After a time of their love wrapping halfway around the world, about 7 months ago Jan moved back to the Czech Republic to marry and be with his dear Petula. Jan had become a much-loved “Burien Boy”, so I gathered mementoes from friends into a “juju bag” of good wishes and hopped a plane [...]

At 10:15 last night, I stepped out the front gate from the public courtyard of my apartment complex and headed north along the canal for a couple-mile walk. I crossed over the small foot bridge near my place, then glanced over and noticed a couple of older women sitting out on their second floor balcony, [...]

Mary was sitting there at her desk when I stepped into the little back room adjoining the chapel at Milano’s Cimitero Monumentale – the Monumental Cemetery. Now 87, she’s given her time for close to 20 years, assisting Padre Francesco with the mass, altar flowers and little details. We spent close to 2 hours chatting [...]

A bunch of friends and I met up for a lecture at 9:15 pm at the Design Library. I walked almost a mile along the canals and side streets to meet them there. Afterwards, we all went out for a bite to eat at 11:00, walking to the restaurant. We each ordered our own pizza [...]

Warmest congratulations to Glenda and Massimo! Congratulazioni! The two were wed on Saturday, June 9, 2012 on the hill of Cimiez, in the city of Nice, France, along the jewel-toned Côte d’Azur of the French Riviera. It was a fairytale wedding with a nuptial mass at the Monastery at Cimiez, during which the bride laid a special bouquet [...]

Standing in my skinny kitchen, washing the dishes, I heard a couple of women talking. I looked out my kitchen window and its security bars, across the long, common courtyard and saw two women chatting, five floors up, at the corner elbow of the building. This must be the Italian city equivalent of “talking over [...]

I was sitting in my room typing today and heard “snip, snip, snip.” I looked out my window into the little private courtyards to see a woman in her 60s, trimming in her garden which neighbors mine. I said “buongiorno”, and we started politely talking. We exchanged names, and after chatting a little bit, I [...]

I saw the Pope today. Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Milano yesterday for an evening greeting to the citizens that welcomed him at the Piazza del Duomo (Milano’s central cathedral). The event had slipped my mind, so I didn’t make it, but heard the huge piazza had been filled with thousands of people. This morning [...]

Wandering the street market today, I saw this woman in white from head to toe, including white, fishnet gloves. She was beautiful! I tried to take some “stealth” photos, but kept getting just the back of her. So I moved to the other side of the seller’s booth and got this photo from in front [...]

On Saturday, three blocks from my house, is the weekly street market selling fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, cheeses, olives, preserved foods, household sundries and clothing. It’s a hub-bub of people buying their provisions for the week. You have to know “the system” for shopping there. Decide what you want, then go stand in line at [...]

After sitting inside all day working, by 6:00 p.m. I had to get out and take a walk from here to my beloved Duomo. I had arrived late Tuesday evening, spent Wednesday getting settled and hadn’t yet been to my favorite landmark in town, 2 miles away from my apartment. I must always go to [...]

At 9:00 tonight I set off for a walk up and over and around the Naviglio Grande zone – The Grand Canal. It was a brisk and breezy 60 degrees out and it felt pretty chilly. But there were still lots of people milling around and the little restaurants were doing well with people cozy [...]

Today was the seventh, monthly Walk-n-Talk here in Burien; 38 people and 3 dogs came to join the stroll! Of the walkers, 1 person was visiting from Salt Lake City, a family came from Phinney Ridge and others routinely come from Kent, Renton, Bellevue and Lacey. It still astounds me to see how well the idea has [...]

Everyone should have a centenarian in their life. Today, January 4, 2012, Gladys celebrated her 106th birthday. What a delight and honor to spend some of her day with her. Gladys is bright and sharp and quick. She loves rich, engaging conversation… a back-and-forth rally of sharing stories and following them where they will. Most [...]

Forty-one people showed up under unusually warm, blue skies for the Walk-n-Talk on New Year’s Day! Wow! Rainier was out. It was like a springtime day as people gathered on Town Square’s grassy knoll, having come from near and far to bask in a seasonal glow and chat with their neighbors. Wow. Forty-one people, young [...]

At long last, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is going bye bye. The whole world has been incredulous and outraged for years, watching his shenanigans. After dominating Italian politics for 17 years, Berlusconi resigned on Saturday, November 12, 2011. Crowds jeered and cheered and played Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” as they celebrated the end of a long, [...]

A singular minute in our lives. We’ll have to wait another hundred years to have such a congruence of numbers in time and date. Next year, we will have 12:12 on 12/12/12, but that is a combination of two numerals, not one. I suppose that, more accurately, the year 11 would have been the true [...]

My return to Haida Gwaii was so complex and deeply personal that any public writing about it will, by choice, only skim the surface of the experience. Last week, in Italian style, I trained up to Vancouver B.C., spent the day and night, then hopped on a puddle jumper to fly north for two hours. [...]

We’re just a bunch of folks, of various ages and abilities and speeds, out for a nice walk together. We show up once a month, whomever wants to amble on two feet, and we go from here to there in Volksmarch fashion. Today we walked from Burien’s Town Square westward into and around the Seahurst [...]

How dreamy to stroll under clear blue skies on a warm September afternoon, with neighbors from near and far. We had our second monthly Walk-n-Talk yesterday with a dozen two-footed walkers and three four-footed walkers, Lulu, Dingo and Khan. People came from as far away as Olympia, Kent and Bellevue to join the amble through [...]