Travel
In Praise of Vacations
Masami and I have just returned from a wonderful week-long vacation in the San Juan Islands. The purpose of this blog post is to argue that people should take vacations, even during the pandemic, perhaps especially during the pandemic. First, however, I need to explain about a Backroads vacation, why we love Backroads so much.…
Read MoreSeward in the Grand Canyon
My wife Masami and I are just back from four great days in the Grand Canyon. We joined an REI Adventures group, two guides and seven guests, walking down to the bottom of the Canyon, spending two nights at the Phantom Ranch, then walking back up on the fourth day. My wife Masami, once again,…
Read MoreSeward House
I was interviewed yesterday by Andrew Roblee of the Seward House in Auburn NY. Here is the link. http://sewardhouse.org/mp3/sewardcast-episode-15-interview-with-walter-stahr/ I have not, I think, talked in this blog about the Seward House, but it is an amazing place, “worth the detour” in the immortal phrase of the Michelin guide. One feels as if Seward were…
Read MoreNot from here
I am in California, no longer a resident of New Hampshire, not quite a resident of California yet. I have been thinking a lot about place recently, about how I am never quite in one place. I never seem to be “from here.” I was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as my father started law school…
Read MoreGoodbye Again
John Denver, in his song Goodbye Again, sings that “I have to go to see some friends of mine, some that I don’t know, some that aren’t familiar with my name. It’s something that’s inside of me, not hard to understand, it’s anyone who’ll listen to me sing.” Well, I am not that bad, but…
Read MoreEnd of Summer
Summer is coming to an end. We are in southern California, starting tomorrow to drive back to New Hampshire, which we hope to reach in five days. As you can see from the events list, I have a number of Seward events this fall: in New England, New York, and Washington. I did not really…
Read MoreSummer
A few months back I had envisaged this as a summer devoted to Stanton. And it still will be, to some extent. But it is also a summer devoted to other things. I am headed tomorrow to Nantucket, where I will speak about Seward, but also spend time with parents, friends, hopefully meet some other…
Read MoreCalifornia
I am back in Exeter after ten days and six book events in California. Some events were crowded, others less so, but that is the life of a traveling author. I naturally emphasized Seward’s connections with California: how his first great speech was a speech in favor of the immediate admission of California and (also)…
Read Moreon the road again
I am in Boston airport this morning, heading down to DC, for more than a week of events. First up is an interview with CSPAN. I had assumed when this was first set up that it would be a few minutes; I find that it will be almost an hour of questions about my life…
Read MoreLaunch
I am back in Exeter after two book events: one at Mississippi State and one in Auburn NY. I was the Constitution Day speaker in Mississippi, and so talked about Seward, the South, and the Constitution. There was a large audience, more than a hundred, mainly students. They listened attentively and had good questions. It…
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