Tag Archives: family story

Maine 2016: Almost Farewell

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

Posted in family stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Farewell to Frank Hatch

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

Posted in family stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

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

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Claude Frank: Pianist & Childhood Friend

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Christmas 2014: Other People’s Holidays

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

Posted in family stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

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

Posted in family stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Inventing Abstraction: How a Radical Idea Changed Modern Art

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment