The sun is shining. I have a fresh baguette in hand. All is well with the world. A woman, graceful and long-limbed, sun shining through her hair, is walking towards me in a gorgeous dress; the kind of dress you used to see in the movies: perfectly cut, white and fresh, a small pleated piece…

The heat is back. Though, it is less oppressive than last year, with fewer plants (or elderly frenchies) suffering the consequences. Or at least that's what we like to think, that it's the heat that kills them, not us. Only had to put one out of its misery this week.

Tourists are thick on the ground these days, with more to come in the sweltering weeks of August. In search of new digs for Mom, we're escaping, or so we hope, by train to La Spezia and Cinque Terre in the Liguria region of the Italian Riviera. Uncle Natale and I are convinced that Mom…

After last years endless heat and searing clear sky, it's such a pleasant relief to see clouds, whipped up by cooling winds, like these.

We saw Fahrenheit 9/11 last night. I didn't expect it to be so funny, nor for the soundtrack to be so cheeky. It was the least "I'm Mike Moore" of his films I've seen, and very thought-provoking, though I found it a little dragging, off-topic and unconvincing in the middle. Some of the images were…

St. Paul is where everyone goes, but Vence is where it's at…

They were huge. Well over six feet tall, and nearly as wide. Giants of the species: 'Obnoxious-Americanus-Onvacationus'. Draped in matching, yes matching, red floral oversized-print shirts and squeaking about in shocking-new-white sneakers, tree-trunk legs bare, there they were. Right in front of me, emerging from the museum's permanent collection, waddling in our direction. I had…