My husband Robert is obsessed with the Milky Way! He took pictures of it from different parts of the equator but like a lonely wolf is drawn to the moon. Rob is drawn to a Milky Way on every dark night. His pure love of nature significantly opened my mind to a world I would not be exposed to otherwise. Together we have visited many National Parks in the US and abroad. Our outdoorsy friends have been raving about Big Bend National Park in West Texas as the last frontier for the perfect dark sky. I thought this would make a great trip for both of us to enjoy, especially if we got to stop in Marfa for some serious gallerying and good food on...

Please, those of you art critics, do me a favor and duck-tape your mouth for a minute to give me a chance to express Minimalism as I see it. Ready? Total silence is deafening! When there is no sound but just the beauty of earthy tones meeting the blues of a sky in a still line of the horizon; when a passing car many miles away is a sound sensation; when you cannot hear anything but your thoughts and occasional insect running it’s errands. In the middle of this soundless beauty, literally in the middle of nowhere, you find the works of New York minimalists in their full glory enlightening a former military base… all 38 building of it!!!!...

Every January I attend the Chamber Music America Conference in New York. This year the conference was scheduled on the same weekend as Rob’s birthday. I did not feel like leaving Rob all alone and lonely on his special day and invited him to join me in New York. Rob did not feel like going to New York in January and respectfully declined my kind invitation. Being the exemplary wife I am…I offered to go anywhere his heart desired for his birthday. After going back and forth between Las Vegas, Bonaire, Cozumel and other places he decided that he would like to go on a photographic trip to the Bosque National Wild Life Refuge to take pictures...

I have been reading lately about the expected 10,000 Syrian refugees, whom President Barack Obama has agreed to resettle in the United States as millions of Syrian women, children and men have fled their war-torn country ever since the uprising began against President Bashar Assad’s government. I am also aware of stories in the media about presidential candidates and governors who aren’t exactly, shall we say, immigrant-friendly. In any case, it’s possible that many Syrians, who have had to uproot their lives in search of safety and asylum, could eventually settle in San Antonio or other Texas cities. As a Russian immigrant to the...

My first Viking European river cruise itinerary this summer included among other spectacular destinations a one-day stop in Vienna. I was salivating over the many cultural opportunities there and planned my activities long in advance. The day before the Vienna stop our handsome Norwegian program director apologetically announced that one of the locks on the Danube was broken and our ship could not get to Vienna. We would have to disembark on the border between Austria and Slovakia and take a two-hour bus ride to the city center. Later, we would embark on another Viking ship that would wait for us on the other side of the lock....

The Santa Fe Opera holds a soft spots in our hearts and is the main reason for our annual travels to the Land of Enchantment, along with 58-degree nights, which doesn’t hurt. These two reasons combined to create a perfect experience under the stars with the horizon going as far as the eye can see. The Santa Fe Opera is an open-air amphitheater located a bit north of the city on a high view point and is surrounded by the rolling hills of New Mexico’s minimalists landscape, masterfully painted by the descending sun. People get there early and indulge in casual dining in the parking lot. Tailgating here is bit more sophisticated as among other...