It is not lost on me, since coming back from Prague with two beautiful new guitars, just how fortunate we are to have taken such a trip for such purpose. If you had told me when we moved to Sicily four years ago—after having parted with two such lovely

“Music is a world within itself, it’s a language we all understand.” —Stevie Wonder Similar words were spoken to us after Franca admitted to the young salesman/tour guide at the Furch Guitar headquarters just outside Brno, Czech Republic, that she was feeling a bit embarrassed about traveling so

The opening line from the book, Nothing to be Frightened Of, by Julian Barnes, is this: I don't believe in God, but I miss Him. It's a sentence—and sentiment, too—that comes to my mind a couple of times a year, although never in terms

What matters lies in between “You know, everybody dies. My parents died. Your father died. Everybody dies. I'm going to die too. So will you. The thing is, to have a life before we die. It can be a real adventure having a life” ― John Irving, The World

Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats. — George Orwell I came across this quote in the opening pages of I

Well, Maybe Just This Once: A Follow Up to Why I Decided to Publish My Novel Online In December 2022 I wrote a piece about my decision to publish my novel, The Dead Lion, online. The reasons I gave back then for doing so concerned maintaining creative control, making an

Hi there and happy Labor Day! In a time where the ideas of strength, prosperity and well-being are being re-written to apply only to some, not everyone, I hope you find on this occasion the chance to recognize and give tribute to your own contributions and achievements toward a better

The Endearing (and awesome) Lava Flows of Mount Etna I've been reading a lot about nature lately. One speaks to the universal kind found out there under the big blue sky. Think trees and bodies of water. Overall our engagement with these environments is on the decline, but

Let a man walk ten miles steadily on a hot summer's day along a dusty English road, and he will soon discover why beer was invented. — Gilbert K. Chesterton So here we are, back in Sicily now these past couple of months, trying our best to return to