Janet Weight Reed, British watercolor painter, talks about how at forty she quit worrying about pleasing everyone else and began to follow her bliss....
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My Room with a View
In those winter nights next to the Duomo, life came back to me. It’s an 88 step climb to a week I now carry with me always. Paolo opened the door of my taxi. “Ciao, Anna. Your...
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Only in a Leap
“Only in the leap from the lion’s head will he prove his worth.” There were three friends at unhappy points in their marriages. We talked numerous times about what we should do. In 2003, I am...
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Oh, the Humanity…
Of all of the things that have been said this week about Paris, this is the only one that resonated with me....
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First Solo Travel
The year was 1985: an account of the first time I traveled solo in Europe. At twenty, I traveled abroad alone. I had two weeks in Britain by myself before going to Paris for a...
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All Hallows Day
I took this picture in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston in March of 2008. I had an assignment for a photography class, and my daughter, Catherine, agreed to be my subject. Bribery with Italian...
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Castle Ghosts of Victoria
Beautiful images from the haunted Hatley Castle near Victoria in Canada, just in time for All Hallows Eve....
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The Fedora Rides Shotgun
“Mom, you’re so weird.” I just returned from camping by myself in Big Bend National Park. I had not been camping since 2009, and as I looked at what to do with a few...
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The Pilgrim Soul
My daughter Catherine turned seventeen yesterday. Catherine is smart and very funny, disciplined in her studies, and she is kind. Last year, when I really wondered whether I would survive the cancer, I felt...
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Love in the Afternoon
I found myself sleepy to the point of no concentration. The words on the page kept running together, and the thought of another cup of coffee was appealing. I left the La Salle Hotel...
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