Amelia Island sits at the very northern point of Florida, right on the border of Georgia. A charming, historically rich island, it feels like a cross between Saint Augustine and Savannah, with a healthy dose of hip. The closest airport is Jacksonville and from there it’s only a 30-40 minute drive to Amelia Island. I…Read More
History
Nashoba Valley Travel Guide
Last week I had the pleasure of exploring the Nashoba Valley area (and beyond) with my mom. She’s an artist and the area is culture-rich so we treated it as a mini artist retreat, exploring sculpture gardens, sketching, and enjoying wine at the local vineyards. Because, you know, wine is an essential part of the…Read More
Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park
I’m an antsy adventurer. I enjoy the beach but after a few hours I’m itching to move on to the next activity. So while exploring Miami I veered away from South Beach, the haven of suntanning models, and picked Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park instead. Located on the Southern tip of the Key Biscayne…Read More
What I’m Reading: Russia
One of my coworkers gave me this compact 1,000-year history of Russia for Christmas. It’s been a joy to read. The book starts with Russia’s beginning as “Rus,” a collection of disparate tribes centered in Novgorod. It follows the country as they begin to form a centralized state and establish government. This is a fascinating…Read More
What I’m Reading: Execution
You can spot the flaws in humanity with a brief scan of the daily paper. Bombings, deceits, murders, lies, we have some pretty fatal tendencies. But if there was any doubt about our interest in the grotesque, Geoffrey Abbott’s Execution dispels it. The book covers the history of 70 different modes of execution, organized in alphabetical sections. As…Read More
What I’m Reading: King of Poisons
When I was reading The Romanov Sisters there was a lot of talk about medicating with arsenic injections. I knew a little about the drug but I was curious about the use of it in nineteenth century medicine. That led to John Parascandola’s book King of Poisons: A History of Arsenic. The book is a fascinating nonfiction…Read More