Everyone dreams of visiting the elegant castles of the Loire Valley in central France.

That was also our dream when my husband and I took a fast train from Gare Montparnasse in Paris to the city of Angers, which sits at the center of the Loire's famous chateau country.

As soon… Read full post »

A short while ago, I took up drinking dark spirits. Whiskey, that is. Aquae vitae. Eau de vie. The water of life.

Not because of the economy or marital problems or any deep malaise, but just because. Because I recently rediscovered a bottle of single malt whiskey my husband bought me… Read full post »

One pesky item has been sitting on my daily to-do list since November of 2007 and no matter how much time I have during a given day, I just never get around to crossing it off. Get thee to a radiology clinic, it says, and get thee your annual mammogram --/…

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You would think that with all of the gains made for and by women in the past, say, 45 plus years, that we would now rate ourselves as significantly happier than our mothers and grandmothers back in the dark ages.

Not so, according to economists Betsey Stevenson and… Read full post »

With Mel Gibson in the news lately -- thanks to his recent divorce and pregnant girlfriend -- I can't help but fondly remember the one and only time I served him dinner in Santa Fe.

I had been freelancing for NPR and local publications and was worn out from the daily… Read full post »

Sometimes we end up in a strange land and we have only the American taxpayer to thank.

When I contacted the renowned journalist Pierre Salinger in Washington -- whom I'd met some years earlier -- I hoped he might hire me at his public relations agency, one of the… Read full post »

So much has been written about Susan Boyle since the frumpy, middle-aged Scot from West Lothian became a talent show phenomenon barely a week ago that I hesitate -- but only mildly -- to add my tuppence to the mix.

Something struck me in one of her many media interviews -- it… Read full post »

Forget the stock market, forget home foreclosures, credit card defaults and unemployment.

According to people in the know, the best way to determine how far the economy has tanked is to find out how many new underpants guys are buying at the store.

Sales of boxers and briefs are usually flat… Read full post »

I was 25-years old and dressed in my favorite outfit -- a dark blue top and short skirt that fit snuggly and was, if I do say so myself, not unflattering. I had taken extra care to curl my short hair around my cheeks and on my feet wore light green/…

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I was desperate to start a blog but terrified of falling on my face in the process.

Could I write original posts that people might actually want to read?

After about 30 years of churning out NPR pieces, cable and public TV programs, newspaper and magazine articles and even children's books --… Read full post »

I used to be the Queen of I'm Not Sorry-Land.

I perfected my not-apologizing skills through many years of practice, with friends, family and even strangers. Over time, I discovered just how easy not-apologizing can seem to be.

Until I discovered just how damaging that stubbornness and self-rig… Read full post »

When French writer Marcel Proust tasted madeleines, he remembered his beloved aunt serving him those "squat, plump little cakes" during his childhood at Combray.

When I taste madeleines, I remember sitting at the feet of the great jazz drummer, Kenny Clarke, in his modest living room in Montreu/…

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When I walked into La Calvados, a tiny jazz bo îte near the Champs-Elysees in Paris, I could hear someone tickling the ivories but couldn't see the tickler. It was two in the morning, the place was thick with people and smoke, and waiters rushed by with plates of spaghetti… Read full post »

A short while ago, I took up drinking dark spirits. Whiskey, that is. Aquae vitae. Eau de vie. The water of life.

Not because of the economy or marital problems or any deep malaise, but just because.

Because I recently rediscovered a bottle of single malt whiskey my husband bought… Read full post »

If anyone has harbored the tiniest shred of doubt about whether John Edwards is the father of his mistress' baby, Andrew Young's upcoming book should do away with it.

Young, who worked for Edwards and considered him a close friend, now says that Edwards begged him to claim he was the… Read full post »

I never thought I would become a regular church-goer in my mid-40s; pfftt, only the lost, the bewildered, the weak, the silly went to church at all, let alone every week. Going to church seemed so nerdish, middle-class, suburban, downright quaint, a throwback to when sitting in pews  on Sunday w… Read full post »

The week my only child was born, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors announced massive layoffs and F. W. Woolworth revealed steep declines in their profits. General Foods also announced it would close a Jell-O and puddings plant in Delaware for seven days later that month.

Jell-O! Was nothing safe?
%IMAG… Read full post »

When I was a kid, one of my favorite errands to run with my parents was a trip to the cobbler's.

The tiny shop on the edge of the town square, the clutter of shoes and boots, the smell of wax and polish, the kindly gentleman behind the counter --… Read full post »

I wish I had a strong feeling one way or the other about President Obama's -- and therefore all Americans' -- stimulus package.

I read as many thoughtful articles on the topic as possible but I still end up with a shrug. Similar but much smaller bills may have been effective in/…

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The Nobel Prize Committee has been handing out awards like candy this past week -- and that was quite a sugar-coated jaw breaker for Barack Obama -- but I just don't understand why there is never a recipient from the fashion world.

That said, it has been quite a year for… Read full post »

It usually starts in my head with a vague longing to abandon everything -- family, friends, hearth and home -- then moves down to my feet where my toes start to twitch and tingle.

If left untreated, as has happened more than once, I can wind up chucking the whole… Read full post »

Once the curtain closes on this latest drama with AIG, the executives will keep their bonuses, the politicians will keep their seats and the American taxpayer will keep on paying.

I would love to be wrong.

But honestly, who really expects AIG to be ashamed of themselves? The way they played… Read full post »

Follow-up to yesterday's post on AIG:

I have not seen the following mentioned in any media reports on AIG CEO Edward Liddy's testimony to Congress yesterday...

When asked by a woman Senator -- whose name escapes me -- if the  notorious AIG executivess would have received their bonuses if the tax… Read full post »

Perhaps it would have been fitting -- in some macabre way -- to have gone down with that Aeroflot helicopter in a land so replete with death, where the earth had been toughened by the bones and soaked with the blood of millions of gulag prisoners going back at least a… Read full post »