I was almost finished folding the last of the weekly laundry when Herb called out from his office, “Grab your laptop and meet me in the living room!” At another time and place, my mind would have been confused by his urgent words, but in this predictable loop of daily life in pandemic land, I … Read More
“Walking, ideally, is a state in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned, as though they were three characters finally in conversation together, three notes suddenly making a chord.” ~Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking Most mornings I walk. Herb and I leave the house as early as the sunrise allows, … Read More
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” ~Zora Neal Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God We had just returned home from our Middle East travels last November when our daughter texted that she needed to talk. Right away. We knew it must be important because 1) she didn’t mind that we were … Read More
“Every dreamer knows that it’s entirely possible to be homesick for a place you’ve never been to, perhaps more homesick than for familiar ground.” ~Judith Thurman A few days ago, I ran across a word I’d never seen before that literally stopped me in my reading tracks. Fernweh: (noun) An ache for distant places; a … Read More
About six weeks ago an inquiry popped up in my Facebook message box from journalist Nourhan El Kelawy, wondering if I‘d be interested in having a blog post I’d written about Oman’s ancient lost city of Sumhuram featured on the CNN Arabic website. I think it took all of about five seconds – and a … Read More
It was one of those infamous Southern California mornings of May Gray when you want to reach up and pry the clouds apart. The sun is comfortably hidden above its shroud-covered floor, and you know that no amount of wishing or cajoling is going to make it break through the fog. I was sitting at … Read More
These days of social distancing are folding one into the next, as if the calendar’s only purpose is to decorate our desktops. Except for daily walks in the neighborhood and weekly grocery runs, we remain inside, quarantined in a strange new existence, hiding from an invisible foe we hope to never meet. It has been … Read More
“I would do it soon.” It was the word we were dreading to hear. Herb and I were sitting in the office of Dr. Lars Svensson, world-renowned cardiovascular surgeon and Chairman of the Heart & Vascular Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Svensson was reviewing the status of a defective heart valve that Herb had … Read More
We have some unfinished business, Barcelona and I. We met seven years ago, not under the best of circumstances. Herb and I had been traveling on a one-week Mediterranean cruise that disembarked in the Catalonian capital. On the last day of the voyage, while walking through the lovely cobblestone streets of Aix en Provence, France, … Read More
We were traveling to Rochester, Minnesota, to celebrate their 75th anniversary. No, that is not a typo. Lyle and Betty have been married for a remarkable three-quarters of a century. Before the trip, I stopped at our local card shop to pick up a 75th anniversary card, only to realize the foolishness of my thought. … Read More