After cappuccino and cornetti, we said arrivederci to our hosts in Rome, newlyweds Joyce the American and Claudio the Roman (sorry for the geographic mismatch), and drove north to Orvieto. After our supermarket tourism stop at the Coop, we made our way up the winding hill along increasingly narrow streets…

It would be a short trip. Our American friend and newlywed Joyce wanted us to meet her marito romano Claudio. They had moved to an apartment in a Rome suburb with a guest room … an offer we couldn’t refuse. As with all trips, once we pick the dates, I…

1/23 … January 2023. I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I think about personal improvements on MY new year … my birthday.

Part 2 of 2 We were in L.A. for a few weeks, catching up with friends after the Covid-forced hiatus from travel. And much of everything else … except sourdough starter. This weekend would be spent with my chosen sister Agat. Since she’s French, we had stopped at Trader Joe’s…

Here’s the trip tik tok … 1.45 CET - alarm 3.15 - driver arrives to take us to Florence Airport 4.00 - arrive at airport 4.10 - check in 4.25 - wait for security to open 4.35 - Covid security check 4.40 - baggage security check 4.55 - get to gate 6.15 - boarding 6.40 - wheels up 8.15 …

Living life through a straw. While a liquid diet leaves lots of choices, one is limited by the diameter of said straw. Even a ”big” one for boba bubble tea requires gruel-like consistency vaguely reminiscent of “please sir, can I have some more?” It all started when I broke my…

i . am . lying . face . down . on . the . floor . that’s not right my . chin . is . bleeding . I stood up slowly, and saw big red drops on the wood-grain ceramic tiles. that’s not good I walked into the bathroom, got…

The bad news was that we had a potentially sick kitty. The good news was that we already had an appointment to take 4, um, victims to get vaccinations … so we’d be killing 2 birds with 1 stone. An appropriate cat metaphor.

We had rendezvoused with ma petite amie Agat in Rome, and it was her last full day here. For the past three days, we had been showing her the Renaissance and antiquities, guiding her among the non-secular and secular, taking her to eat delicious Roman food. Today we’d wander … …