The Little Words Mean the Most

Dear Canadian Friends: Where should we move in Canada?

We need to fly easily to Paris frequently. We like art. We'll need good hospitals. Good quality of life. -- Tom & Simone

The person walking down a garden path

...should feel like a character. Moses parting the Red Sea. Stanley seeking Livingstone.

Report from the front lines: Pads of paper; Levenger's loses

Levenger's does NOT make the best notepad blocks. I try everything. Exhaustively. Notepad blocks are my basic tool, along with cooperative pens. The best pads are made by France's Rhodia. I can buy them in France at the local supermarket. Luxury Levenger's? In their previous version, the staples were good, but the perfs sucked. NOW, post-slight-redesign: the staples suck, but the perfs are loose. Levenger's lab rats? Put in some overtime, dears. RHODIA has ALL these key issues figured out, with a multifold cover. Which is so much better for us writer types.

We spoke to these great people, from these terrific hospitals, next to this impressive stadium

And I got applause from the tech guys, which is always a good sign.

Found alive by a bright idea

St. Louis, the Arch: Click any image to enlarge

Aphoristically yrs -- Overselling the drama

Making a tornado out of a dust bunny. As in, "You are...." Born in St. Louis, MO at the airport. Variation: Making a tomato out of a dust bunny.

Simone & Tom in France: No longer

1st day home. For one day only. Tomorrow: St. Louis, condemned to the middle seat. Global warming has advanced blooming at our little New England grass shack by several weeks. We used to say, Don't plant before Memorial Day, May 30. There is probably even a rhyming maxim. Today is April 14: I have a bunch of annuals to put in the ground and my strawberry plants over-wintered. To count the petals, click any image to enlarge.

Simone & Tom in France: Day 13, Friday the 13th, boarding at Gate 13

Click any photo to enlarge ... to see what I mean. Witness my traveling office. Witness SPJ in full opinion mode, uplinked and dangerous.

Simone & Tom in France: Day whatever -- This one's for Greggie

Small town. Middle of nowhere. EXCEPT it's on an old pilgrimage trail. And it's welcoming, with a central café and a sleepy cat and old guys walking to Compostella in Spain, to handiwipe their souls. Click on image to enlarge and get the point. There should be a certified architect within 100 meters of every citizen on earth.