The Life in My Years

An anthology of life

After my brief bathroom stop at Bordertown, which is not a town at all but a tacky first taste – last gasp casino just over the Nevada state line I’m driving past Cold Springs. It took only a few minutes of strolling around the Bordertown casino for the stink of a stale ashtray to cling …

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My San Francisco is a series of posts that describes my own personal relationship with The City. My San Francisco pieces might be photo essays, or life stories, or commentaries – or a combinations of all three. My impressions aren’t always paeans to San Francisco. It’s a beautiful city, but like any city, it’s dirty, …

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An American’s observations of a first time trip to France. “Brittany has something of Ireland’s melancholy and Spain’s passion, with its cliffs like fortresses and its villages like sanctuaries.” ~ attributed to Victor Hugo. Every July, year upon year, almost without fail, I cruised the French countryside. I rumbled over the narrow cobblestone streets of …

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An American’s observations of a first time trip to France. “You’re driving in France?” That’s my friend Jenny’s response after I’ve told her that I’ll be renting a car during our trip to France. Her reaction is troubling. Not the question so much as the tone. Her inflection could’ve said, “oh how exciting,” or “what …

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An American’s observations of a first time trip to France. It’s alternately called the ‘the bridge of wishes,’ or ‘the lover’s bridge.’ Tradition holds that lovers should kiss and make a wish when passing beneath the little span called Pont Marie. Opened in 1635, Pont Marie links the Left and Right Banks of Paris. The …

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How do you render over 8000 road miles down to a small handful of photos? That’s the challenge presented by Ann-Christine. To describe a trip in 5 to 10 images. May 2021. COVID was just barely loosening its grip, enough that people were starting to come out of hibernation. My daughter and her two children …

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‘Mer·i·ca/ˈmerəkə,ˈmərəkə/nouninformal•US EnglishAmerica (used especially to emphasize qualities regarded as stereotypically American, such as materialism or fervent patriotism). Banner photo: A drive through liquor store in Sheridan, Wyoming. What could possibly go wrong? Strip the color from an image and what are you left with? An ordered story. A quiet, pointed narrative free from the screaming …

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“I love the autumn—that melancholy season that suits memories so well. When the trees have lost their leaves, when the sky at sunset still preserves the russet hue that fills with gold the withered grass, it is sweet to watch the final fading of the fires that until recently burnt within you.”~ Gustave Flaubert, Memoirs …

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Banner photo: Fort la Latte, Plévenon, Côtes-d’Armor. An American’s observations of a first time trip to France. Color directly influences the soul. Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings.” ~ Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Whether it’s a market stall, or a vast …

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An American’s observations of a first time trip to France. *Normandy Landings Gold Beach, October 2, 2025It’s chilly, windy, and threatening rain when we arrive in Normandy.We’re renting a house in Ver Sur Mer, a small community near Gold Beach. Gold Beach isn’t a name that the local tourist bureau thought up as a gilded …

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