"And let the world slip, we shall ne'er be younger." --William Shakespeare, "The Taming of the Shrew" The castle just goes from strength to strength. Last night, I had requested coffee for 6.30. It arrived exactly at 6.30 and the milk was hot. I am sitting on my balcony again, watching the morning light on Vence and writing away. There is even an outlet on the balcony so I can charge up my laptop without going inside. Does it get any better than this? Well, it turns out that it doesn’t. I sat on my balcony for the longest time just [View Full Entry]

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“I want those entering my chapel to feel themselves purified and lightened of their burdens. …I regard it, despite all its imperfections, as my masterpiece…as an effort which is the culmination of a whole life dedicated to the search for truth. --Henri Matisse Let me just begin by saying how pleased I was with myself that I did not have that nightcap last night. I woke up bright and early and full of beans - the way I like to feel when I am on the road. By 9.00, I had had my pot of French coffee and was on the [View Full Entry]

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Although the alarm is set for 4.00, I am up at 3.30. Realising that I am too excited to go back to sleep, I pull myself out of bed. It is dark and raining. Oh, joy. I turn on Sky News (the BBC, bless them, does not see the need to do international weather). The weather report finally comes on. The perky, blond announcer tells me that although England is doomed to be raining and cold for the foreseeable future, it is “hot and sunny” on the Riviera. OH, JOY! Now, usually when I have flights this early, I take a [View Full Entry]

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There are only two days in the whole year that I miss being in the States. The first is Thanksgiving. The second is the Fourth of July. Being me, however, I solve this problem by being sure that everyone around me celebrates these two events with me. It is now tradition that ZPro has a big party to celebrate the event. In fact, as I was leaving, more than one person looked at me in horror and said, "you're still having the 4th of July party, right?" I assured them I would. So, on Thursday night (I know it was the [View Full Entry]

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I have written often about my tendency to over plan my life. It really kicks in when Mom and Lynn come to visit as I want them to have a good time and to see as much as possible in the time when they are here. This time, however, we decided not to put anything in the diary, but to see where life took us. Deep breath -- I know I can do this. On Sunday, we met for a late breakfast and decided that the day was just too lovely to be inside. We went for a long walk around [View Full Entry]

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There are few things more exciting than waiting at the airport to pick someone up. I love being part of the crowd and watching the reunions as people get off planes. As I am always standing at the international arrivals, one sees some very moving things. On Friday morning, I was waiting for Mom and Lynn to arrive and got to see quite a few of these scenes. Turns out that immigration at Gatwick was backed up and the queue snaked forever. It took them an hour and half to get through and I was beginning to think I had somehow [View Full Entry]

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Eileen and I for years used to talk about the fact that we could do anything. The example we always used was one weekend during the summer. We had left work and driven down the shore. On the Friday night, we sat at a very posh restaurant, in our silk blouses and suits, eating proper food and drinking wine. At 7.00 the next morning, we were on a fishing boat, in shorts and tee shirts, drinking coffee with the fisherman and baiting our own hooks. I had the exact same conversation with Jeremy tonight. Four days ago, we were all dressed [View Full Entry]

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Great days out always start the night before. The night before Ascot, Zarina, Rich and I went to Regents Park to the Taste of London. This is a festival that started about three years ago. All of the great restaurants in London congregate and sell tapas sized portions of their food. It is a great way to try different kinds of food and drink great wines and champagne without committing to one restaurant. We saw Gary Rhodes; we drank copious amounts of champagne and Argentine wine; we ate until we could barely stand. The best bit? The whole thing closes down [View Full Entry]

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I awoke this morning to two realisations. The first? That today we were going to visit our last port of call. The trip has sped by so quickly. The second? It is HOT! The weather throughout our Scandinavia sojourn has been unbelievable for this time of year, but today was something else entirely. It reached nearly 30C/86F which is hot in anyone's books -- especially for the beginning of June. Our tour didn't leave until the afternoon, so I spent the morning reading by the pool in the shade. I am a sun lover and I couldn't take it, which should [View Full Entry]

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Now, I don't care how you old or how cynical you've become. Everyone loves the story of the Little Mermaid. Second only to St. Petersburg, I wanted to do this trip so that I could see the statue of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen harbour. After a day at sea yesterday, I felt much better and ready to go see some more sights. Lynn, however, had decided that she needed another day on the ship, so Mom and I set out on our own. First things first. We stopped to see the Little Mermaid. She was wonderful! There were lots of [View Full Entry]

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