Observations

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

Grabovac, Plitvice Lakes, and a novel During the week 18-24 October 2023 Patrice and I visited Croatia’s Plitvice Lakes region to 1). take a one-week vacation and 2) to ‘ground truth’ a chase scene which concludes my fifth novel, Resurrection.  Sixteen Lakes, the...

The Robert Olen Butler with Clara Herrera Visit Semur-en-Auxios

The Robert Olen Butler with Clara Herrera Visit Semur-en-Auxios

Robert & Robert at Le Relais Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu, France and Clara Robert Olen, my buddy of several decades, and Clara Herrera visited Patrice and me in France ( FTR 15-22 August 2023).  They first spent a week in Paris, where we joined them for two days,...

War in Ukraine observed from United Kingdom

War in Ukraine observed from United Kingdom

Christmas Morning with grandchildren (Horsmonden, United Kingdom) Patrice and I are spending Christmas with Michelle and Nigel in Horsmonden, UK. We had met them a week ago in Calais to drive to Bruges, Belgium, for the Christmas Market, then onto England to spend the...

Writing in France

Writing in France

La Coutine near Villars-Villenote My part of Burgundy (Côte-d'Or)  is a  landscape of ‘manicured’ rolling hills. The French farmers are meticulous, the crop rows straight ( three harvests a season),  the  hillsides dotted with white (charolais)...

The war in Ukraine as observed from Marseille

The war in Ukraine as observed from Marseille

On 6 October, I met my daughter Marci, and grandson, Joshua,  in Marseille.  I simply have not the words to describe how happy I was. Perhaps this photo of my ‘doofus’ smile conveys the happiness my words cannot.  We had sat in a cafe overlooking...