Around Town with Marketa 

We left the Christmas season several weeks ago, but I am purposely keeping close to my heart that warmth, that peace, that joy, holding on to the pleasant feeling of the most wonderful time of the year, in this loud world.  So goes my post-script to Santa: 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were

I grew up in a country with two small nations under the same roof.  We share similar language, cuisine, and customs.  Women have high cheekbones, and men are handsome.  We love music,  sports, sauerkraut and dumplings, and we prefer beer over wine.  The children are raised strictly and hardly praised.  We give standing ovations rarely, but clap for many curtain calls if we are moved.   We do not smile at strangers, and we do not hug. We discount any compliments and expect non

Perhaps because I am in Prague today, on August 21, I decided on this reprise. Perhaps today's NEVERMORE1968 happening in Prague with its...

And here I am on a hot July day, walking into a Grassroot Pub in Lower Manhattan. I stop in the middle of the tiny dark bar relieved from...

It is a charming warm October Sunday with blue skies above,  sun shimmering our bare arms,  a cute Spanish hacienda village hugging a...

Finally! It is two thirty and off I go! Good bye everyone! I kick my yellow slippers into my cubby, quickly put on my outside shoes,...

Today is Thursday, a seemingly ordinary day, just like any other summer day may be. I am walking at Liberty Station early in the morning,...