What were you doing in late July 2020, during that first pandemic summer? I was rowing. Here, a teaser from my forthcoming book: An American in Pandemic Paris. A Coming-of-Retirement-Age Memoir:
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Sisters
I have very few regrets. Undoubtedly the biggest one is the lack of a meaningful adult relationship with my only sibling. I keep a photo of us on my piano, a reminder of a time full of promise for the future, one where I see my love for her evident in the way she’s nestled in my protective arms. Big sisters remain big sisters.
Hainewalde
Hainewalde (‘grove forest’ in German) is a picturesque farming village nestled in the foothills of the Zittau Mountains near the Polish-Czech border with Germany…
Trocadéro Man
Trocadéro Man smelled like springtime and fresh laundry, spoke English, German, Spanish, Chinese, and Russian, was easy to talk to…
Six Degrees…
Sometimes your worlds—past and present, near and far—collide…
Father’s Day
He called me Macushla, after the 1912 song undoubtedly sung to him as a child by his Irish mother…
Choices
I don’t spend a lot of time wondering ‘what if’ but without question the aspect of being human I find most frustrating is that we can only physically live one life, pursue one life path, even if our imaginations offer a broad palette of possibilities…
June 2020
An excerpt from my book The Pandemic Year in Paris. A Coming-of-Retirement-Age Memoir, coming out in the fall. It seems like only yesterday! “Although much of the week was glorious – warm and sunny – today was rainy. Caroline, the professor who looked at the apartment recently and with whom I have picnicked several times… Continue reading June 2020
Rewards
For dogs, it’s a biscuit, for cats, a spot in the sun. For people – a martini or a massage at the end of the workday, a bonus or vacation for jobs well done. For teachers, it’s student feedback. Today, I opened the student evaluations for the Women Artists’ course I taught in the spring.… Continue reading Rewards
Oh My, Omai!
One of my favorite portraits is Sir Joshua Reynolds’s portrait of Omai, a Tahitian man in his early twenties. Omai had already led an adventurous life before he met Captain James Cook in 1769 and joined his third voyage, which took him to London in October 1774. Although presented as what John Dryden in his… Continue reading Oh My, Omai!