France, Spain


31 July 2022

75 words

Summer Photos 2022

It’s been a busy time: laid low for a few days by covid, knee surgery, home purchase, friends visiting, a move, trips to places that begin with the letter M (Montreal, Maugansville), and much, much more. And we’re still not done: there’s an upcoming trip to finally get our stuff out of storage. Most will ...continue reading

Silicon Valley


14 July 2022

3,734 words

Al’s Understudies

Writer’s note: for this story to work, the reader must be very familiar with some of Al Pacino’s movies. In addition, the traits of the particular Pacino character must be clearly adapted to this situation; it’s not clear that I’ve done this well. Still, it was fun to write. “Explain it to me again,” said ...continue reading

France, Montpellier


31 January 2022

1774 word

Moments in Montpellier

Random observations of note, not always about Montpellier, sometimes just in my head. As always in these cases, it’s E.B. White style. *** Strange but true In the nearby park a woman was picking up poop from her dog. I almost took a picture. Clearly she is not French . *** Ménage à trois My ...continue reading

France, Montpellier, Suisse


14 November 2021

2491 words

Last train home

Saturday, 13 November, Chur to Montpellier It was early afternoon when I got in to Mulhouse, having left Chur a little after nine. Mulhouse has a dingy, crappy little train station: peeling paint anywhere you look, weeds wherever weeds could grow, a sad, run down feeling to it all. It was a fitting re-entry into ...continue reading

Chur, Suisse


7 November 2021

750 words

Arcas Platz

Being Alive — The search which we make for this quality, in our own lives, is the central search of any person, and the crux of any individual person’s story. It is a search for those moments and situations when we are most alive.   – Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building Arcas Platz, a ...continue reading

France, maison


30 September 2021

2948 words

Shutter Priority

Titles are hard. Come up with something and in your head it sounds great. See it written down, and it’s weak at best, and subsequent ideas are even worse. A title should be short (Augustus), capture something about the topic (Twelve Angry Men), be original (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), maybe funny (Green Eggs ...continue reading

bureaucracy, France, La Garde, Marseille, memoir, Montpellier


21 September 2021

485 words

21 septembre

This day, ten years ago.  I’m driving around with one the best guys in the world, Bill, who’s showing me around the various neighborhoods for Annapolis. We had left California almost a year before.  Our plan to relocate to the Boston area has fallen though, so we’re thinking maybe best to settle in an area ...continue reading