California

On the Road With Lovey (Part 1)

4 min read

Do you know what a lovey is? Maybe you remember your own or the one you purchased for a child. A lovey is that blanket, doll, rag or toy that was ground zero for happiness and comfort. Without it a young child won’t make a move, much less set out for a day at the office… or Gymboree. The lovey’s soft touch and familiar smell was the touchstone for a content young life. Way before there were cars, clothes, jewelry or iPhones, there was… the lovey. And woe to the parents of a child who loses her lovey in the tumult of a family vacation. Hell, hath no fury like a lovey lost.

Abu Tommy And The Hubbly Bubbly

4 min read

Ever feel outnumbered? I don’t mean to sound like too much of a Western chauvinist, but on my Royal Jordanian flight to Amman I was definitely the outsider. My clothes, fair hair and blue eyes clearly set me apart from a sea of dark complexions and darker beards. Not that anyone else seemed to give a damn. They weren’t alarmed about my copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul.  Or even when I started humming, “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”. No one looked at me funny or reported me to the flight crew for being too white. Although they probably should have.

Let Flat Stanley Take You To The Promised Land

Let Flat Stanley Take You To The Promised Land
4 min read

Who is the world’s most traveled man? Phileas Fogg? Pope John Paul II? James Bond? I’d put my traveling money on Stanley…. Flat Stanley. I don’t believe anyone’s clocked more miles than this diminutive road warrior. And why not?  He’s small, he’s flat and he’s fun. Plus, kids love him. Maybe that’s why he hitched along with me on trips to France, South Africa and Jordan. Flat Stanley is one travelin’ man.

Riding, Flying And Pumping Gas With The First Lady

4 min read

Ever lose your voice? I don’t mean laryngitis. I’m talking about seeing something so bewildering, your words bump into each other with no room to escape your mouth - leaving you to silently flap your jaw in the wind. What was it that caused me to go all Lou Costello - face to face with the Mummy – wheezing, stammering, and sputtering? What ungodly thing did I see?