These are songs I associate with various members of my family, and why. Not a whole lot of rhyme or reason to them, but there are family stories with each, and they seem worth relating. America, West Side Story. Dad played this soundtrack a lot and the exuberance, wordplay and eventually the cynicism of this …
I’ve been to more concerts than I can remember, but here are some notable ones from the years before Covid. Much appreciation to Setlist.fm for making it easier to look up old dates and venues. Jake Shimabukuro and Sierra Hull, February 2020 at Strathmore Music Hall, Bethesda. I went on my own to this show, …
Capturing movies (and series), in no particular order, that have made an impact on me and stuck over time. I’m not saying these are the best movies of all time, but these are ones that recurringly rattle around my brain or remind me of particular moments in my life. They’re meaningful to me for some …
A running tab of movies I’ve seen in theaters or at home, and a quick comment about them. I’ve succumbed to the idea of assigning a personal score for each film. My scale: 4 Stars – One of the best, well recommended 3 Stars – Recommended, but some issues here and there 2 Stars – Problematic, hard to recommend 1 Star …
This is a page to track things I’ve read recently and over time. I don’t read as many books as I’d like, but hope to do more. A Few Words in Defense of Our Country, The Biography of Randy Newman, James Hilburn, February 2025. My “beach read” for Punta Cana was a speedy one for …
Johnny Cash had The List of 100 Essential Country Songs he gave to his daughter Roseanne. Herewith a list (53 songs at the moment, give or take, in no particular order, yet) of songs of all sorts that have some ongoing resonance with me. These are the ones that keep rattling in my head or …
Today was deliberately a non-driving sort of day. We started with a very short drive (we considered the option to walk…but we drove) down the peninsula to the Lighthouse at Finisterre. This is the proverbial last stop at the “End of the World” for the Camino de Santiago. We passed a few pilgrims along the …
After packing our stuff, leaving a note on our Porto apartment’s wall, and making our way back to the car for the first time in 4 days, we embarked on the road north to Galicia. Our first destination, about 90 minutes north of Porto and just over the Spanish border, was a Celtic settlement called …
Today was kind of a spare day for exploring Porto and environs. We started with a walk to downtown Porto and made our way toward the Livaria Lello (Wikipedia, TripAdvisor). This is a landmark old bookstore where allegedly J.K. Rowling drew inspiration for Harry Potter (or did she?), particularly the moving stairs in Hogwarts. She …
Train to Douro Valley. We got ourselves up relatively early to catch the 9:10am train. Looked for a quick pastry at a cafe across from the station and saw they had hot ham and cheese sandwiches so we got a couple of those. Maggie had told us about the fabulous melted cheese sandwiches she’d had …
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