After a hot weekend, Monday morning was cool and windy. Andrew and I visited St George, the oldest town on the island.  The bus carried us along the north shore of Bermuda and up into the hills where the houses became grander and the roads quieter. From the bus stop at the Swizzle Inn, we  Read the Rest…

Mid-morning, we went to the beach slathered in half the tube of sunscreen. The Airbnb supplied two chairs, beach towels and a tiny, mostly useless umbrella, which we duly lugged around the corner and down the eighth of a mile to Elbow Beach. The astonishing clear, turquoise water went from cold to tepid to bathwater  Read the Rest…

Bermuda for Two: Saltus Grammar School On a background of deep green foliage, Bermuda is a watercolor of pastels beginning with the turquoise of the sea. The stucco of the cottages are painted shades of manganese and cerulean; rose madder and diluted pink opera, lemon yellow and new gamboge, topped off with bright, white limestone  Read the Rest…

A wee quiz: 1. Is Bermuda in the Caribbean? 2.Which state of the United States is Bermuda closest to? 3.Bermuda is a protectorate of what country? 4.Who discovered Bermuda and what country was he from? 5.Which Shakespeare play is set in Bermuda? 6.What are two signature sounds of Bermuda life? Answers: 1.No 2.North Carolina 3.Great  Read the Rest…

You know how people (probably you) complain that Christmas music begins too early — like right after Halloween? If you’re a musician, by the time Halloween has reached its sugar-sated conclusion, you’ve been rehearsing Christmas music since the end of September. And you had to start thinking about it in August. That’s been my life  Read the Rest…

The puppies had me flying out of the Airbnb the next morning accompanied by Stella, barking her head off. Andrew followed with his coffee. “Did you hear the owl this morning?” John asked. Andrew raised his eyebrows. The genuine-ness of the owls not to mention the crickets was still in question. We learned a little  Read the Rest…

Andrew and I (and Stella, the dog) traveled to Walla Walla last week. You might be forgiven for thinking we were going for the wineries but we were not. Neither of us are drinkers. We were there for the Walla Walla sweets and Ancestor Worship, as Andrew says. My father was born and grew up  Read the Rest…

My favorite thing to do in a city like London is to have a small mission that allows for adventures along the way.  Tuesday’s mission was to explore Ealing because Andrew’s (The Sweetheart) father was born in Ealing and Andrew knows shockingly little about his father’s origins. I began the day by walking to Paddington  Read the Rest…

When we were last together, I had said farewell to Lindisfarne after being in the unlikely position of reassuring native Britons at the bus stop that there was indeed a real bus that arrived on Holy Island regularly, if not often. Once back in Berwick, I checked into the Castle Hotel, not the Castle Vale  Read the Rest…

Lindisfarne, more often referred to as Holy Island, is a half hour’s drive from Berwick, just down the main coast road. You might think it’s easy to get to. It’s not. Without a car, the choice is an $80 taxi or the bus, which leaves Berwick on Wednesday mornings. The only bus off the island  Read the Rest…