relaxing after a sumptuous lunch of chicken with walnut sauce at Hosteria Hacienda Pinsaqui. GM Alex Roman came up to the table. “Your Horse is ready,” he said. With that I walked out to the green lawn near the stables to meet my steed. Maradona is an eight-year […]
Our final night in Ecuador brought us out to the country, it was a welcome relief from the crowded streets and noisy bustle of Cuenca. We took a taxi out to Hosteria Caballo Campana about 15 minutes from the center of Cuenca and were soon patting some friendly horses and […]
Jose Jimenez makes dyes from walnuts, insects and other natural things to weave in spectacular shawls. Rosita Loja, miniature maker
We spent the day in Cuenca, which is a very pretty city, as so many people in Quito told us. There is a trout-filled river that runs through the city, and lots of churches and houses that go back to colonial times. Along the river, green mowed lawns line the […]
Quito is an exciting city and over the past three days I’ve gotten a chance to talk to a lot of locals about what is coming up and what’s exciting here in Ecuador’s largest city. I also got to get a feel for the place when I took a long […]
Inside Café Cultura, a boutique hotel in Quito three fires crackled in the fireplaces, as we were welcomed warmly by Lazlo Karolyi, a Hungarian immigrant who owns this and five other boutique hotels in Ecuador. He was happy have us, having sent a car to fetch us at our hotel, […]
We spent the day exploring many of the best attractions of Quito, starting by driving up to the El Panecillo, the park at the top of a mountain that overlooks the historic downtown and its many houses on the hillsides. There is a metal statue of a winged Virgin Mary […]
I have a familiar feeling of a combination of dread and anticipation because tomorrow morning I’ll catch a flight from Boston to Atlanta. Then after a layover, I’ll fly to Quito Ecuador, and at 10 pm Tuesday night I’ll be in a new country, one that I’ve never visited before. […]
I’ve made a tradition of attending the downtown Amherst Block party, and last night we kept it going, meeting up with family and friends at those round tables they park in the middle of North Pleasant St. I am very fond of events that involve blocking out cars, since I […]