Category: Blogs and Blessays
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Hiking for Superheroes in Piemonte, Italy
Let’s go the capital of biodiversity, to Italy – and specifically Piemonte – where we’ll go hiking for herbs with Anna Fila Robattino – or what she calls the superheroes of Piemonte. To Anna’s secret garden deep in the forest of Olmo Gentile, a tiny town, in a region full of hundreds of herbs and…
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Lunch in Paris – with Jim the Priest and Monsieur D.
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Election Season
The English election let us know Labor can receive 36% of the vote and assume 100% of the power. I was sorry to see George Galloway lose; au revoir, but not adieu. Two friends came to visit from London last week. They just focus on the family and work, and I think that works well…
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Italians mind my business without minding it
Notes and dreams from Lake Garda, the capital of windsurfing in Europe. Dramatic weather, lost and found brooms and why Garda is my Goldilocks home.
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An Editor should make you feel like this; mine did.
How it feels to get the book back from the editor. Henry N. Gifford made me feel like this. All that work, years spent on “Personal Legends of Piemonte”. Gratitude feels good. Some say editors are like priests or psychologists, for me, their effect is that moment after you’ve mowed the lawn. You can sit…
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What those Ithakas mean
As you set out for Ithaka hope your road is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery. Laistrygonians, Cyclops, angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them: you’ll never find things like that on your way as long as you keep your thoughts raised high, as long as a rare excitement stirs your spirit and…
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A romantic twist on the pragmatic Dutch
Excerpt from “A European Odyssey: How A Boxer’s Daughter Found Grace” “If Paris and Edinburgh had an affair their love child would look like Amsterdam. Canals lined with savvy and kinky shops and services safely contained within a handsome, brooding exterior. And the citizens would be good looking and very tall; this last quality, quintessentially…
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How to not get lost in translation
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Joan Didion: keep on familiar terms with former self
Why we are well advised……lest we forget who we were….
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Finding a translator
On our way. Finding a translator for “Personal Legends of Piemonte” was daunting. My Italian isn’t great – how would I know the translation was any good. Getting ‘Lost in Translation’ occurs in the same language everyday – in work, relationships and social media. Finally, found two, through contacts. For irrational reasons, this felt critical.…