I may have mentioned once or twice that the weather here in Liguria is, well, stupendous. (We’ll discount the anomalous 2 weeks of nippiness that froze our buns in our poorly-insulated house.) For someone who finds the weather an essential part of the quality of his daily life (just like […]
life
8 posts
The land that we bought 5 years ago on a ridge high up between Monterosso and Levanto was once carefully cultivated by a kind old man whom I had the opportunity to meet twice. Ernesto had worked this land since before the war, clearly remembering the time that he and […]
There are innumerable things about living in a small town that can inspire or infuriate. Because I happen to love my small town (nb: Levanto, Italy), I usually tend to find myself on the inspirational side. Today, after schlepping up four flights of stairs to the offices where I hold […]
2011 has ended much differently than it began for me. A year ago, I had not planned to resign from my comfortable job in a European School because of the inability of its administration to handle a call for jobs with transparency and dignity. A year ago, I had not […]
I think what most fascinates me about the professional surfing world is not the glamorous side of it – great tans, fancy sponsors, chiseled physiques, screaming fans – but the lifestyle they have as professional athletes in a minor sport. If you take away some of the top earners, the […]
Last week Tuesday, 8 days ago, just hours before the deluge that brought down an unbelievable amount of water and mud and suffering to the Cinque Terre, I went to take a look at the sea after dropping my daughter off at nursery school. It was a warm morning, the […]
A few weeks ago, my daughter Julia and I discovered our black cat Bagheera in one of her new hiding spots – a bare space between two thick bushes from which she had a great view of what was going on, but where she was practically invisible. As soon as […]
I just finished reading Balzac’s Lost Illusions, a classic weighing in at a relatively modest 682 pages. I don’t remember when I started it, though at best guess it was sometime around April or May. That’s a good 5 plus months, though I must subtract from those the six weeks […]