photo (of Byron shopping for vegetables in Moda) by Algis Kemezys

FOOD FIT FOR AN EMPRESS

 The closest I've come to cooking for royalty is the late 

Leta Annenberg Hazen, Republican Party doyenne, sister of the redoubtable Walter Annenberg, maker of 

Presiden… Read full post »

Here’s an excerpt from my new novel  

ISTANBUL to MONTRÉAL 

  the story of an immigrant

Prologue

This year I turned sixty. 

One would have thought the transition would register like some kind of serious seismic seizure, and that suddenly… Read full post »

“Yo, Toto, we’re back in Kansas now, baby!”

                               —Dorothy, in a line cut from The Wizard of Oz, 1939

            … Read full post »

         Bodrum and its castle from above   ---   photo by Algis Kemezys

"Let History begin!”  

Herodotus, first scholar to chronicle Hellenistic history; upon graduating from Halicarnassus U., 463 B.C.

I’ve been tossing this nosta… Read full post »

 "One must be a dog to doggedly pursue."   Anonymous, 17th C

                Early morning bird-watching   ---   photo by Algis Kemezys 

Existential anxieties evaporated, I am very happy to have changed locations and… Read full post »

              Where are the flamingoes?    ---    photo by Algis Kemezys

“No man is a peninsula.” 

Kakovoulos Monoarchidos, Byzantine scholar of the 5th Century A.D.

I have moved into a country house in… Read full post »

              Fish and chips? Try next year     ---     photo by Algis Kemezys 

There is an old joke about some teenagers, of the less than bright variety, who go to a drive-in late in October. There is no one at the box-office,… Read full post »

                       The Agora mall at Knidos  ---  photo by Algis Kemezys

Greek antiquities are irresistible even though for the most part they are a collection of rubble — but what rubble! Remnants and relics of t… Read full post »

                       Algis Kemezys stone sculpture overlooking Çiftlik Bay

Don’t be fooled by the picture above. This posting of my Nostalgia series has nothing to do with turquoise-transparent waters, romance under a… Read full post »

                    Evil eye amulets of all sizes are everywhere in Turkey  

                                           &nb… Read full post »

                   A statue of Oprah in Turunç   --  photo by Algis Kemezys

I’ve been away about a month now and I find myself suffering reverse nostalgia. As if longing for my distant past weren&rsquo… Read full post »

If I may digress from pure nostalgia for one posting, I’d like to show you what blogging partner Algis Kemezys does when he’s not creating the images of my little stories. He feeds wild fish out of his own… Read full post »

                               Içmeler mosque   --   photo by Algis Kemezys

Back in the days before TV and movies, popular public entertainment was to be had mostly in church. The house of God pro… Read full post »

            Turunç bay as reflected in the water   --   photo by Algis Kemezys 

My lifelong quest for the great swim followed by a good meal continues. 

I visit three easy to reach beach towns in the Marmaris/Içmeler… Read full post »

 A bowl of manti at MeryemAna's in Marmaris  --  photo by Algis Kemezys

Unlike other Istanbullu children who spent their formative years chasing spherical objects around playing fields, I was happiest when either swimming in the sea or watching food being prepared in the… Read full post »

fig and its mates   ---   photo by Algis Kemezys

There are other things in life than swimming. Even I must admit this, because much as I worship my frolics in salt water —particularly in the Aegean— the very first cherished… Read full post »

                            Içmeler beach ---  photo by Algis Kemezys

It takes a mere hour to sail from Rhodes, Greece to Marmaris, Turkey, but the trip assumes profound proportions as it cros… Read full post »

          Me in front of Rhodes fortress  --  photo by Algis Kemezys

The AirTransat flight to Athens was uneventful —thanks to Ativan— arriving only t… Read full post »

                Montreal winter street--photo by Algis Kemezys, 1984 

Getting ready to leave.

It’s a bit of a mystery to me why I would give up all m… Read full post »

     Nostalgic glass of Turkish tea by the seaside  --  photo by Algis Kemezys 

I was born in Istanbul, an eternal City to rival Rome. This hub of modern Turkey served as the capital of the erstwhile Ottoman Empire for five hundred years, and before that f… Read full post »