Down Under: Auckland Pt. 2

AUCKLAND DAY 2 Last evening we had a very early bite to eat at the Occidental Belgian Beer Café, a rustic dark wood place with a long bar and lots of low and high tables. The menu had many options for mussels (green-lipped ones very popular here) with a variety of sauces, and of course, …

Down Under: Ambling in Auckland

NEW ZEALAND—DAY 1, AUCKLAND We lost Monday crossing the International Dateline so it is almost noon here on Tuesday. After checking into our hotel, De Bretts, and getting cleaned up, we spent about an hour and a half wandering around center city Auckland. Our hotel is nicely located in an area of restaurants and shops …

Tidy Tidbits: Mostly TV

SMALL SCREEN The Vietnam War by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick  (PBS) With all the advance publicity, it’s hard to imagine any viewer is unaware of Burns and Novick’s monumental documentary about the Vietnam War.  The range of viewpoints and interviews from all parties (Viet Cong, North Vietnamese Army, South Vietnamese Army plus civilians, American …

Reading Round-up: July-Sept. 2017

READING ROUND-UP.  What follows are the mini reviews of all the books I’ve written about in the past three months.  A friend suggested I aggregate them so here they are.  Everything from Madoff to an advice columnist to a neglected author in nonfiction to several mysteries plus a host of novels from the most literary …