Writing in France

Writing in France

My part of Burgundy (Côte-d’Or)  is a  landscape of ‘manicured’ rolling hills. The French farmers are meticulous, the crop rows straight ( three harvests a season),  the  hillsides dotted with white (charolais) cattle, occasionally a ...
The war in Ukraine as observed from Marseille

The war in Ukraine as observed from Marseille

On 6 October, I met my daughter Marci, and grandson, Joshua,  in Marseille.  I simply have not the words to describe how happy I was. Perhaps this photo of my ‘doofus’ smile conveys the happiness my words cannot.  We had sat in a cafe overlooking...
Kippenheim, Germany

Kippenheim, Germany

For these past  two + years Patrice and I became acquainted, grace a covid,  with the medieval trails and French citizens in Semur-en-Auxios, France.  No complaints.  The Burgundian landscape is rolling and beautiful, its farmers are meticulous...
Bonne année

Bonne année

  Happy New Year’s Eve at 0700 from the Bar de la Poste, Semur-en-Auxios, Burgundy, France. The Bar de la Poste is the only coffee house-brasserie open at 0700 mornings in this section of Burgundy and here I am. But, the brasserie has a quite acceptable cafe au...
Patrice’s Uncle Kurt & The Holocaust

Patrice’s Uncle Kurt & The Holocaust

On 16-17 October, The United States Holocaust Museum sponsored Patrice’s 89-year-old Uncle Kurt Maier, Emeritus Librarian, Library of Congress (German collection), lectures at Chicago’s Harold Washington Library. Kurt, a Holocaust survivor with a wicked...
Honor Flight 2 September 2019

Honor Flight 2 September 2019

Honor Flight September 1, 2019 -- Northern Wisconsin On Labor Day week-end, 2019 I joined 200+ veterans and guardians on the local Honor Flight To Washington, D.C. I went grudgingly… Marcia, my daughter, had long ago signed me up.  Patrice, my wife, more or less...