Welcome to Judith Works' Website!

Cumae Delphi Greece Italy oracles sibyls

Oracles & Sibyls

By
judithworks

on

February 20, 2012

Oracles & sibyls, those fascinating forecasters, were popular with ancient Greeks and Romans who wanted to learn their fates. I’m never quite clear on the difference between the two but my classical dictionary says that an oracle transmits the response of a god to a question asked by a worshipper. A sibyl was a female prophet who didn’t need a god to get involved in the process.

One of the most memorable days I ever spent immersed in the ancient world was a visit to Delphi, dedicated to Apollo and home of the Delphic Oracle, called Pythia, by tradition a local woman over age 50.

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

Post a Comment

Willamette Valley Oregon Wine

Good food & Wine and Not Much Exercise

By
judithworks

on

February 15, 2012

On our first trip to Oregon’s Willamette Valley wine country some years ago we floated in a balloon high above the vineyards early on a sunny summer morning. This time around we were greeted by a watery winter sun when we arrived in Newberg for wine tasting with friends. In the morning we drove through the peaceful countryside with its rolling hills covered with sleeping vines and filbert orchards where each tree was hung with hundreds of chartreuse colored catkins, presaging spring. In

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

Post a Comment

Hotels

How Do I Pick a Hotel?

By
judithworks

on

February 8, 2012

Margo and Briana from The Travel Belles have asked how their readers pick a hotel. The question is for this week’s edition of Across the Cafe Table. My answer required some thought when I realize that I have stayed in about every type of hotel found in a zillion sorts of ways. A few highlights and lowlights come rapidly to mind:

The “B&B” in Bodrum reserved for us by a “friend.” Slavering Doberman tied up by the door and toilet in the yard.… Read more

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

Post a Comment

cruising

My First Cruise

By
judithworks

on

January 30, 2012

It was a long time ago but the details remain fresh in my mind. I was on the loose and feeling a little sorry for myself. Then I saw a flyer posted in a travel agent’s office window in the small town where I was living. The flyer looked somewhat homemade, not slick like the usual ones picturing luxury grand salons with impressive staircases and elegantly dressed couples sipping champagne. On the other hand the price was right and it wasn’t going to be too much of an effort to get to San Diego where the one week voyage to Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and La Paz was to set sail.

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

Post a Comment

Italy Ravello

Ravello

By
judithworks

on

January 23, 2012

The narrow road from crowded Amalfi twists and turns while it ascends to Ravello, my idea of heaven on earth. Reaching the town requires effort as it does to reach paradise, in this case not by good works but by skillful driving. Looking down into the deep Valley of the Dragon below me as Glenn navigated the steep and sharp turns I could see tiny flat spaces filled with lemon trees, a small house with smoke rising from the chimney and one or two seemingly inaccessible B&Bs nestled on the vertiginous slopes.

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

Post a Comment

Etruscans Hill Towns Italy Lazio

Via Etrusca

By
judithworks

on

January 16, 2012

I have a friend who lives in a small town an hour north of Rome. Her home is on Via Etrusca, a perfect name for visualizing the area’s continuing Etruscan influence even though the Romans had finished them off by the Third Century BC. The town, set high on a cliff, has no tourist attractions but is kept alive by commuters and city dwellers who have restored their former family home for weekend use. The ancient row houses are thought to be between four to six centuries old, the year the buildings were actually erected long forgotten.

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

Post a Comment

James Norman Hall Mutiny on the Bounty Tahiti

A Visit to James Norman Hall’s Home in Tahiti

By
judithworks

on

January 9, 2012

One of the most pleasant stops on the Island of Tahiti is the home of the author, James Norman Hall. Not far from Papeete the modest wood structure is now a small museum celebrating Hall’s life and his books and movies.

His most famous work is the Bounty Trilogy, comprising the story of the mutiny on the British ship, HMS Bounty, and the aftermath.

The first section, Mutiny on the Bounty, is the story of the ship’s voyage from the West Indies to Tahiti to collect breadfruit seedlings to be planted for slave food and the infamous mutiny led by Fletcher Christian who didn’t want to leave the sybaritic island.

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

Post a Comment

dacha Russia Sochi Stalin

Tea with Uncle Joe

By
judithworks

on

January 3, 2012

Well, not exactly tea with a living Josef Stalin. But close enough for me.

His dacha was not far from Sochi, a city full of new SUVs and hotels but still retaining remnants of the past such as an enormous picture of Lenin done in tile. He was close to the sub-tropical gardens full of strollers. A nearby MacDonald’s tempted others even though Lenin’s gaze was directing them in the opposite direction. Capitalism was hitting hard with preparations for the forthcoming winter Olympics.

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

Post a Comment

Clitunno Italy Umbria

The Past Remains

By
judithworks

on

December 27, 2011

“Cigni, cigni…cigni,” “Swans, swans, swans,” the little boy cried out as he carried his pail holding yesterday’s bread to feed them and their cygnets gliding around the mill pond’s still waters leaving small wakes trailing behind. We were staying at a hotel converted from a 15^th century water mill built on a little island and over a small river, the Clitunno. The hotel was the scene of a wedding reception, with guests dining and dancing in the garden by candlelight until daybreak finally sent them home.

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

Post a Comment

French Guiana Southern Caribbean Suriname

Southern Caribbean Part III

By
judithworks

on

December 24, 2011

Suriname was the next stop. The contrast between dismal and pewter-colored Georgetown and bright Paramaribo was surprising. (Maybe it was the sunnier weather.) The city hosts many houses of worship reflecting the varied persuasions of its inhabitants, Amerindians, Indian Indians, Javanese, Africans and Europeans. Mosques, a synagogue, Hindu temples, an enormous Gothic style wooden Catholic church and smaller evangelical churches were scattered about the city center. The synagogue with pillars needing paint and sand on the floor to prevent arson was sad – the congregation dwindling and the gravestones in the yard cracked.… Read more

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

Post a Comment

worksjudith