Tag Archives: family story

Maine 2016: Almost Farewell

Posted on September 17, 2016 by

This morning I am sad. I just kissed Naomi—Branching’s editor—farewell. She was here visiting for a week at our small “camp” on Echo Lake. We did all the traditional summer things: a hike up Penobscot, popovers and Jordan Pond, dinner … Continue reading →

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Farewell to Frank Hatch

Posted on January 21, 2016 by

On Sunday, January 10th, my computer screen flashed. Caring Bridges, a site that provides health news to family and friends, let me know that Frank had died. I had spoken to Frank a few weeks earlier on his birthday. He had … Continue reading →

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Returning to Brussels, the City That Saved My Life 70 Years Ago

Posted on April 29, 2015 by

My family has always traveled on its stomach. So it was no surprise that when in March 2015 I took my granddaughter, Branching editor Naomi, to revisit my Belgian roots, we would eat well. Our culinary exploits started well. After … Continue reading →

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Claude Frank: Pianist & Childhood Friend

Posted on January 31, 2015 by

The last time I saw Claude Frank was after his performance at a Schneider concert at the New School. Though we rarely saw each other, we were always extremely happy when we met accidentally. These encounters were never planned, yet … Continue reading →

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Christmas 2014: Other People’s Holidays

Posted on December 24, 2014 by

My mother was a Christmas junkie. I can still smell the pine aroma of the eight-foot tree that stood in our parlor in Hanover, Germany. Beeswax candles suffused the room with flickering light and a profusion of home-baked cookies weighed … Continue reading →

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Dr. Sigmund Freud, Uncle Alex and the Centenary of World War I

Posted on September 18, 2014 by

A hundred years ago, when World War I was in its infancy, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria called up my great-uncle-in-law Alexander Loebl, Esq. and asked him to serve in his army. Uncle Alex had just graduated from law school, and though … Continue reading →

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Inventing Abstraction: How a Radical Idea Changed Modern Art

Posted on January 25, 2013 by

Fittingly, New York’s Museum of Modern Art opened the centennial exhibition of Inventing Abstraction before the end of 2012. It is a very handsome show, full of varied and vigorous pictures celebrating a new medium that since has swept the … Continue reading →

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