I have a question. You’re in a group of friends and you are asked a question–asked to respond honestly. You begin, and a member of the group–one who always is the expert, jumps in, interrupts and asks: “How can you say that? I could never…”     And you can fill in the blanks as to …[ read more ]

Image by leonem via Flickr The winter wind whisked her along Fifth Avenueto Central Park. She stood above the lakeskimmed with ice. Her brothers hurling rockshad hoped to make a hole that wouldn’t freeze again.Intent upon their burden, they ignoreda little girl who stood meekly at their side. “I can break the ice so it won’t …[ read more ]

A winning team does not consist of one member–but many–each sharing her or his gift to make the group succeed. This ideally analogizes people in my life: friends have made me be better than I ever could on my own. So who would be on my dream team? Excluding family–over the next eleven days I’ll …[ read more ]

     Peter Paul Rubens. How his name conjures images of hefty women–but this painter is so much more. His painting is luminescent, literally larger than life. And the Prado offered two massive rooms of his work. He is epic, mythic–taking the tales that have inspired mankind and translating them into oil on canvas.     At …[ read more ]

     Our visit turned up some delightful Spanish concepts–ones I think we would do well to adopt here in the U.S. 1.  They do not waste.      After we found the car we hid underground in Spain (see first Spanish blog), I couldn’t get the lights to turn on in my room. With no knowledge of …[ read more ]