I.

     A week had passed and Seely still hadn’t met Alana’s roommates, who worked in Barcelona as ESL teachers and only made the trip to Cadaques on odd weekends. Alana, in the meantime, was staying at her lover Aaron’s place, so Seely had the apartment to herself. She...

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ARRIVAL

I felt absurd, dragging my suitcase-on-wheels by its strap, like a child with a wagon, into the main square of the town and setting it to rights every time it toppled over on the cobblestones. I couldn’t carry it because my shoulder already ached from the manuscript I...

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RED POPPIES

     She sat wearily on her up-ended suitcase on the dusty shoulder of a two-lane highway, across from a rustic gas station and bar. A sailor with his left hand inside the breast of his blue shirt stood a short distance up the road, wagging his right thumb at the...

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DISILLUSIONED

I’d gone back to Madrid, excited to see what changes democracy had wrought. What I found was a modern-day city with modern-day problems, as harried and impersonal as the place I’d come from, its small-town quaintness and intimacy vanished without a trace. I was...

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BEAR CREEK ROAD

BEAR CREEK ROAD

Thanks to all the rain we’ve had this winter, the hills are still gloriously green, just the time for a drive. As you pass through Tilden Park at the top of the East Bay hills, in the spring you’ll see yellow wild mustard flowers in bloom.

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DRAKE’S BEACH

DRAKE’S BEACH

One of my favorite outings with Earl—driving to Drake's Beach in his MGB. Sir Francis Drake Blvd. takes you through varied terrains: rolling hills and redwood forest, past streams and ponds, as well as the Nicasio Reservoir and Tomales Bay. In a haunting, isolated...

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