After leaving Panama and continuing south toward Ecuador, I crossed the equator for the first time ever. I knew this moment was coming, of course, but I didn’t think to pay attention to when it would happen, so I was pleased when the cruise director announced that there would be an “equator crossing ceremony” for first timers like me at 3pm. Continue reading
Language
French Workbook for Dummies
I’m very pleased to announce the publication of my 8th (and likely final) book: French Workbook for Dummies.
If you want to learn French by reading lessons and then taking lots of quizzes, this is the French book for you. Topics range from greetings and holiday wishes to parts of speech and verb conjugations, and there are tons of practice exercises throughout.
French Workbook for Dummies is available in both paperback (recommended) and ebook versions at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, or your favorite bookstore.
ISBN 1119982030
Happy Hanukkah!
To my Jewish friends and readers all over the world, I wish you a happy and healthy Hanukkah, filled with joy and light.
I hope one of these links will add a little extra cheer to your celebration:
- Vegetarian Hanukkah Recipes
- French Hanukkah Vocabulary | Allume la ménorah !
- Spanish Hanukkah Vocabulary | ¡Enciende la januquía!
- Italian Hanukkah Vocabulary

New Year’s Resolution:
Learn a Language
My agent sent me this joke:
A mother mouse and a baby mouse are walking along, when all of a sudden, a cat attacks them.
The mother mouse yells, “BARK!” and the cat runs away.
“See?” says the mother mouse to her baby. “Now do you understand why it’s important to learn a foreign language?”
Now that I’ve convinced you how important foreign languages are 😉 here are some links:
Mardi Gras 2021
Mardi Gras is the ultimate street party – at least in a normal year. In 2021, with travel restrictions, lockdowns, and social distancing, traditional floats and dancing are out of the question. But creative people will always find an outlet, as in these uniquely 2021 Mardi Gras celebrations.
New Orleans: House floats / Yardi Gras
Guadeloupe: TV and radio programming
If you’re feeling nostalgic, check out my photos from Nice Carnaval 2013.
And as always, I have multilingual vocabulary for my fellow language lovers:

Introducing … Lawless Italian!
After many visits to Italy and years of thinking about creating an Italian site – but failing to actually, you know, learn Italian – I’ve gone ahead and created Lawless Italian. By drawing on my French and Spanish knowledge, I’m able to read over various Italian lessons and create my own.
But since this is certainly not guaranteed to be error-proof, for the first time I’m collaborating with another person, who reads everything I write to make sure that I have understood the uniquely Italian concepts and created appropriate examples. She’s also making the sound files, which is something I hate doing in any language – so that’s an extra bonus!
Anyway, enough chit chat. Interested in learning Italian? Head on over to Lawless Italian – ci vediamo!

