The Legend of La Befana — Redux
Here’s an oldie but a goodie. Did La Befana come to your house this year? Now it’s time to take down the tree in the Dini-Jenkins house . . . Buon Anno a tutti! Christmas table happiness When I was a kid, we celebrated Christmas on December 25. Santa Claus came down the chimney (I never knew how he got…
Reyjkavik Rocks!
Iceland is surprising, sophisticated and a great jumping off point for your European travels. Picture an island the size of Kentucky. Then add about 300,000 people and put 200,000 of them in the capital city. Make the people outside the city rugged farmers and. Throw in a long tradition of storytelling (sagas) and a history of rough sea voyages, Viking…
A MERRY GUEST POST: Tips for Packing Light this Holiday Season
On packing: Lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then, take half the clothes and twice the money. — Susan Butler Anderson ‘Tis the season! If you’re planning to travel in the next few weeks, be sure to heed the words of our guest blogger, Holly Miller, a writer for Coupon Croc in the UK. Book your next…
Iceland: A Tease
Iceland, though it lies so far to the north that it is partly within the Arctic Circle, is, like Norway, Scotland, and Ireland, affected by the Gulf Stream, so that considerable portions of it are quite habitable. — British explorer Harry Johnston A rainbow on the lava fields The young woman behind the reservation desk at our hotel was born…
Rhymin’ Simon
Countin’ the cars on the New Jersey turnpike They’ve all come to look for America, all come to look for America — Paul Simon I blame this on the self-proclaimed “cultural concierge” Jesse Kornbluth. If you don’t follow his remarkable blog, Headbutler, stop reading this right now and sign up. There. Much better. Jesse’s been an active New York journalist for…
I am an Italian-American
Happy Columbus Day! I am an Italian-American — Angelo Bianchi, Esq., 1982 Arco della Costa, Verona I am an Italian-American. My roots are deep in an ancient soil, drenched by the Mediterranean sun, and watered by pure streams from snow capped mountains. I am enriched by thousands of years of culture. My hands are those of the mason, the artist, the man…
Asking for it
You can’t ask for what you want unless you know what it is. . . first, you have to figure out what you want. Second, you have to decide that you deserve it. Third, you have to believe you can get it. And, fourth, you have to have the guts to ask for it. — Barbara DeAngelis Here’s something I…
There’s no place like Ca’Camone
You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself. — Alan Alda So you go to fine restaurants and subscribe to all the “really-this-takes-12-hours-to-make-but-it’s-so-worth-it” fancy gourmet magazines. You’ve even tried the latest wack-o craze from Britain, food foams. Fine. But for…
730 Days
Don’t fear your mortality, because it is this very mortality that gives meaning and depth and poignancy to all the days that will be granted to you — Paul Tsongas I had a birthday earlier this month, and it got me to thinking. Birthdays have a way of doing that as you get older, don’t they? This one got me…
Tears
You is kind . . . you is smart . . . you is important — Aibilene Clark, The Help Short one today. There have been two books in my life that brought me to tears. The first one was Zora Neale Hurston’s masterpiece, Their Eyes Were Watching God. I read it in Bermuda, with its insistent tropical winds driving…
Travel Tips Newsletter
Every once in a while, Linda posts useful gems about mustn’t-miss travel info. Group travel? Packing? Where to go? What happens when an emergency strikes?
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