A few weeks ago, I dined at a Purgatory restaurant known for its creative cocktails with a fellow I’ve known for a few years but have seen only a few times, and not since the COVID-19 pandemic’s denouement. Eighteen hours later, he’d made plans to join me for my first week at a rustic hacienda on a Pacific beach in Costa Rica. It didn’t strike me as an impulsive gesture until I mentioned it to a friend…
Tag: nature
That’s Entertainment
Curious about several of this year’s Academy Award nominees, last evening I watched Triangle of Sadness, touted as a comedy and nominated also for a Palme d’Or….
A Happy Reunion
I arrived at my little paradise of Playa Lagartillo on Costa Rica’s west coast a few days ago, where I resumed my cherished simple routine of rising with the sun and strolling the dusty, 150-meter-long path to the beach…
Travel Anxiety
Who, me? A seasoned solo traveler? Filled with trepidation? And in anticipation of going to a place I’ve been twice before, loving it sufficiently that I’m returning, rather than exploring the undoubtedly many other magical spots located elsewhere in Costa Rica? Yup…
Hammocks
Freed from the leaden tug of gravity that keeps me, thankfully, attached to the earth most of the time, I float and rock in my little nest, with maple leaves, blue skies, and the occasional bird occupying my field of vision…
Rural Paris
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:
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…
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…
The Lone Pelican
Sometimes incidental observations transport me to unexpected trains of thought. That’s what happened recently…