I have explored two fantastic Holocaust Museums – the one in Washington DC and in Cape Town, South Africa. Visiting them left me unsettled in heavy emotions. However, nothing quite prepared me for a tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in Southern Poland. We visited on a mid-September day – still officially summer on the calendar …
Conservatively, yet elegantly dressed, not a hair out of place in her slightly-big-Texas hairstyle, wearing too much make up for her naturally beautiful face. That is how I remember modern-day southern belle, Jayne Christianson, when I met her over 3 decades ago sipping sweet tea deep in the heart of East Texas. Me, being a …
Doesn’t it feel like a joke when you visit your doctor for some ailment and they tell you that you need to reduce stress in your life? Stress seems to be the singular cause that pops up as a trigger for so many disorders – both mentally and physically. But you can’t exactly quit your …
When I shared with friends that I had an upcoming trip to Uganda planned in the fall of 2018, the number one inquiry was, “Where is that?” followed by a somewhat snarky “Is it safe?” In all fairness to them, the media tends to cover bad news much more diligently than good news and then …
I adored my photography class junior and senior years of high school. What made the experience so incredible? Perhaps it was my quintessentially cool teacher, Mr. Colombe (insert high school girl crush here). Perhaps it was the hours of darkroom freedom I was granted to experiment with this art form. Regardless of the reasons, it …
I recently shared on social media an article I wrote for International Living Magazine. As far as I could see, it was certainly innocuous in its presentation – detailing one of the smaller beach communities along the NW Pacific coast of Costa Rica. In it, I described the close-knit expat community in a very positive …
Seeing everyone’s father’s day posts still stabs me in the heart. My Father, Ace – as he was nicknamed, died 12 years ago, a couple of weeks before that special holiday celebrating dads. I was angry that cancer and Parkinson’s took him away too soon – leaving me anguished and wiser. It is no pleasure …
I recently answered one of those “get to know you” Facebook questions about the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten. I have never seen so many “puking” emoji and gif responses in one place (except for a few political posts – but I am not going there). It created such a stir I decided to …
I have been uploading photos to my social media pages daily while on an epic journey through South America. You know; the drill we all perform on vacation if we are active social media consumers – posting humorous or artistic photos, signs lost in translation, landscapes, architecture, and food – basically giving our followers a …
I have been fortunate to travel and sample wine in many world-famous regions of the five biggest wine-producing continents. This article is not about bragging – this is about me believing I was some sort of wine connoisseur. Assuming that liking the taste of wine and drinking it often means one knows how to actually …