I know the world is full of badness right now, and I know that it's bleak and horrifying, and I've been doing what I can to be both a candle in the darkness and a squeaky wheel. And I feel guilty talking about almost anything else. But at the same time... I want to chronicle some of the goodness in my life, too.

and I just came back from a week ( Read more... )

I have an excuse for my recent absence - umbran and I spent the past week in Playa del Carmen, Mexico ( Read more... )

So I could try to write up a day-by-day description of our vacation, but that never works. I always get distracted and stop writing about halfway through; besides, I'm pretty sure no one else cares in that much detail about exactly what we did when and what we had for dinner and when the sun was shining. But I did write down a bunch of random ( Read more... )

Apologies for my extended absence; umbran and I just spent the past week on a Caribbean cruise. It was partly my reward for recovering from surgery, partly help recovering from surgery, and partly therapy to help me survive the rest of a New England Winter. And it was absolutely wonderful, especially considering that, by all rights, we never should ( Read more... )

All right - I'm way the heck behind on writing these up, but the project is still ongoing, and with any luck I'll get caught up over the next few days and be able to move on to new and shiny restaurants ( Read more... )

( Cooking Class! Food porn hidden behind here.... )

And so we continued on our quest. Fewer pictures today, since the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum were less photo-friendly, but still cut-tagging our adventures around the Vatican Museum and after....

( Even though it's more like a Vati-CAN'T.... )

( Wandering around Rome's Greatest Hits - hidden, again, for length and pictures.... )

So a week ago Friday, umbran and I set out for an 8-day vacation in Italy. I had been longing for this trip for years, and at the start of the year I finally stopped daydreaming and decided that, come hell or high water, we'd make it happen this year. And, much to my surprise and delight, we did.

( Hidden, for length and pictures.... )

So I'm home again, after a serious trip away. umbran and I spent the last week and a half, give or take, exploring Rome and Venice. It was wonderful, it was amazing, it was overwhelming and powerful and incredible and I am so, so very happy that I went, and so, so very happy that I am home again ( Read more... )