Travel Tales amongst my Ramblings
True stories of our world-wide journeys interspersed with bits of my real life journey, retired now in Silicon Valley
Oh, what to see, where to go in the days of Covid? Stay out-of-doors, but fires block favorite hiking areas in the mountains and along the coast. With family visiting, and wildfires raging, we chose Stanford's two sculpture gardens for a recent weekday afternoon outing. Four-hour paid parking is available adjacent to the Rodin … Continue reading Stanford Sculpture Gardens
Now is the period of isolation during the Covid 19 pandemic, and I feel almost guilty writing about our recent Maui-Molokai trip. For the first time in ages, I have no travel plans except to know that we are going nowhere out of the country until there is a vaccine. These Shelter-in-Place days drag on … Continue reading Molokai
Thanks to a friend who told us how easy it is to get tickets (Hi, Nancy!), we saw Hamilton in May, at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco––loved it. Lin-Manuel Miranda did a fantastic job; the recognition he and the play have received is well-earned. Then in June, we met other friends for lunch and … Continue reading Hamilton
If June is here, then it must be time for vacation book suggestions. If you are like me, then books about the same topic seem to come in waves, and right now, perhaps due to the political news, the topic is Korea. My favorite genre is memoir––a good one tells us the facts. The … Continue reading Vacation Reads
Australia hosts many dangerous things, but the closest we come is snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. Jellyfish found in the southern oceans are deadly, like the well-known box jelly and a small (thumbnail-sized), venomous relative, the irukandji. Both are found in seas of northern Australia, October to May. We visit in early May, on a quest to … Continue reading Dangers in Queensland
We don't visit Serbia and therefore don't see the Nikola Tesla Museum located in Belgrade, but we hear Tesla's name often on our trip to Croatia. Was he a Serb or a Croat? Both claim him. Ethnically a Serb, Tesla was born in the village of Smiljan in the Lika region of current Croatia. All … Continue reading Tesla
Save your emails, one friend told me. You can tell a great story with letters. Two good novels that are written as letters are: Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple. iTunes tells us that it will soon be a movie. I read it before going to Antarctica. Loved the story. … Continue reading Stories in Letters
A good read: Pompeii, by Robert Harris One of our tour guides recommended Robert Harris's book Pompeii––a fun and easy way to learn some real facts about the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that buried the city of Pompeii. This novel, based on archeological findings, takes place over the four days of volcanic activity; it's … Continue reading Pompeii
Democracy in Chains In no way is this a political blog, but I mention a book everyone should wade through: Democracy in Chains, The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America, by Nancy MacLean. (Amazon link) MacLean is Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University, and has experienced the sad … Continue reading A Slog Worth Slogging
John Steinbeck lived near here when he wrote Grapes of Wrath, and maybe that is what drew me to the book, Working Days, The Journals of the Grapes of Wrath, edited by Robert Demott (more). Steinbeck wrote in longhand and started each writing day with a journal entry. I found his notes to be inspiring and … Continue reading Writers’ Journals
Travel Tales amongst my Ramblings 