Hanging out on the Piazza Navona

The Piazza is surrounded by sidewalk cafes where locals and tourists sit to take in the view and have a pizza, which is what I did.

Wandering around Rome

Of course, my first stop in Rome was our old stomping ground: Piazza Navona. Unfortunately the big central fountain was under wraps being refurbished.

Solo Italy

Bob and I have been planning this trip to Italy for months. He cleared the wait list for the Ferrari driving school, and I built an itinerary that bookended the course. Rome on the front, Venice on the back. Then we discovered that the Morgans would be in Rome during the same time before they took off on a cruise and we organized a dinner together. THEN one of the couples joining the Morgans delayed their arrival and we slid into their cabin assignment for a weekend of Amalfi coast.

THEN business got in the way and our trip changed overnight the day before our planned departure. First the driving school went by the way, then the whole thing threatened to ditch. Sara and Bill convinced me to go ahead and join them for a few days in Rome and the weekend of cruising in hopes that Bob would follow-on, once things cleared up at the office. I decided to give it a go and left for Rome on Tuesday Oct 2nd. Bottom line--Rome without my partner. I was forced to adapt and hope I could convince him.

Celebrating with George O.

It's been a long time coming. Who knew what would eventually happen when in 1989 I took a career detour to create the Essence Foundation and to help George O. Jackson, Jr. in his quest to photograph the festivals of Mexico's indegenous tribes? I had a ball traveling with George O to places that had never seen a blue-eyed redhead--and a few who had but tended to stone them! I got hundreds of my own photographs and plenty of stories, but of course George O fearlessly penetrated the heart of every festivity to capture the soul of the people on film. I produced two exhibits of his work that opened at Houston Museum of Science and travelled the world, but we always knew we had a tiger by the tail and dreamed of bigger things.

I finally had to go back to work, but GOJJR stuck with it, continuing to photograph, work to bring order to his millions of images and keep his project alive. Many folks on both sides of the border agreed to the project's importance, and committed to funding George O's activity. George O had a singular goal in mind--The Smithsonian -- and he worked his goal every minute of every day for years. Which just goes to show you what determination can accomplish.


On September 25, we all gathered for huge festivities for George O's opening at The Smithsonian.