Sightseeing from the Seine
One of the cultural excursions for the residency was a dinner cruise on the Seine River, which runs through Paris and gave us a unique vantage point from which to see Paris. Although we had seen some areas from the double-decker bus tour (a hop-on, hop-off tour is a...
Someone Hand Me a Crêpe!
Food plays a huge role in the life of Paris, and there are many places to eat and enjoy a meal. If you have my blog posts, you know that food and culture are very interesting to me. As a vegetarian, I sometimes score a win, and sometimes I am served something... well,...
New schoolmates
The interesting thing about residencies is that sometimes, you run into folks that you have met before. This residency is a fairly small group of people, and I have already made some solid connections of colleagues that may be very helpful. Just like in middle school,...
Ummmm… our waitress just left.
Yesterday was a travel day. If you are not a person who travels long-distance by plane, then you miss the joy of flying for a number of hours, navigating through airports, eating airport food (some good, some bad), being in close quarters with strangers, and being...
A Soul-Crushing Piece of Paper
So I took today off to get ready for my trip to France as well as handle a single document off of my "visa" list. This was #6, the document from the police department that affirmed that I was not a criminal or fugitive. By 9:15, I had the document in hand. Yay! Hurdle...
I’ll Go to Paris if I Must.
My last residency for my PhD program is in Paris, a city where I have worked in the past and enjoy a great deal. There's something for everyone in Paris, and the best thing to me is that I get to enjoy it with my tribe! Instead of staying in the residency hotel, we...
The Table of Deb’s Desire
Once upon a time, my friend Leslie sold me her family dining table to make room for her (then) new one. Since then, it has lived in Florida, Illinois, and four places in Georgia. Now, it is being put out to pasture in Alexandria, VA. My friend Deb, who lives in...
VISA Panic!
The world is strange. Bureaucracy is even stranger. While I am willing to throw caution to the wind in some carefully considered situations, I know that I must carefully managed other events in my life, or they will manage me. Consider, gentle reader, the concept of a...
Precisely why now is the right time
I have followed Ze Frank for over 7 years. He mixes brilliance with silliness, a combination rarely found in the world from people other than advertisers. Today, he posted something that explained EXACTLY why moving to Spain now is the right time:...
One scary piece of paper
Well, today is a bit of a red-letter day. I am signing and submitting my form for long-term leave. In my current work environment, this is a bit of a safety net, although I am not sure why I think I need a safety net. After years of being very conservative while I was...
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
C.S. Lewis
Lexington, Kentucky
In this current life, I am finding that kind people are everywhere. I am also finding that such experiences are the key drivers for me to say silly things like, “I might want to live there someday." Such was the case with Lexington, KY. Visiting on business, I was...
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
Pablo Picasso
Mix a little foolishness with your prudence: it’s good to be silly at the right moment.
Horace (65-8)
Four Months and Counting
Four months from today, I will arrive in Valencia to live. Most of the work I have done to this point has been gentle maneuvering of my environment, but now planning has to be in earnest. I have spoken with my work folks, and trying to get all of my ducks in a row to...
Pix from San Francisco
And that's all I'll say for that. And from Michael’s camera…
Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.
Ella Fitzgerald
Scholarly Adventures
Last week, I was lucky enough to spend most of the week in San Francisco (Novato, actually) with my tribe. If you zoom back to July, 2012, my tribe had reconvened for Independence Day in Novato, where a delightful evening on Brian and Darin’s back patio resulted in a...
ChAAAARRRRRRRleston!
The last (and only) time I went to Charleston was this past summer, where we celebrated my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful setting, but the less-than-24-hours stay left me hoping for more time to explore. So, when the month of birthdays rolled...
A Runaway Train, a Line in the Sand, and a Sigh of Relief
Greetings, gentle readers! Suddenly, I find myself with more travel than I expect. In January, I was in Spain. In February (albeit early in the month), Michael and I travelled to Mobile for their much calmer version of Mardi Gras. This month, which happens to host...