When we used to visit Berkeley in the late winter, I used to be amazed by what Suzie called “Tulip Trees,” which bloom very early in the season with gorgeous large white and pink flowers. Much to my surprise and delight, it turns out that the tree right in front of our new house in Kensington is one of those trees — and right now it is blooming crazily. A […]
I’ve promised myself that 2020 will be the year I force myself to sit down at the keyboard every day and write. Many people I respect have told me I should, and from time to time I have tried, only to find myself fiddling around with the theme or fonts on the blog site, or drafting something and then deleting it. I’ve written all my life as part of my […]
Prelude We came to La Rochelle in large part because our two good friends, Alain and Isabel, live here. They are warm, welcoming, interesting, and funny. In turn they introduced us to another warm, welcoming, interesting, and funny couple, Daniel and Danielle. He was an urban planner for the city of La Rochelle, and she worked (effectively) for a non-profit. A lot like me and Suzie. One evening last week, […]
Today Suzie and I decided to rent bikes and ride around La Rochelle, which has an extensive network of bike lanes and dedicated bike-only pistes. In the end we rode about 13 miles, which doesn’t sound like much, but the bikes were clunky and heavy, and much of the time we had to weave and dodge to avoid ambling, inattentive tourists who didn’t understand that a bike lane is effectively […]
It’s been a fun two days with my old friends Scott and Julie. Yesterday the rain stopped early enough in the afternoon that we were able to go on a bike ride on one of Des Moines’ many bike trails. The city and county have acquired a large number of abandoned railroad lines and converted them into paved bike-and-pedestrian trails. We rode on the Great Western Trail to a small […]
That’s where I am, after a long, long day of driving that started with on the very west side of Utah with a sunrise over the Great Salt Desert, and finished with a stop well inside Nebraska. Quite an effort, yet for some reason it seemed easier than yesterday (even though I woke up a 4 a.m. and wasn’t able to go back to sleep; hopefully tonight will be better). […]
There’s no feeling in the world like being out on the open road. It feels like freedom to me. I started today on my trip back to the Midwest, and while there were a few times that I wondered if my decision to drive wasn’t biting off a little more than I could chew, most of the time I was in that wonderful cruise mode, music on the radio, sun […]
Among the most moving sights in France are the ubiquitous monuments to the huge number of dead in various French wars, particularly World War One. Every town and village seems to have its monument, and on most of the monuments in these places, there are listed the names of young men who died, “Morts Pour La France.” These monuments draw me in for some reason, and I’m compelled to read […]
A little over a year ago, I wrote a post extolling the fact that I had managed to go on an easy, two-mile, flat walk. I remember that day clearly because it was so hard. My left leg still wasn’t working right and caused me a lot of pain, I walked like a gimpy cowboy on some old black-and-white western. It took almost all my force to get to my […]
Today’s the last day of our trip to France. We spent it walking all around Toulouse, exploring areas we hadn’t before, having a fantastic last big “official” restaurant meal, all while trying to forget that this was the last day of our trip in France. We started out walking along the Garonne (our apartment is right on the river). We came to a place where water was spilling over a […]