Category: USA

The Big Trip, Part 4

Friday, October 19, 201

Rock Island, IL – Amana, IW – Omaha, NE

Due to the rain and fog we saw little of the mighty Mississippi as we crossed a bridge into Iowa, but then the skies cleared quickly and the sun shown behind us, lighting up the countryside in a magical way. Under the right conditions, Eastern Iowa is very beautiful. Tan-colored fields of corn stubble with, here and there, bright white farm buildings are set starkly against the kind of sky one sees in Dutch landscapes. These skies have depth and complexity, layers of greys and whites with occasional glimpses of blue. After yesterday’s gloominess, today’s drive felt so good.

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The Big Trip, Part 3

It occurs to me that if we keep writing these chapters as we are doing, the account of this trip will be book-length by the time we finally return to Istanbul. We didn’t intend this to happen, it’s just that, to paraphrase Mark Twain’s famous comment, we don’t have time to make them shorter. Feel free to skim and skip, as you will.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Joe and Rosalie

The day was sunny and warm. The lovely fall colors of the trees enhanced our three-and-a-half-hour drive to Kalamazoo to vist old friend Joe and Rosalie. An interesting fact is that this is a family that writes. Joe has written several books and short stories. Rosalie has been published, as well. Their daughters all write either for work or for art. Another fact: all three daughters studied abroad.

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The Big Trip, Part 2

Saturday, September 22, 2012

East Aurora, NY – Oakville, Ont.

Our drive to Buffalo and over the Peace Bridge into Canada went smoothly as did the border crossing. In no time we were on the QEW heading for Oakville near Toronto. We arrived at Ralph and Jenny’s new home shortly after noon. We’re very happy to see our friends and to relax in their comfortable surroundings.

Relaxing in Oakville

Jenny has always had more than a casual interest in wine. Recently she enrolled in a program designed for professional wine stewards, and having passed the rigorous three-day exam, now has the skills and knowledge of a true sommelier. She also has a wine cellar, which she designed, to match her skills. Glass fronted and temperature controlled, its contents are a sight to behold.

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The Big Trip, Part 1

What follows are excerpts from a month’s long voyage around the U.S. from August 28th, 2012 until January 2, 2013. Our travels included side trips into Canada and a holiday cruise in the Caribbean. We shaped our itinerary around visits to our far-flung friends and family members. For much of the time, we traveled in a rented motor home, which, to borrow a title from David Foster Wallace, was “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.” Though I’ll mention friends and famliy in passing (first names only), the intent of this account is to highlight the experience of seeing familiar parts of America after a long absence and unfamiliar parts for the first time. All in all, it was a journey of a lifetime.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

 

Manhattan is like no other city we’ve ever seen. Its mix of people, commerce and both high and low culture confined and compressed in a single island gives it an atmosphere and an energy that is unique. We think of New York City the way Samuel Johnson did about 18th-century London. His dictum: “No sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”

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American Summer 2010

These are crazy days! Russia’s on fire and Pakistan is drowning. This past month of August heat has been hard on many of us. Are these the effects of the dreaded climate change? Nobody knows, but it seems that nature’s shocks simply mirror those that are more clearly man-made. Seems like no one is having a good year except maybe the Chinese, and even they may be exaggerating.

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New York City After 9/11

It’s been almost two weeks since the obscene incident we New Yorkers now refer to as the World Trade Center Explosions changed the life of our city so grotesquely. Since that morning of September 11th – a date that like December 7th, 1941 will live in infamy – I, along with most other New Yorkers, have been trying to come to terms with what has happened to us. Here are some of my thoughts and recollections.

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The Wickedest Town in the West

What’s Left of Jerome, Arizona, a copper-mining town founded in the 19th century, sits on the flank of Cleopatra Hill overlooking the state’s Verde Valley about a two-hour drive north of Phoenix. I remember Jerome from my days in the 1970s when, based in Scottsdale, I spent many weeks making car and truck films for the Chevrolet Division of General Motors.

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