In Sperlonga we had many white-washed stairs leading to a palm garden. Lining the steps were pots of red geraniums. I was down in the garden on the lawn chair reading when all of a sudden rained upon me three year old, pots, soil, and geraniums.

Tokyo was so expensive that it seemed I lived on nothing. I was standing in line and my gaze happened to wander to the next queue and I noticed a blond woman in the line next to me whom I recognized.

John was a colorful, Bohemian free spirit. He was also a pathological liar. But sometimes as in the letter and accompanying piece, he would tell the truth quite forcefully.

They tried to remain in England. We moved to Wales, to Anglesey. We lived in a gypsy caravan complete with a tarpaper roof and little tin smokestack connected to a kerosene stove which they rented from Farmer Roberts who had a working farm and thirteen children.

We lived on a knife edge. Spero was brilliant and eccentric. He ran the place with an iron hand. He left notes on your desk if you were not there by 8:30 AM. I used to switch on Jon Moss’s lights so it looked like he was already there.

They tried to remain in England. We moved to Wales, to Anglesey. We lived in a gypsy caravan complete with a tarpaper roof and little tin smokestack connected to a kerosene stove which they rented from Farmer Roberts who had a working farm and thirteen children.

We met Nancy and Sandy Rosenblum at a gathering of Tokyo Amateur Dramatic Society’s open house for new members at the American Embassy in Tokyo.

We arrived on New Year's Eve. From Rome, it is a 4-hour drive. We prefer to bypass Naples and travel up inland over the mountains affording stunning views of Mount Vesuvius and the planes of Naples far below.

What kind of surgery? I am afraid you will have to lose your eye. Either that or you will die and melanoma is highly lethal and your chances of survival are only 50/50 with the surgery.

At Christmas time, his owner taught him a very clever trick: to balance foil-covered chocolates on his nose for some seconds. A few days after Christmas we came back from Sunday lunch to find all the chocolates gone (foil and all) and the empty dish on the floor.

He had an Italian lawyer who fixed things. He had an office manager, Elizabeth, whom he was sleeping with. He was married to the principal of the British Overseas School on Via Cassia. He was handsome, witty and a quick talker.

So I book my flight to Rome via Moscow. I have friends from Alitalia who meet me and entertain me. I stay in the Hotel Eden on the Pincio at first and then a long stay at the Hotel Carriage on Via della Croce till I find an apartment.