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I love old photos. I love old photos of Italy more than anything. As I indicated on the show, I like to find the exact location of an old photo and compare the photo to the modern view trying to find as many differences as possible. As I point out on the show, it was easier to create shows centering around the much more familiar places such as Florence, Rome, and Tuscany generally. Varenna was difficult because I was not as familiar with the town, despite having been there a half dozen times. Therefore this album took a lot of time to pull together; really the largest quantity of time in recent months. It was well worth it as I thoroughly enjoyed the longest show I have had in a very long time at slightly over 57 minutes. Although I have enjoyed the recent shows, this time I was truly enthralled by a topic that has always fascinated me. That tells me a lot. In the future I must try to "get into" my ideas to a greater degree; a great lesson considering there is yet another Italian trip coming up very soon.

As for the actual broadcast experience of which I like to talk, the only issue was the sound was again, lower than in past years due I believe to the different microphone I now use - a small one attached to my lapel. Even Ellen said I had it was too far from my mouth at first, but next time I may put it even closer. Other than that it was an outstanding video of a show that I truly loved doing. Ellen and I seem to be interacting on the air a lot more lately which I have always wanted as it gives more of a real feel of a live broadcast than just going through the material on my own. Now that I now longer have guests on the show I like this approach. Even when I used to listen to Imus in the Morning on radio, I loved the way he interacted with his staff. It gave a great down-home feeling to the live broadcast.

Next week I am deviating from a model which I have practiced for quite some time, i.e. doing a bi-weekly show. I will do my first back to back broadcast in a long time. There a few reasons for this. First I have a lot of material with what I assume will be a treasure trove after the next trip. Second, I will not know the future for a while. Missing two straight weeks because of our trip plus the uncertainty of my condition after cataract surgery on June 14 and June 28, I would rather keep moving now. The topic will be easy for me - simply an analysis of the photo montage that forms the basis of my show's introduction. I will spend a few minutes discussing the meaning of the selection of the photos, where they are taken and why Laura photographed them.