A few days ago ,in Switzerland, we hiked from Wengen down the mountiain Lauterbrunnen where we went to Trummelbach Falls. Trummelbach Falls Is a . waterfall in a cave. We took a elevator (also in a cave) to the first waterfall. The waterfalls were amazing! There were lots of puddles because...

We are staying in a US Army Base called a Garrison.  This is a picture of the people that live in this house.  They are older now.  There is a soccer field about         100 meters along the street.  There is lots of American food in the refrigerators, and English-speaking neighbors...

Shploock. Shlup.  I cringe just a little as the mud closes over the top of my shoe.  It is a slightly delicious, and slightly disgusting, noise as I pull my foot out for my next step.  I try not to guesstimate the varieties of bacteria and feces mixed in there, so I look up and around. The...

Julius Caesar invaded Britain the first time in 55 BC. Based on his own writings, scholars figure he arrived in the area of Deal Beach just up the coast from the white cliffs at Dover. Here is the view today at Deal Beach. The stone marker seems largely forgotten by folks walking up and down...

My maternal grandmother was often part of my family beach vacations. Mama Liz showed me how to play cards on those trips, usually on her bed. She floated effortlessly and endlessly on her back in the surf. And she taught me the words and music to French national anthem. We sang that anthem as...

Within hours of arriving in southern France, I was on my hands and knees in the bathroom of our country home … cleaning up a toilet overflow. S was interpreting labels on French cleaning bottles and handing me paper towels. The boys were in a...

We met a man named Finbar in Seydisfjordur and I asked him if he was crazy. He laughed. He’d sailed around the world. Solo. Several times. Finbar gave us a generous tour of his 50-foot sailboat. As the boys say: “It was boss.” Full queen-size bed. Bathroom with shower. Living...