Burnt Chocolate Stories

  Zoe, Barry, Sarah and Me at the Tower of London Sarah and I had a wonderful cruise down the Danube. And now that I've actually done it, I can check that off my bucket list. On the one hand, it was great being with Sarah for a week. We saw the sights, played rummy 500, met some nice people, ate lots of delicious food. Steve and I had a plan to do this cruise in 2020, then covid hit and we were cancelled. When covid ended, it seemed a river cruise was no longer possible for him. In truth, and in hind sight, a river cruise would not ever have been Steve's choice at any stage in his life. He was my live in travel guide, loved planning the places we'd go and the things we'd see. I so enjoyed those rides with him. Seeing London through my granddaughter Zoe's eyes was great fun. She knows the best restaurants, train schedules, bus stops - you name it, she's on it. In 2015, Steve and I took her and her cousin Mackenzie to London and Scotland for a couple of weeks. We ...

My week on the Romantic Danube River Cruise ended yesterday. Fortunately, my daughter Sarah thought to purchase walking sticks for me to use on the many walks we took in Regensburg, Vienna and Budapest. I honestly think I would have been lost without them. My steps have tripled on my apple watch - up to 5 miles a day. I've always wanted to take a river cruise, which was very enjoyable, and I can now check off that box on my list.  One highlight of the trip was visiting a monastery in Regensburg, beautifully restored and home to seventy monks. Local children attend the school housed there and the view was spectacular. Wine and apricots provide income as do the many tourists that visit daily. Budapest is home to the largest and most gorgeous synagogue in the world, but I regret not seeing it for a second time, having visited it in 2006.  Today I am in an apartment in London with Sarah and her husband Barry, visiting my granddaughter Zoe who has made London her home for the next ...

Greetings from Regensburg, Germany where my daughter Sarah and I are taking a Viking Cruise! Since I've made a commitment to post each and every Saturday morning, I thought I'd share a piece I wrote in 1986 which on the one hand, feels like a lifetime ago, and yet it's as relevant for me today as it was then.   Dreaming My Way Towards Clarity I dream that I am frozen on a road leading towards a mountain. The road is smooth and white with yellow daffodils along the edge. Pink cosmos fills the fields. The day is warm and sunny but I cannot enjoy it. I cannot move. A blue bird flutters above my head, beckoning me towards the top of the mountain that glistens, starlike. My feet refuse to move. Six smooth statues sit on the road beside me, holding me tight. One is alabaster, smooth and shaped like a huge oval. The second is translucent with dark veins and fan like edges. Another a deep lapis carved into a bird. The next is green marble and perches on two points. At the road'...