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There are things that people do on vacation, things they never do any other time of the year. Last week I joined my large extended family of about 14 other people ranging from age three to 85 on a lake in Pennsylvania’s Endless mountains. Maybe we never do these things […]

This is the holiday week. I could sense this on Friday when my email dropped to trickle, and phone calls reached no one. Few Americans will be working next week, including your blog writer. It’s good to be going somewhere that doesn’t allow me to plug in. Where we are […]

In Portland, Oregon, the trash trucks no longer rumble through the neighborhoods every week. That’s because the city has embarked on a new way of dealing with trash, instead they pick up composted food waste mixed with yard trimmings weekly and now do half as many regular trash pick ups […]

Five men with the same five instruments can produce diametrically opposite music. I thought about this last night when we listened to Sierra Leone’s All Star Refugee Band at the Iron Horse and contrasted the effect of their music to other groups playing the same instruments. Take the guy with […]

What a treat! Today I go up to my daughter and son-in-law’s house and pick up two delightful companions for the day. Sofie, age 3, and Nathan who is 7. These guys are coming with me while we hit the farmer’s market, then I have a lot of fun things […]

On this heated night with fans awhirlin’ I streamed a movie from Netflix, it was called Strictly Sexual. The premise goes back to the beginning of time, one of the six original plots known to drama. Two women meet two men, confuse them with gigalos and then proceed to install […]

Last year I decided I had to wear a costume, so I visited a thrift shop and found a gown that sort of looked like something a monk might wear. Then I grabbed my son in law’s big gold cross, and my outfit was complete. I was ready to step […]

I woke up with one of my ears still plugged up from my three days at Keystone’s high altitude. But I sprang out of bed because I realized, wow, nobody else is in the house–they’ve all moved out! Seven years of living with a family had meant that I never, […]

I’ve had a great time meeting with fellow travel writers here but the 9299 altitude over the two days has taken its toll. I am so dried out that I have to drink every hour, resulting in waking up so often it’s making me feel a little crazy. I can’t […]