June 02, 2006
Oaxaca City
After three weeks in Salem sorting through 40 years of junk...one pile for St. Vincent de Paul, one pile for the dump, one pile to sell at the Assistance...Read this update
May 28, 2006
House Cats In Las Vegas
Flew From Thailand to Las Vegas the end of April. Then flew youngest son, Josh, who is inbetween jobs, in from NYC to spend a week with oldest son Greg...Read this update
April 03, 2006
Poet & Didn't Know It...
as my mother would have said.): Am taking the liberty of posting Bob's April 3 email describing homecoming culture shock...very succinct. good morning; On Comcast internet--- and it's fast. What...Read this update
Poet & Didn't Know It...
as my mother would have said.): Am taking the liberty of posting Bob's April 3 email describing homecoming culture shock...very succinct. good morning; On Comcast internet--- and it's fast. What...Read this update
January 03, 2006
New Years Eve
Bob left for Thailand on the 29th. Josh had to work at the restaurant so Amy and I spent New Years Eve drinking wine and champagne...good conversation with my daughter-in-law...and...Read this update
December 28, 2005
Ellen Makes Happy
One of the things I will miss when we leave for Thailand is watching Ellen DeGeneris on television. Her recent reruns of her shows produced in New York City...a stunning...Read this update
December 26, 2005
A Christmas Gift
After rack of lamb marinated with fresh oregano, thyme, garlic and olive oil; tender gratin of baby spinach in a bechamel sauce with snow crab and east coast clams; brussel...Read this update
December 14, 2005
New York City Trivia
A friend from South Africa sent me some geography trivia: The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930s who used the slang expression "apple"...Read this update
December 08, 2005
More Life in Brooklyn
According to the winter issue of BKLYN magazine, Brooklyn, N.Y., barkeep Andy Heidel has drawn a line in the sawdust, posting the following on recent Sundays outside the Patio Lounge...Read this update
December 05, 2005
Babies Take Manhattan
Nanny's pushing babies in strollers are everywhere in Brooklyn, we noticed soon after arriving here, so it was no surprise when the New York Times ran a story December 1...Read this update
December 01, 2005
Museum Of Natural History
When we were in southern China last year we spent some time hiking and driving through parts of mountainous Yunnan Province that are populated primarily with, not Han Chinese, but...Read this update
November 27, 2005
Alice's Restaurant At Carnegie
Last night Arlo Guthrie outdid himself in Carnegie Hall 40th anniversary of his song "Alice's Restaurant." Updated a little of course! What 50's and 60's folkie nostalgia with Pete Seeger...Read this update
How To Impress The Inlaws
Thanksgiving morning Bob took off for the New York Athletic Club and his ritual Starbucks ice-coffee thinking we would have plenty of time to do the turkey before Amy arrived...Read this update
Thirty-Something Night
Our son, Greg, flew in from Las Vegas for a long weekend last weekend. It is the first time we have been with more than one of the progeny since...Read this update
November 15, 2005
Another Country
I knew we were living in a country other than the U. S. A when I dropped into a Dunkin Donut shop (hey it's been three years!) for a couple...Read this update
November 06, 2005
New York City Marathon
It's good to be back "home" in our apartment in Brooklyn from our trip to Washington. Early this morning we walked down a couple blocks to 4th Avenue to watch...Read this update
November 04, 2005
"Taxation Without Representation"
Taking a fast sleek train, we are visiting our country's capitol city for a few days. "Taxation Without Representation" is written at the bottom of D.C. license plates here in...Read this update
November 01, 2005
Odetta
We had been years since we saw Odetta so when Bob read that she would be performing in a Village club we jumped at the chance to get tickets. She...Read this update
October 25, 2005
Yonah Schimmel's Knishs
Looking for a restaurant one afternoon on the Lower East Side, we happened by a tiny bakery with huge savory knishes displayed in the window...potato, kasha, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, mixed...Read this update
"An Uncommon Friendship"
After getting through Phil & Adri's New York Times and Wall Street Journal that arrive on our stoop every day it is difficult to find time for other reading. However,...Read this update
Pierogis In Greenpoint
Around the corner from Josh's apartment in an almost all-Polish neighborhood Bob and I found an authentic Polish restaurant. Blackboards behind the cashier list items in Polish and English. When...Read this update
October 24, 2005
New York Style
Most everyone in New York is interested in looking stylish. The definition is different, however depending on the neighborhood you are in...whether on the affluent Upper West Side or on...Read this update
Strangers in the "hood"
I've never been in a city that has such diverse but tight little neighborhoods. The first question asked by anyone you meet, after what do you do, is where do...Read this update
October 23, 2005
Blue Ribbon
A call from Amy: Would you like to run into Manhattan with me to pick up Josh after work tonight? Of course, I said! Bob had already eaten stir-fry at...Read this update
Bouley Tasting Menu
There are 13,000 restaurants in New York City and urbanites, with cramped apartments and schedules, often eat out...whether take-out, order in, pizza slices or, on special occasions, in one of...Read this update
Big Onion Tour
Big Onion Tours, the word "onion" being a play on the Big Apple, offers tours of neighborhoods of NYC. We chose the "immigrant tour" which shows how different ethnic groups...Read this update
Central Park
In any given week in the summer you can choose from any four or five street fairs and on this day we chose the Columbus Street Fair on the Upper...Read this update
Harlem
Probably the biggest surprise yet in New York is discovering that Harlem is not the ghetto as depicted in years past. Sprucing up campaigns have left streets spotlessly clean...little old...Read this update
Washington Heights
The "F" subway line, if you take it to the very end at the northern tip of Manhattan Island, lets you off in a Dominican neighborhood of Washington Heights. Everyone...Read this update
Hop On Hop Off Bus
A good way to get a good overview of New York and to get a good look at the architecture is to sit in the upper level of one of...Read this update
The New York Attitude
The New York attitude is a lot more complicated than simple rudeness. According to a local, it's a mixture of being tough, brave, on your toes, jaded, overworked and intensely...Read this update
The New York Identity
This is a city of 8 million people-Bangkok's is 9 million-but unlike Bangkok, it's diversity is extreme. Therefore any generalization is sweeping. New York is a city for the young;...Read this update
New York Ancestors
In the beginning of this country, the New England colonies were being settled by the Puritans who endeavored to spread their intolerant "purist" religion across much of rest of the...Read this update
Our Brooklyn Neighborhood
We are subletting a pleasant newly refurbished two bedroom apartment on Pacific St in a multi-ethnic, gentrified Brooklyn neighborhood called Boerum Hill. Bob and I enjoy exploring New York...Read this update
October 18, 2005
Three Minute Wedding
On a lovely Sunday, September 4, 2005, Bob and I followed Josh and Amy to a specialty jewelry store in our gentrified Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn to pick up...Read this update
October 17, 2005
Wedding Announcement
A few days before we left Portland, our son Josh, who is currently a chef at the Tocqueville Restaurant near Union Square in Manhattan, asked us to keep the following...Read this update
Back To The West
In mid-July, a year after leaving the States to travel through Eastern Europe, Russia, Mongolia, China and Thailand, I arrived back in LA on China Air...then Portland on Alaska. The...Read this update
June 18, 1996
Bob Climbs Kilomanjaro
Curious how one thing leads to another. It all started at the local fitness club. In the bravado of a post-workout discussion we proposed adventures that would be a...Read this update