Dear friends, It's amazing what you can fit into a week if you are with energetic and generous friends. Rada and Steve have a beautiful house right on the shore of Lake Champlain in Upper New York State, and although I am not generally an early riser, getting up before six am to view the [...]
Dear friends, Such a lovely week in around Washington DC, staying with my friend Betsy, a colleague from my Geneva days, and meeting up with others from my past, the Ethiopian artist Wasihun (see my most recent journal entry), with Carroll who was UNICEF rep in Myanmar when I worked there for the International Red [...]
Dear Friends, Sometimes it seems as though there is some kind of magic in the air, and Tuesday was one such day for me and for Wasihun Asnake Mengsta. We met first in Geneva in 1991, and now 28 years later we meet again in Washington DC. With Wasihun in his apartment with one of [...]
Dear friends, This is my fourth and last story from my short but most enjoyable visit to Tasmania last month. The island proved to be a chilly as people had said, with some mornings really cool at 14 C while just an hour's plane ride north in Adelaide the temps were sitting in the mid-30s. [...]
Dear friends, Some more from my visit to Tasmania last month. From Hobart, it is an easy day trip across to the SE Coast and down the Tasman Peninsula to the Port Arthur Historic site, with some interesting natural features along the coast. We were told by friends to visit Pirates Bay, the Blowhole, the [...]
Dear friends, Last month I spent a short week with my friend Verity in Tasmania and what a great few days it was too. I am sure that none of you need be reminded that Tasmania is the island state of Australia and lies off the coast almost directly south of Melbourne across Bass Strait. The [...]
Greetings everyone. It is always a pleasure when visiting Tuscany, Italy to spend a day or two tasting some of the delicious wines grown and produced in the region. This year is was a real treat to spend half a day at the Antinori Winery, just north of Florence, that not only produces fabulous wines [...]
Greetings everyone The journey through Portugal continued from Porto and the Douro Valley in the north, to the central region, beginning in the capital, Lisbon. The city of Lisbon straddles the delta of the Tejo River which is continuously criss-crossed by boats of all sizes. From here you can get a sense that while Portugal [...]
Greetings Everyone, I want to share with you some of the photos from my recent travel in Portugal, my first visit to the country. Portugal’s second largest city sits on the banks of the Douro River and was crucial in the country’s maritime expeditions of the 15th Century. Later, it became famous as the gateway [...]