Steven A. Melnick ⁽⁷¹⁾

Levee Jazz Band - New Orleans One of the pleasant surprises of New Orleans each time I come here is the music. Between trips, I tend to forget that music is everywhere. It is pleasantly inescapable. Our new found friend Larry Talerico, who we are…

To paraphrase Tim Ferris, author of The Four Hour Work Week among other works, "...don't listen to the news; ...listen to all the music you want." Wise words to be sure and I must admit that my life has been more stress-free since I took…

Heide and I started our winter travels for this year on November 1. We are spending seven weeks in New Orleans before heading back to our son's and daughter-in-law's house in Ashburn, Virginia for Christmas. Then it's off to Nicaragua for four months (January through April).

"Simplify, simplify." ...Ralph Waldo Emerson Part of the driving force in our decision to sell our house, thin the clutter, and become "vagabonds" (click here for earlier post) was to provide the time and freedom to change our lifestyle, downsize significantly and simplify our lives. We…

Amish horse and buggy Lancaster County, Pennsylvania As many of you know, Heide and I have lived in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania for the past 28 years. We loved the area and rural Lancaster County. With its rolling farmlands and Pennsylvania Dutch Amish and Mennonite culture, it…