Another of James' audio jewels... Ruth is Brazilian and they've collaborated on several projects. They were introduced to each other via one of James' Columbia College profs.
( bolded and underlined and blue signifies a link) When in Texas... our first foray was as guests of my HS and lifelong buddy and his wife, also a HS classmate, Marc and Barb (Oates) Knisely. The venue was County Line on the Lake in Austin. I went with the ribs, Linda went with the brisket tacos, and I refrained from photos out of respect for Marc and Barb... great ribs, which I got into for a subsequent breakfast (yup, it's Texas, baby) and the leftover tacos are next up for another breakfast. Our second foray was with nephew and niece Jack and Hanna, who like Barb and Marc are also residents in Austin. Joining us, their parents Jim and Janet, Linda's sister and her husband, who flew in from central Oregon. Jim, Janet, Linda, and I are sharing an Airbnb for the five-day expedition. So Jack and Hanna took us to Loro Asian Smokehouse and Bar which, again, no photos from me out of an abundance of respect but an amazingly wide variety of combinations and tastes - Q - centr...
Cathedral of St. Andrew, Amalfi, inner courtyard Nearly a month in the making, this entry reveals the sixteen-day tour we enjoyed in the spring of 2025. I've adopted (stolen) the Tauk travel company organizational schema to report on the experience. First, it's chronological, and second, I'm so challenged to make sense of the whole excursion that I'd never achieve any clarity of expression on my own. Not to assume that I now will... Thus, a series of twelve entries have been crafted, each more or less reflecting different stops along the way. Florence, well, I still have work to do on that stunning city. Soon... Please note that I am not an archeologist, anthropologist, art historian... the list is massive. I'm also not a professional photographer. I am, instead, a humble enthusiast. And, for good measure, please note that the primary purpose of these entries is to preserve our memories of this most extraordinary adventure. Many, many thanks to Classic Travel in ...
Just for visual starters... this is the second shot I took on the trip. It's looking out over the balcony of our room, over the Gulf of Naples. We hadn't even unpacked our bags yet. The very first shot was this exact framing, a minute or two earlier, but without the boat, and wake. Photography is sometimes about preparation, but I think more about luck. From the Grand Hotel La Favorita in Sorrento at 2:39 pm. "The Favorite" indeed. My immediate sense was "omg this can't be real". And yet, here we are. We were met at the airport, at the baggage carousel, by a Tauk guide (naturally) and were whisked from NAP (Naples-Capodichino International Airport) to a waiting, black, Mercedes limo driven by Luigi... cue The Godfather theme music. La Masseria Farm Tour We arrived in Italy a day before the official tour began, but Tauk is such an extraordinary company, they offered, and we took, a tour of a Sorrento lemon farm. We met a small bus and somehow surviv...
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