Posts by Kimberly Sullivan
After the hiatus
Hiatus – a break or gap. Since I returned from summer holidays, I have not been keeping up my blog. The return to work and kids’ school and daily life kept things more hectic than I anticipated, and then my trusty home laptop died … and I was super slow about replacing it. But I…
Read MoreFar above Cayuga’s waters … revisiting Cornell University
Many, many years ago, I spent a very happy four years at this beautiful university campus in Ithaca, (upstate) New York, studying political science and history. Even if I adored my time at Cornell, its location in western New York’s Finger Lakes region makes it a little off the beaten track for my infrequent trips…
Read MoreHiking the Celano Canyon in Abruzzo, Italy
Earlier this summer, during a particularly steamy Roman week, I found myself daydreaming constantly about a weekend escape to Abruzzo. I often get out for weekend to the town of Ovindoli, about 1 1/2 hour drive from Rome. Since the town at 1400 meters from sea level it is much, much cooler than Rome ……
Read MoreWriters, stop making excuses …
“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” —E. B. White In the always brilliant words of author E.B. White – stop slacking off, and get writing! Not much to add to these perfect words of advice. I am certainly guilty of waiting for…
Read MoreA Provence base in Reillanne, France
On the way back from a holiday trip in Pays basque, France, my family and I decided to break up the long drive back to Rome with a short stay in Provence. We made the little town of Reillanne our base to explore the region for a few days and stayed in a pretty gite,…
Read MoreBook review: The Stars are Fire
Author Anita Shreve is a master at penning realistic characters and delving deep into their psyches, and The Stars are Fire is a brilliant illustration of her significant talent in bringing her characters to life. Grace Holland is a young mother of two toddlers in post World War II Maine. Her husband, Gene, has retruned from…
Read MoreArt deco overload in Arcachon, France
I’ve already written about our visit to the Dune du Pyla – at 105 meters high, officially Europe’s highest sand dune. Very close to this impressive natural wonder in France’s Gironde region is the pretty seaside town of Arcachon. This sleepy Atlantic coastal town became a destination of the international jet-set in the mid 19th…
Read MoreThe art of observation
“For me, silence had always been another form of communication. After all, you can tell so much just by looking at a person.” —Herta Müller I love this quote by contemporary Romanian-born German author Herta Müller. And it’s true that writers have to make an art of this, observing people and trying to glean from these…
Read MoreBerlin’s spectacular Pergamon Museum
There are a lot of great museums in Germany’s capital of Berlin, but the Pergamon Museum is not to be missed on your next visit. Located centrally, in the city’s Museum Island, the museum building was designed by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffman and constructed between 1910-1930, and it attracts over a million visitors every…
Read MoreHe says, she says – and when. It’s all in the timing for a writer
“You must know all, then not tell it all, or not tell too much at once.” -Eudora Welty Excellent observation from American short story writer and novelist, Eudora Welty (1909-2001). This sums up the process of writing perfectly. A good novel offers a slow reveal, one of the joys of reading is slowly uncovering the…
Read More