Devon is Dry
The rains came after a week of heat. Finally. Thank God. Prior to their arrival it was baking and Devon,…
My Cousin in California
On November 9th, two weeks after my cousin in Pittsburgh, in her post-shooting gloom, bowed out of all social media,…
Hot, Hot, Hot
You knew it before you got there, knew it if you’re one of those people who checks weather.com before you…
The Future is Now
If you’d asked me a few years ago, only a few, whether or not I ever read dystopian fiction, I…
The End of the World
In the nearly twenty years I’ve been teaching in the US public schools, I’ve had quite a few kids walk…
Spread the Word
Venice is a city of illusions: illusions of water and light, of time and space, of stillness and movement. Looking…
Venice
Imagine a city where the taxi journey from the airport so satisfies your desire for adventure, your longing for beauty,…
Lists
As another year draws to its close and the next one edges near, there seems to be in both the…
The Tattered Hem of Winter
For me, there are three kinds of winters. The first kind is the rainy, gray, damp, but relatively mild winter…
Westward Ho!
Keeping on the travel theme, my husband and I had reason to strike out for California last weekend, and if…
Rise and Fall
Even I, no nay-sayer of global-warming, have caught myself thinking it. When climatologists repeat their dire prediction that the world’s…
Snow Days
Remember just two blogs ago, I exhorted all of you to embrace the much maligned winter season? Well, I can…
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
All right, it’s been pretty cold lately and at the moment it’s raining ice onto my roof. Everyone has been…
Shorefront Anyone?
When I was an undergraduate at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, England, there was a lecturer there by…
Spanish Flames
As if they needed anything else to go wrong, the country of Spain has this last week been battling yet…
London Calling
It’s raining in London. What a surprise. Yes, but it’s been raining for a long time, practically the whole summer…
Summer Solstice
What do you mean the summer’s over? Why it just started didn’t it? I only got out of school last…
Fascinators Forever
I’m going to a wedding in England this summer and I’m pretty pleased about it. Of course, I’ll be happy…