The Boston Pops – celebrating the joy of music

For well over a hundred years the Boston Pops have delighted audiences, and this year promises to continue that proud tradition. At Boston’s historic Symphony Hall, the 2013 season celebrates the “Best of Holly...

Waterfront Living on the Ottawa River

For many, the notion of enjoying one of nature’s finest environments as part of daily living exists only in the imagination, visited now and again when planning for retirement or while on holidays enjoying a bi...

Superb shopping and Legal Sea Foods in Boca Raton

BOCA RATON: While staying in the Miami area recently, I convinced the family to make a day trip to Boca Raton. It had been more than a decade since I visited the area, but let me confess that I needed an excuse...

TURKEY – Istanbul and Urgup

One of the main reasons I`ve often been to Turkey is my fondness for finely knotted, high quality, intricate design carpets. For several centuries preceding 1979, the world`s best carpets came from Iran, Afghan...

New York: The best of the best 

London, Paris, Dublin, Berlin - they all bring out the wanderlust in me. One city does something to me that defies reason. New York. It doesn’t matter what time of year, there is something magical about it. Som...

Vermont Foliage

Early Color tinges the Hillsides and Northern Regions Colorful foliage will continue to unfold and invigorate Vermont’s scenic landscape. Early yet, colors are showing in the higher elevations of the Northea...

Peru: Exploring the ancient land of the Inca

Ranked among the world’s iconic sites, along with the Great Wall of China and the pyramids of Egypt, is the legendary Machu Picchu, a pre-Columbian Inca city in south central Peru. Dating back to the 15th centu...
Each year 500,000 visitors walk the central path of Monet's Clos Normand flower garden Credit: All photos by Julie Kalan

Impressions of Normandy

After years of seeing reproductions of Monet’s work on the waiting room walls at doctor’s offices, I had developed a kind of Pavlovian response to the images. The very sight of water lilies made me bored, impat...