The Judgment of the Birds
A few days ago, my ship stopped in Cabo San Lucas. I am not a fan of the noisy, characterless places that most big tourist ports in Mexico have become, but I wanted to get off the ship for a while, so...
View ArticleOnce Upon a Time
When I was flying to England three weeks ago to begin a research trip before embarking on a cruise assignment, I found myself thinking about the most painful flight I ever took. I was in Florence...
View ArticleThe Grateful Sleep Deprived
Sometimes I get so busy that I forget I have a blog, and I’m surprised to see how long it has been since I posted. When the leaves are falling and the last posts are about springtime, that is quite a...
View ArticleBecoming
Any writer is a word nerd, and I plead guilty. Finding the perfect word or making up a new one lifts my spirits in a way unlike anything else. Another category of word fun is dictionary digging—playing...
View Article’I Hope for Nothing. I Fear Nothing. I Am Free.”
These are the words on the tombstone of Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek and many other works of fiction, poetry, and philosophy. When I was in college, I inhaled every word he wrote and...
View ArticleReturning Home
I love living in Victoria, and when I am away I always look forward to coming back home. That’s why I have always been surprised by how returns bring with them a touch of depression. I have attributed...
View ArticleDaybreak
On January 20, I set sail from Fort Lauderdale on what is undoubtedly the biggest single adventure in my twelve years of cruise lecturing. I am traveling all the way around South America and will...
View ArticleYou Are Not Real
I started this blog in September 2008 to coincide with the publication of my first two books, The Four Seasons and Until Our Last Breath. It evolved fairly quickly from primarily promoting my work as...
View ArticleBus Number 8
Yesterday I went on a tour out of the Chilean port of Puerto Montt to go to several villages on Lake Llanquihue, the second largest lake in the country. Its backdrop is Osorno, one of those perfect...
View ArticleKindness
‘I have the milk of human kindness by the quart in every vein,’ My Fair Lady’s Henry Higgins claims in “I’m an Ordinary Man.” And what does ordinary mean to him? It’s someone “Who desires nothing more...
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