• Suleiman the Magnificent
    Family - Food - For fun. - Light - This really happened. - Travelling

    The Sultan’s Favorite

    October 21, 2024 - By 

    So there I was, sitting in Izmir, Turkey, overlooking the sea. I love the Aegean. Yeah, in my own mind. The truth is I was not at the Aegean yesterday. I was not in Turkey. I was with Asli, a daughter of the town of Izmir and her husband Ilgaz – at their home in Georgia. But I have to say that last night I was in Turkey. First of all, when we arrived, you cannot imagine what we saw: On every surface there were ingredients: cheeses and four kinds of seafood and lamb and walnuts and several aromatic oils…

  • Being Human - Blessings - Family - For fun. - Hope - Light - This really happened.

    Wedding Bells & The Blue Shoes

    August 4, 2021 - By 

    I am not the first to write about a wedding and neither will I be the last. My story is personal. The story of life cycle event in pandemic. The story of entitlement, perhaps. The story of change. This is the story of what we do, sometimes, while we process, process, process our life’s transitions while the world is in flux. Our daughter, Bells, told us from the beginning that everything would be blue. That I would be wearing blue, my husband’s suit was to be blue — that flowers would be blue and my shoes would be blue. Everything…

  • Being Human - For fun. - This really happened.

    A wallpaper wizard

    September 14, 2018 - By 

    Look, it is not a lot to ask, I don’t think. After years and years and sleepless nights of scraping and steaming wallpaper from the walls of many, many places that we have lived…praying to the home improvement fairies for their aid — I have, for the past three years, been dreaming about wallpaper. It doesn’t help that I am couchbound right now —. Looking for distraction and — well, distraction. I have been looking to fall in love with a wallpaper for a teeny bathroom and, betraying my younger, ambitiously do-it-yourselfer self — I have fallen in love. It’s…

  • For fun. - This really happened.

    Of the Lilac Surgical Gown.

    August 31, 2018 - By 

    Of all the things I thought would make me happy in this life, I was completely unprepared for the joy I felt when I was handed an absolutely stunning paper lilac surgical gown to change into — on my way into total hip replacement. I am stunned to once again learn that my brain is wired thus, that such a purple and paper thing would cause my heart to do a small leap (the good kind), disperse all my pre-op anxiety and make me excited to undress. …i assure you, I have undressed for a lot less… And undress I…

  • For fun. - Light - This really happened. - Travelling

    Six Months Now.

    May 9, 2018 - By 

    Six months, now. We have our favorite curry cashews. We now have fresh basil growing on our windowsill. And teeny red roses. I am now saving my new soap for our return. The weather is warmer, yet I am still in wool some days. Our world of black and grey is giving way to color. The black and cashmere and down has been replaced by black and grey t-shirts…yellow bags, red skirts, rose-gold shoes, orange scarves and white sneakers. And also for the women. Except for when it rains. When it rains everyone goes back to black and grey. Gelato…

  • Blessings - Food - For fun. - Light - This really happened. - Travelling

    Doing what Romans do.

    April 30, 2018 - By 

    We were in this country for so very long before we made it down to Roma.   So many other things were pressing…so many other places were closer. And yet I felt the draw of Rome.   Allora — siamo andati a Roma. We went to Rome. Another surprise…on our way from the train station to our hotel I was very moved by the very fact of being a Roma.   I cannot even explain it. Non posso proprio.  I just can’t.  But so many feelings.  Of all types. Of course we ate good food — we went twice to…

  • For fun. - This really happened. - Travelling

    Nerd Notes from The Forest of the King

    April 28, 2018 - By 

    Alas, duty, invitation and ‘mini-break’ have brought us to the land of pommes frites. Here it is green and spring — and smells like Wisconsin. Really. We are in Fontainebleau. On my own I walked into town, got a faceful of blooming wisteria (twice!) and, of course, had the most amazing pommes frites — because, why else come to France? In actuality I have been surprised that I have forgotten nearly all of my French – (presque tout!), by the presence of so many italian dishes (so much mozzarella di bufala, so much pesto) — and by the realization that…

  • Darkness - Difficulty - For fun. - Light - Loss - This really happened. - Travelling

    Superpowers.

    March 16, 2018 - By 

    Look at me, walking down the street. I have a swagger. My swagger says that I have almost made it through winter. I have the confidence of a woman who can almost completely avoid something disgusting and offensive on the street…with a sixth sense…without even looking down. It is only the bandage on the back of my right heel which betrays my current nearly-successful attempt at finding just the right, practical, sturdy and awesome pair of shoes. The sun is out. There is a soft breeze. I am wearing my black turtleneck. My black jacket. My uniform. My awesome black…

  • For fun. - This really happened. - Travelling

    Camels, the Pantaloni & the Haircut

    January 21, 2018 - By 

    Not because of the hump on my back or because of mia pancia (…eating cheese? me? No…) But because the world is turning from Black to Grigio and although there are coated and shiny jeans everywhere, there are also cropped pants in tweed, in subtle stripes, swinging with movement or not , swish, swish, with derby shoes, with low boots….Doc Martin-style, red wing American boots or something sleeker and black. The streets are awash with COATS…caramel, with caramello…with camel…over these lovely pantaloni, over shiny or leather black jeans. A camelly and carmelly world! And turtlenecks. Always turtlenecks these days. That…

  • Difficulty - For fun. - Light - This really happened. - Travelling

    Venice: slag & vaporetto roulette.

    December 30, 2017 - By 

    Venice…Venezia. I want to embrace you. Wrap my arms around you. I adore you. I am excited just being here. I cannot explain the reason why — I have no idea. I love the green Adriatic, rising and falling between your structures. Buildings, where we stand and sit and rest and eat — always knowing that sea life is teeming under us. I love knowing that the magical underneath is always underneath me. I love knowing that while I sleep, octopus chase in the deep below. You are amazing. You are a hodgepodge of old and new and good and…

  • Blessings - Food - For fun. - Light - This really happened. - Travelling

    Doppelgängers & cream.

    December 6, 2017 - By 

    It is my first time in England. Me, who called our rabbit King George because he thought he was the boss of everyone. I have so many small observations — so I am just gonna lay them here. On Doppelgängers:  There is a doppelgänger here for almost every person I know back in the States.     Are you all Brits from back in the day? The Tate Modern museum in London is named for the guy who invented cubed sugar.  Ain’t never gonna see sugar cubes again without thinking of the Tate Modern and how R couldn’t wait to…

  • Being Human - For fun. - This really happened.

    Learning to swear.

    November 17, 2017 - By 

    Today I learned to swear. Like…really. My family will tell you that like — for a million years — I haven’t been a big “swear-er”.   Nope.  Not super big.   But — I did begin to swear — quite a lot — about a year ago…November 8th. Draw your own conclusions. Then…about six weeks ago R said to me — ‘ok, I know that you are expressing yourself in this way now….but it has been ten months….can you please stop now?’ Which I thought was pretty funny. When I lived in the South — when you wanted to comment…

  • Being Human - Family - For fun. - Travelling

    Honeymooners with bad backs.

    November 14, 2017 - By 

    Weeks ago, before we arrived, I was talking to someone about our upcoming adventure. “You know”, she told me, “my friends S and D did this a few years ago.  They were just like honeymooners”. Later that day I was talking to R.    I told him what she had said.  “Guess what?”, I said.  “We might be like honeymooners!”. ”yeah”, he said.  “Like honeymooners with bad backs.” I have to admit this just poured all manner of cold water on my optimism…but optimism I continued to try to muster.   Amidst the onslaught of feeling I described in This Piece,…