Den 17.Juni und/et le 18 Juin Straße des 17.Juni: "Der Rufer"(The Caller), statue commemorating the uprising; the Victory Column in the background Friday, 21 June Our move from Berlin back to France last week was so aptly timed, so ripe with symbolism, you'd be forgiven for suspecting the dates were
The Best of It Friday, 7 June During our three-week Berlin stint in May, I drew up two lists, one with the preparations for the move mid-June and the other a personal catalogue of what I wanted to get done during this final stretch as a resident of Berlin. Here in Paris this last
Woodland Friends Friday, 17 May When my friend Cathy S was a little girl, she came home from school one day and said to her mother: “I’ve made a new friend.” “That’s nice,” her mother replied. “Who is it?” “A tree.” Not surprisingly Cathy became a poet [http://www.catherinestaples.
When Dreams Really Do Come True Friday, 3 May I grew up on the ninth floor of an apartment building in Chicago. But I dreamt of living in the countryside surrounded by nothing but nature. In my active fantasy world, I would, for example, turn my desk chair over and pretend it was my horse. Off
Or Else Friday, 19 April Much ink, both real and virtual, has already been spilled and I begin this blog uneasily. What more can I possibly add to the outpour? On the other hand how can I write about anything else? I am referring of course to the fire that ravaged the
Chez Moi Friday, 5 April Last Friday we once again survived the 1126km (700m) road trip from Berlin to Paris. This one clocked in at 11.5 hours, despite minimal stopping and some very fast driving on the speed limit-less German Autobahn. The trip never gets any easier. Like other ordeals—a
Tasha the Tracker Anything else out there but the rising sun? Friday, 22 March If we move Tasha moves, though not always in the same direction. She sometimes has her own adventures. During our almost constant travelling [https://mf.ghost.io/why-are-you-here/] these last two months, she has spent a lot of time
Why are you here? The Cloisters, New York Friday, 8 March During my constant movement over the past six weeks (Paris to Berlin to Paris to London to Paris to the US to Paris), I have been asked repeatedly: “Why are you here?” In fact I have been asked it so many times that
A City on Steroids Friday, 15 February We’d been talking about the trip for some time. Ever since our children finally got their belongings out of our cupboards and culled into a heap in our garage and it became clear that if we did not take the mountain to Mohammed, the mountain would
The Joys of January A shadow of myself Friday, 25 January After the immoderation of Christmas and New Year, January is usually a month of resolute plans for a fresh start. A time when we promise to clean up our lives and become better people, when we hold out hope for a personal metamorphosis
Mere Anarchy? boulevard Saint Germain Friday, 11 January Exactly one hundred years ago, January 1919, W.B. Yeats wrote his most famous poem, The Second Coming. It's the one where he talks about things falling apart; the centre not holding. About the blood-dimmed tide being loosed upon the world. I’
En Famille (needlepoint portrait by Catharine M) Friday, 28 December It has been almost two years since Tasha crash-landed into our life. But since we were in India [https://mf.ghost.io/history-repeats-itself/] last December, this has been her first Christmas en famille. And she had to jump in at the deep
Laws of Nature Friday, 30 November It's a law of nature: if you are down, someone else around you will be up. As readers of my last blog [https://mf.ghost.io/whispers-of-mortality/] will know, it has not been a great last six weeks for me. For Tasha, on the other
Whispers of Mortality Friday, 9 November I am returning from an unexpected sabbatical. It started with nine days in Berlin’s Charité hospital. Oddly the notification came at another branch of the Charité complex, the heart hospital pictured above. Two days earlier David had been diagnosed with an atrial flutter, where the heart
Sharing Not Caring Friday, 5 October Paris is under siege. It often is in September-October. The traffic is terrible. Disgruntled workers, back from a month’s holiday, start striking and demonstrating and generally adding to the chaos. This year, however, though there have been a few rather perfunctory manifestations, the siege is of
Symbiosis Friday, 21 September Writers block is bad news for a writer but a much more critical condition is affecting me at the moment: brain block. I have been suffering from it since July. The 9th of July, to be precise, when we returned from Berlin to find a very unfinished
Summing Up Summer Friday, 7 September Every year in the middle of August a miracle occurs in Paris. And I’m not referring to the Virgin Mary’s trip to heaven on the 15th. I am talking about a supernatural phenomenon which occurs during that entire week: les Parisiens smile at one another
What Is Good Friday, 13 July We have once again crossed the Rhine. It does not get any easier with practice, even on a Sunday. Half of Europe was on the road with us in cars or caravans packed to bursting for the holiday ahead. Road works slowed traffic to a trickle everywhere
Skewers Unite Friday, 29 June As the US prepares to celebrate 242 years of Independence, some citizens may be buying their charcoal with a certain feeling of superiority or at least a belief in their singularity. Barbecuing, says a Time magazine article [http://time.com/3957444/barbecue/], “is about as red, white
Georgia Unbound On a clear day you can see forever, or from Tbilisi to Mount Kazbeg anyway Friday, 15 June According to Greek myth, Prometheus was the saviour of mankind and the wisest being in the universe. Some stories have it that he created man from clay but one thing is certain:
The Tasha Project hard to resist Friday, 1 June Today I would l like to proffer a small piece of advice: if you are thinking of adopting a dog from a shelter because it will be a good deal, financial or otherwise, think again. I’ve written a lot about the ‘otherwise’ since
Build Up Crow, sofa and Elsa's ear Friday, 18 May For the last three years I have rounded the corner with trepidation, expecting the worst. But it's been okay. Until last week. Our little Kiez of Berlin, Alt-Treptow, is bordered on two sides by water, the Spree River
Bottled Berlin Friday, 4 May When I wrote about shopping in Berlin two weeks ago, how could I have neglected to mention the most German part of my routine? Every few weeks—and really I wish it were more often—I make a trip to the Trinkhalle, a place solely devoted to
Real at the Real Friday, 20 April Even with only two of us in the house, I seem to spend a lot of time shopping, especially when we’ve just changed cities, as we recently have, and the cupboards are bare. It’s a very different experience on the two sides of the Rhine.
Versatility Friday, 6 April I just took the above photo from my work chair in Berlin. A similar display stares at me in Paris. Lately, as I look at the pictures, I've been pondering how bringing up children compares to training a dog. On one level the goal is