No, nothing about the G-20 summit here, though that gathering being in Pittsburgh this week gives me an ideal excuse to jump in the time machine and recount highlights from my trip to the city this time (in fact, this week) last year. It's been on my to-blog list for, um, [...]
Which presumes I'll actually get to the Part Two portion at some point.... I'll do my best. But with a quiet Saturday morning sitting in my lovely large room at Inn at Laurel Point in Victoria, with the cry of seagulls and hum of float planes outside, I wanted to get [...]
A week from today I'll be in one of my favorite places on the planet. Oh, how I wish it were Paris! But a very close second to Paris in terms of places that make me happy, serene, inspired, and revived is Orcas Island. Right here in my own back [...]
Now that it's actually springtime in Seattle (at least for another day or so), it's hard to remember having been in the snow up in Whistler early last month. But watching a rerun of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations show on Vancouver a few days ago brought back to mind my [...]
Still in a bit of a fog following a very full week in Denver last week for the IACP conference. Much as we have opportunities to get out on the town for meals and excursions, cocktails and random breaks -- it never really feels like I'm able to do justice to a [...]
One of these years I'm going to make it down to the Artisan Cheese Festival myself, though this probably won't be the year. I first learned about this cheese-lover's dream weekend when doing research on Sonoma County food events for a magazine article. I've actually done a couple of articles on [...]
It was already pretty wonderful just to be in France at all for those nearly three years I spent (mostly) working and studying at La Varenne. But on occasion a really magnificent, unexpected, enchanting experienced came along to make the stay even more magical. This was one of those occasions: [...]
Still making it through that too-big pile of papers that accumulated through last year....and found more New York notes that I haven't yet dealt with from my summer trip. I can't recall what the ultimate destination was for the evening, but for starters we gathered at Blue Ribbon Downing Street [...]
This past week has served up some serious Winter Wonderland material. Not only is our West Seattle home nestled in a good foot or so of snow, but we were in Vegas for its newsworthy snowfall last week. The green glow the snow took on in the lights of MGM [...]
I know the whole "sister city" concept is meant to bridge different cultures and countries that share a common thread. In fact, I was pretty active in the Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association back in college. But in reality those civic relationships seem more cousin-like than sisterly. Particularly after thinking recently [...]