Language can get in the way when you travel to another country, and that apparently can involve some Americans who would prefer to speak English their own way, thank you very much. We were at… Read More
We had planned to spend the day in one of the masterpieces created by the Barcelona architect Antoni Gaudí, and wound up in another. It was a real lemonade-out-of-lemons experience, and it included one of… Read More
Montserrat is many things: a mountain, a monastery, a municipality, a park. It’s one of the most stunning places I’ve ever seen. Martha and I caught a bus from Barcelona on Wednesday morning, making a… Read More
We set out for Spain on a Monday and got there on a Tuesday; an overnight flight from Montreal will do that. It was early in the breakfast hour in Barcelona when we arrived, and… Read More
“Some say that no one ever leaves Montreal, for that city, like Canada itself, is designed to preserve the past, a past that happened somewhere else.”— Leonard Cohen It’s been almost a decade since Leonard… Read More
“Etiquette in New York is all about time management. In other places, you seem rude if you see someone and don’t talk to them long enough. But here, it’s all about speed. And people are… Read More
A mug of hot chocolate always eases the sting of a cold winter’s night, and for most of my life, I’ve been content to have a mug of milk (boiling water, if we’re low) heated… Read More
“I’ve always been in the right place and time. Of course, I steered myself there.”— Bob Hope This quote, taken from comedian Bob Hope’s memoir Don’t Shoot, It’s Always Me, speaks to working hard and… Read More
Up until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, I spent a lot of time on the road. Apart from working as a digital producer with CBC News in St. John’s, I was lucky enough to… Read More
“In department stores, so much kitchen equipment is bought indiscriminately by people who just come in for men’s underwear.”— Julia Child A note: Julia Child’s kitchen (not the TV set version, but the real one… Read More