Pottery for Pets

I woke up the next morning with my heart fluttering. It was the first day of my pottery retreat. I threw on older clothes I didn’t mind getting dirty with clay and hurried outside. I hadn’t really seen the courtyard the night before. We arrived after dark, when little was […]

First Lesson. Rishton.

It was late evening, and we had just arrived at the pottery studio of one of the most famous ceramic artists in Uzbekistan. We were exhausted and sweaty and weren’t sure if our long day of travel was over or if we would now need to look for alternative accommodation. […]

Getting There.  Rishton.

I’ve been talking about doing a pottery retreat for a long time – somewhere I can learn new skills, work with different types of clay and glazing techniques, get some fresh ideas for my craft.  It was always “one day” and “wouldn’t it be cool” type of idea.  I might […]

A Long-Overdue Affair: The Wisconsin State Fair

Last year, it finally happened. I went to the Wisconsin State Fair! Although I had lived in the state for over a decade, for whatever reason, I’d never made it to the festival grounds in West Allis until last year. Ironically, it took me to move out of Wisconsin to […]

Chicago: Keeping the Blues Alive

Today is a special day in Chicago: Buddy Guy celebrates his 90th birthday.  Although we are currently busy writing posts about Uzbekistan, this milestone-and America’s 250th year-makes it the perfect moment to celebrate one of the country’s greatest musical traditions: the blues. At his birthday bashes, Buddy Guy usually tells […]

San Diego. Finally.

By Julia / June 20, 2024

After twenty years of traveling, we have been to over forty countries, almost every U.S. state, most national parks, and basically every major U.S. city.  But there are still places out there to explore. “We have still, somehow, not been to San Diego,” Victor said. I vaguely remembered how.  We […]

King’s Day in Amsterdam

By Victor / June 13, 2024

Earlier this year, we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago and saw the city turn into one big green, drunken mass.  Despite having lived in Chicago for over 20 years, we rarely participate in St. Patrick’s Day festivities and normally avoid the downtown area during that weekend altogether. So, when […]

Tulip Paradise

By Victor / May 30, 2024

As we started to descend toward Schiphol Airport, I was peeking through the plane window and couldn’t contain my excitement: “Look! Tulips!” I shouted. Colorful strips of tulip fields started to appear out of nowhere and stretched to the horizon. On the train ride from the airport, we passed more […]

Stop and Smell the Flowers

By Victor / May 23, 2024

“Dead bushes,” I muttered. “We need to do something about it.” It had been more than a year since the pandemic started, and I was looking through the window of our condo at the lifeless branches dangling outside. “Why don’t we get rid of them and plant some flowers? We […]

The Prettiest Town in Mexico

By Julia / May 16, 2024

“We are going to the prettiest town in Mexico,” Victor said as we were packing our backpacks for the flight. “Says who?” I demanded, “Who decides what’s the ‘prettiest town”? What’s the prettiest town in the US? In Europe? In the world?  I’ve never even heard of Guanajuato before you […]

Rhode Island: Gilded Age of Our Travels

By Victor / May 2, 2024

How do you spell “Victor”? How do you spell “Julia”? I wasn’t sure what I expected before visiting Rhode Island, but learning a new language was certainly not what I planned for. But here we were, at the gift shop of the Sailing Museum in Newport, unexpectedly immersed in the […]

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