I Know Those Songs, But I’ve Never Heard Them Before

The hands of the clock had ticked to well past 9:30, the sun was a distant memory, and Dan and I still sat at the restaurant, lingering over our food, and just allowing ourselves to be here, in this moment, with the call of sleep whispering in our ears. The men smoking and singing at […]

Of Sacred Spaces and Moments

I had a traditional hotel buffet breakfast this morning, of sorts, although the buffet wasn’t nearly as active as I’ve been accustomed to. And I didn’t overeat as much as I often do, usually wanting to try one of every item that looks new. It was fine, but it wasn’t nearly as good as yesterday’s […]

2020: A Check-In at MidYear

The sticky heat of the midsummer holiday clung to my skin in a tacky sheen. I could feel it where my forearms contacted the chair and where the bend of my elbows creased. It’s summertime in Michigan, where I sit on the screened-in porch of the cottage listening to the cacophony of children splashing in […]

Eating In the Garden

There are a lot of olive trees here. They’re everywhere. It makes sense, I guess, as this small island produces 5% of the world’s olive oil. They don’t really have an established identity in the international olive oil market. Instead, the Cretan olives get exported to other countries, such as Italy and Spain, where they […]

The Post In Which I Watch Italian Infomercials

This is it, my friends, the last day of this voyage, and we started with no set agenda or schedule, so slept in a touch longer before breaking our nightly fast. When our morning meal was done we returned to our room where, out the window, the world had become saturated. I haven’t spoken much […]

On Into Tuscany

We left Bologna today, heading south. Sometimes when I travel I have a plan that I mostly stick with, whereas other times I find unexpected things to do along the way. When I travel with friends, this happens more often, and in this case D had heard about the Ducati factory just outside of Bologna. […]