Fran and I are sitting in the Delta lounge at JFK, about an hour from boarding our flight to Amsterdam. It's a beautiful day in NY; 94 degrees, bright sunshine, the monitors showing an on time departure and CNN playing on the flat panel screen. I glance at the TV. "The FDA has determined that Avandia has caused heart attacks. If' you've had a heart attack and have taken Avandia, call us. Thousands of people have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation from the manufacturer. We're the experts. Call 1-800-SCUMBAG now. Again, call 1-800-SCUMBAG." Do you think the Netherlands has product liability lawyers? Doubt it. They have nationalized health care and put the P.I. lawyers out of business. We, on the other hand are moving slowly in the direction of a single payer system ... read more

Drizzle never stopped a dog from having to take his morning walk. Yesterday, at 5:30, Sargent began banging his head on the hotel room door. Very effective way to get us up. So we got up, bundled up and trudged out to the square above the harbor. It’s a beautiful place where normally you can see the sailboats and lobster boats sitting on their moorings, the sun coming up over the entrance. A waterfall flows from town and beyond into the center. Unfortunately we couldn’t even see the harbor. Visibility was almost nil. Didn’t matter to the dogs. After picking up the poop from the wet grass and taking the dogs back to dry out, Fran and I went to the diner for breakfast. It was cold and the rain was coming down, not hard, but ... read more

Very interesting first day. Fran first. Last night, before the first class, Fran was having real doubts. Talking about what she thought was going to happen in her class she was frustrated. Pabulum is the word she used to describe what she thought she’d be facing. I counseled her in my most gentle, loving way, “dear, be patient, give it a chance, be open to new ideas.” “I will be,” she said with love and affection in her big brown eyes. But underneath it all, I thought her ADHD would doom her. The class was toast. She started at 8:15 this morning. By 12 she was in LOVE with the teacher, in LOVE with the class. She was challenged but the teacher got Fran and Fran got the teacher. The teacher’s name is Cig Harvey. You ... read more

October 12, India This might be my last blog from the trip. Today we fly from Varanasi to Delhi then on to the United States, land of showers that you can open your mouth in, land of salads that don’t terrify and for me, land of beef! If you can’t tell, I’m ready. It’s been remarkable, by far the most different place we’ve ever been. If we’ve bitched a bit about the long bus rides, the food, the beggars, the air pollution, the disorganization of the trip and the chaos of the country, these things pale next to the important things, like the people, the culture(s), the sights and sounds, these were all terrific experiences. I too loved scratching the surface on how to take good photos. Having Vincent Versace leave, while probably better for my ... read more

Happy Birthday Greg. Wish you were here. Wish we were there. Today we traveled to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. It's very, very impressive. It's enormous, beautiful, and incredibly rich. It's one heck of a tribute to the wife of the Maharajah. Tomorrow, at sunrise we will go there to photograph it, hopefully as the sun reflects on the jewels in the front. It's questionable. The smog and haze are so thick that we may not get great shots. You'll find out soon after we do. Some of the photos included show a bit of the haze. It's an oppressive haze which comes somewhat from the atmospheric conditions here and much from the pollution and smoke. Next to the Taj is the city's crematorium and since Hindus don't bury their dead, it's an active place ... read more