Together, Solo. . .

— From EF — Saturday, my last night in Tuscany, the halfway point of this journey. I began in Amsterdam with my dear friend Theo, the most luminous embodiment of kindness I have ever known. Then my time here with daughter Johanna and her Fra, and tomorrow off to...

Escaping the Universe. . .

— From the Fool — George is my Facebook friend from Akron Ohio. I don’t know him, he just turned up one day and I thought well now I know a person in Akron Ohio. That might come in handy some day. George reads a lot even though his mom always told him he’d ruin his...

Vertigo. . .

— From EF — I was sitting with a friend in a magical place near Occidental, the Grove of the Old Trees. It’s 33 acres of spirit, situated on a ridge-top within smelling distance of the ocean, and since it’s way down a winding narrow road usable at only 10mph, you...

What Kind of Fool Am I? . . .

— From the Fool — My uncle Cecil gives me lots of advice because that’s what he thinks uncles do and because his own kids know better than to listen. Mostly it’s about women or cars, which he’s expert in, having had two divorces, half a dozen fender-benders, and three...

Scarlet Runners. . .

— From EF — What’s next? What happens now? That depends. If I forget to check the zucchini plants for two days in a row, it means researching a new recipe. If I suddenly stopped going to all my pre-med classes, it meant I got kicked out of college. If my mother and...

Journeys & Muffins. . .

— From EF —    Last week we went to see the restored print of Pather Panchali at the theatre in San Rafael. This is the fourth or fifth time for us, and it still makes us catch our breath in wonder. I remember different times seeing it, one of the most vivid memories...

Sisyphus!

— From EF — We’re rumbling down the last stretch of the racetrack toward putting our beloved first novel Realists into print. We’ve done the ritual of searching for agents and publishers, and it’s totally clear that if this is going to get into the hands of readers,...

Eightieth Blog. . .

 — From EF —  Conrad has gone on a Billy Collins jag lately, and I am a delighted beneficiary. Often, as I am heading into the final lap of getting dinner ready, he comes into the kitchen and reads me two or three poems. This is delicious on several levels. I really...

Looking Up. . .

—From EF — CB’s getting better, but it’s been a rough week and a half. It’s not only the gnawing fear that makes me check his couch-sleeping chest for signs of movement — his face looks so not-alive — it’s the absence of our usual fabric of making. My own self-starter...

Cows and Butterflies. . .

— From CB —  Minutes ago or years, more than fifty years, fifty-four we went to an exhibit of Camille Corot landscapes, portraits, landscapes, some allegorical stuff, and landscapes if I recall correctly, being back so far and so many puzzle pieces gone. We walked...