We were not able to reserve our little hacienda away from home for four consecutive weeks here in Rota. So, after much discussion (Carol: “We’re renting a car and taking a road trip!” she explained) we mutually agreed to rent a car and take a road trip.   Carol found a cheap car rental […]

 The other day I checked my daily diary on this trip and there are a lot of missing entries. I’m so happy. You see, this whole return to Rota was all about living the local life here. If my notes were filled with the events of every day, then this would only be just another […]

  And when I talk about Rota as a Paradise Found, I do not mean to include some of the descriptives that are to follow.  Call it just a happy accident, or maybe an arrested adolescent’s male fantasy come true.   But there are bare boobies at the beach in Rota. Carol was the one who pointed […]

  I was going to tell the story of our return trip to Rota chronologically. But since my objective in the return was to recapitulate my life at home – that would be: reading, writing and …well, watching baseball (at home) but staring blankly at the Atlantic Ocean (here) – such a simple (and boring) […]

  A case can now be made that Carol is a slip-and-fall attorney’s dream. Back in Lyon during our first trip together (is that when I should have started thinking about travel insurance?) she had an epic heels-over-head tumble as she left our restaurant and started home in a drizzly French rain that turned those ancient tiled […]

DL 65 to Paris We were walking in the hotel parking lot after checking out when Carol realized she didn’t have her jean jacket. I continued on to our rental and put the luggage in the trunk while she went back to retrieve it. At the rental return we were on the bus to the Delta terminal, when she realized […]

Our upcoming European trip will be different on two fronts. First, we’re going for the longest stretch for one excursion: almost six weeks, give or take. Secondly, “excursion” is a misnomer. For we’re going to spend all this time in a place we’ve already been to and had extended our stay once we got there. This time, we’ll be expanding […]

  That’s the lead from the most recent review of A Roomful of Monkeys posted on Amazon’s web page featuring my book. Along with “playful” from the Kirkus Review, those two words sum up precisely what I was intending to achieve with my first comic novel.   To say I was relieved to see words like those […]

This review reminds me of the admonition from that high school composition teacher of mine who’d admonished me to leave humor for those that can write it. Well, the admonition didn’t stop me then, and it looks like this one won’t stop me now. Still looking for buyers of A Roomful of Monkeys and readers […]

Day 20 Flamencos and staying up late Carol had been hinting at finding a nightclub featuring Flamenco dancing throughout our whole trip. I’d spent the whole trip hoping to avoid just that. I’d had my fill of the art form in Seville during the Feria. It’s a lot of twirling, arm swinging and stomping around with a rose stem in your […]