Visiting Relatives in Italy

pisa

Elliot and I toured Italy in the early spring of 1991.  As planned, we went down the Amalfi Coast (stunning) and then on to visit his great uncle's family.  The hotel we stayed at before we got to his relatives was kind enough to help facilitate a call to those relatives to coordinate.  Elliot and…

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The End

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On December 20th, Elliot was delusional, falling out of bed, and not himself.  Anne correctly admitted him to Casey House, where he was administered pain medication and sedation.  She called me, Jacob Davenport, that morning to tell me that he might just have hours left, so I rushed over.  Over the next four days, his…

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Dynamite With A Laser Beam

radiation

Two weeks of external radiation down, one to go. So far, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The radiation treatment itself has been relatively smooth. But it may have exacerbated my ongoing stomachache. This abdominal distress started right after I got the stent in mid-March, and at the time the docs said some discomfort was…

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Surrealism, Soviet-Style

milgram-bessmertnii

There’s a perfectly good school in Russia’s capital for English-speaking children of diplomats: The Anglo-American School of Moscow. And it’s probably the right establishment for most Foreign Service (FS) families, who move from post to post every few years. We were not FS. My dad was a professor of Russian history before he joined the…

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Crossing Swords in Stamford

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I've been solving crosswords for, oh, decades now. I even have a vivid memory of my parents bringing home the inaugural issue of Games magazine back in the fall of 1977. So I've gotten pretty good at both American and English (or "cryptic") crosswords. But I've never competed in a crossword tournament… until last weekend….

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Strictures on Eating

Gray1050-stomach

Two days ago, the Plate List Tour was scheduled to visit Rasika, DC’s temple of fine Indian cuisine. Did we partake of pleasing portions of paneer? Taste tangy tidbits of tandoor? Nibble on nourishing nuggets of naan? We did not. I ate a simple dinner at home that night. And it was delicious. Two weeks…

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Image Credits

Journeys & Destinations: Labyrinth image based on the design of the St. Lambertus Church labyrinth in Mingolsheim, Germany. Knowledge & Judgment: James Gordon Bennett Monument silhouette created from a photograph © Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons.

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