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...
Kippenheim, Germany

Kippenheim, Germany

For these past  two + years Patrice and I became acquainted, grace a covid,  with the medieval trails and French citizens in Semur-en-Auxios, France.  No complaints.  The Burgundian landscape is rolling and beautiful, its farmers are meticulous...
Patrice’s Uncle Kurt & The Holocaust

Patrice’s Uncle Kurt & The Holocaust

On 16-17 October, The United States Holocaust Museum sponsored Patrice’s 89-year-old Uncle Kurt Maier, Emeritus Librarian, Library of Congress (German collection), lectures at Chicago’s Harold Washington Library. Kurt, a Holocaust survivor with a wicked...
A Wedding In France

A Wedding In France

On 10 August 2017, in Bergerac, France my daughter, Michelle Elisabeth Townsend, married. Michelle gave me 45 seconds to summarize before the assembled my impressions, recollections, hopes and fears. I wanted five days. Patrice made me sit down, write what I wanted to...
Upon a long road

Upon a long road

It has been a long road across storied lands – Croatia, Germany and the United Arab Emirates before I go to the farm. Patrice is teaching these two months in Colorado, and felt I would be underfoot, so…I’ve come to Dubai to write and visit my child. The...
Long Road: Dresden to Dubai

Long Road: Dresden to Dubai

Novelist seeking words in storied lands  Our year abroad on a budget approaches an end. Our strategy was to live where it was inexpensive (Rovinj, Croatia) in order to afford better (Dresden, Germany), then giga-expensive (Dubai) (visiting a child). It has worked....