Last weekend, Anne & I took advantage of the current treatment window to enjoy a little holiday in the Blueridge. We rode and walked through Shenandoah National Park and toured Little Washington.

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 normal as my body adjusted to this foreign invader.

Radiation starts in a few days, so the Plate List Tour is on hold until I see how the lasers affect my digestion.

In the meantime, you are cordially invited to share in the Tour's previous outing: Fiola. This contemporary Italian establishment offers à la carte courses and a tasting menu prepared by Chef Fabio Trabocchi. Most of us opted for the tasting menu, but with one crucial exception…

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.

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.