Recent Entries

• Happy patient, unhappy family…

  July 16, 2025

  Many people are aware of the importance of  advance medical directives and having a designated medical proxy/health care power of attorney authorized to make decisions when you, the patient, cannot.  The one mistake I see time and again is selecting a close family member for this critical role.  ...

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• Catching up on the last four years…

  July 9, 2025

  Where to begin?  Lady Wife and I are still dividing our time between our home in Venice and Ye Olde Plantation in North Carolina.  The days of the latter are numbered, because we really don't need as much space anymore.  We have decided to buy a village or rural property in Italy and make it…

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• Amazed this is still here!

  July 2, 2025

  My first entry here was made 20 years ago, but I haven't been back in years.  The PC/Woke Brigade took over for a while and made it pretty much unreadable for some time.  Now that we are back to an age of living in reality, perhaps it is worth a revisit?  I wonder how many…

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• Celebrating a 1,600th birthday…

  March 31, 2021

  Last week we celebrated the founding of the city of my birth, my ancestors, and one of the planet's most unique and beautiful places.  For the occasion, the city produced an amazing video.  Click the link, and make sure your sound it turned up! Venezia 1600

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• Is stupidity on the rise, or simply more visible?

  March 6, 2021

  I've been pondering this question during isolation, having had more time to read the news.  Occasionally one would come across a news item about someone doing or saying something so utterly ridiculous that it left you in despair for the future of humanity.  But these used to be few and far betwee...

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• Reviving Epistolary Intercourse…

  February 27, 2021

  I am fortunate that my city is home to the Bortoletti Artistic Foundry.  Established in 1980 by four brothers, they are driven by a passion for bronze casting and sculpture which they inherited from their father.  They craft beautiful pens, wax seals and other writing materials.  Having unearthed...

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• Pity the poor English…

  February 22, 2021

  Our friend S--- M--- stayed with us for a long weekend.  He's been in exile from his home in the UK for over 10 months.  Trapped in Italy, where he was working when COVID-19 broke out, he's been shuttling between short-term rentals and the homes of friends as restrictions wax and wane.  He was fo...

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• Please clarify your language…

  February 20, 2021

  I received a message today from an acquaintance of many years informing me that her father was, "...in hospice, transitioning." Knowing the man to be nearly 90 and in failing health, I thought this a rather odd moment to contemplate a sex-change, and advised her that hospice wouldn't be the optim...

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• On Thanksgiving and food…

  November 25, 2020

  I originally wrote this in 2005. My opinions remain unchanged. With the gastronomic orgy that is Thanksgiving upon us, my thoughts, as ever, turn to food. Good food, to be specific. My turkey will be organic, free-range, brined, and the meat under the skin basted with a mixture of bourbon, brown ...

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