Inward and Onward Friday, 10 January Think back, look forward. That is what January is for, especially one marking the beginning of a new decade. How do my musings from a year ago, for example, appear
Plus ça change Friday, 13 December Some words and expressions capture a concept so aptly they are untranslatable. Often that's because the meaning conveys a quality firmly grounded in the native culture. Gemütlich for example captures
Touring Friday, 29 November They say that just before you die, your whole life passes before you. That has just happened to me but, as of this writing, I am still very much alive.
Angst Management Friday, 8 November Next Monday I leave on a US book tour for my novel The Art of Regret and it’s fair to say I’m a little anxious. I will be
A Novel Look at Paris, II Friday, 25 October The long, unusual walk I took two weeks ago in anticipation of The Art of Regret's publication* got me thinking about shorter, more pedestrian walks, ones made so frequently you
A Novel Look at Paris Wig shop, rue des Poissionniers Friday, 11 October The other day I took an unusual and instructive walk. It's actually a walk I have been thinking about taking since I revisited the Basilique
The Spice of Life Friday, 27 September How odd that a trip to the Indian quarter of Paris should make me feel I am really home, that our Berlin life is really over. La Chapelle, as the
Our Nature Friday, 30 August Summer is winding down. At least I think it is. This past week in Paris the thermometer has climbed to a dog-day 34°C (93°F). But there are also
Whose House Is This? Friday, 16 August 2019 Our new house in the Perche may be situated at the end of a track. Our nearest neighbours may be at an invisible distance. But that does not mean
Carl H Hintze on the Move Friday, 26 July Some of us humans are happier living away from our homeland. We feel more comfortable where we are less quantifiable, less easily classified. I have recently discovered that this may
Tasha, a Franco-German Dog in the Perche Getting the lay of the land Friday, 12 July While thinking about how to approach the first entry of this re-christened Paris-Perche Diary, I returned to the beginning, to the first blog I
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
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
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,
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 last December, this has been her first
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 will know, it has not been a great
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