Law, Partially

Strutting into one of the first sunny days of the season, in the courtyard of our building, 10 May. Highbury Fields is a big park near our house. This curved street along the park's edge is called Highbury Crescent. We all like the stately old houses along the crescent. In this photo, Bob, sporting his jean jacket from his cousin-in-law Beth, is strutting toward the Highbury Fields playground, where we passed many a sunny (and not sunny) summer morning. 11 May. The FD Linges' ongoing European vacation, with this 26 May stop at the Colosseum. For Mum's and Baba's anniversary this year, 8 June, we ventured to the biggest grocery store in the neighborhood, Waitrose, where we had some coupons, and bought ingredients for a special family dinner. Bob was tearing through the store, filling his shopping basket with whatever the hell he felt like, Baba trailing behind and placing those items back on the shelf. The next day, we went to Lord'...

We hoped Rome would be the best; we feared it would be the worst. Rome is fascinating. I wanted to see the ruins from the empire we've learned so much about: from seventh grade social studies to Gladiator. I wanted to drink espresso in bustling cafes on the Via Veneto like Marcello Mastroianni in La Dolce Vita . I wanted wine, carbonara, cacio e pepe, and square pizza slices. I wanted to learn what happened to Rome between its sacking by the German gothic hordes in the 400 and 500s and its founding as the capital of united Italy in the 1870s (a silent period, apparently, in our textbooks). How can this ancient city function as a modern capital of one of the wealthiest countries in the world? I have travelled so many places but not yet ever to Rome, though Christine had visited before. Rome in 1960, as presented by Federico Fellini and starring Marcello Mastroianni and Anouk Aimée in La Dolce Vita . Watching the film as a young man in college, I was struck by how cool Rome l...