Travel Stories, Cruise Reviews, and Cultural Adventures

A troupe of actors makes its way across the U.S., as silent movies give way to the talkies. Side trips to Paris and London, with a stop in rural Montana, plus a love triangle, drug addiction, show biz flair, loyalty tested, gunslingers, jealousies and dreams. Critics praised the tone, detail, intricate relationships and colorful rendering of place, period and interesting people.

First novel by Christene "Cookie" Meyers. Lilians Last Dance

Christene "Cookie" Meyers at the dedication of the Bruce Meyers Poets Garden, May, 1993, on the campus of Montana State University-Billings, then Eastern Montana College. Three of the professor's poems etched on marble were written on the memorial site. The garden is listed in the Smithsonian's list of public art (see link below.)  STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER Architect Ted Wirth and EMC president Bruce Carpenter discuss the project at the groundbreaking i

Bruce Kemp Meyers celebrated life and shared his acting talents, despite chronic heart problems.    Bruce Meyers played Daddy Warbucks in "Annie." The title role was played by Becca Barthelmess and Lana Fox Gribas played Grace. Warbucks and Grace marry and adopt all the orphans. Our Airedale Gandalf played Sandy the dog, also adopted by the new family. OVATION: A birthday salute for Bruce Kemp Meyers and his lively life in the theater STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS Photos from CM

Hollywood special effects master Andy Schoneberg and Christene Meyers at the dedication. Schoneberg did the bronze of Bruce Meyers. The three acted in several theatrical productions. Flanked by Andy Schoneberg's bronze of Bruce Kemp Meyers, his widow Christene "Cookie" Meyers welcomes an overflow crowd to the first of 10 "Bruce Bash" festivals honoring the late professor, in May of 1993. POET ALLEN GINSBERG HEADLINED GARDEN DEDICATION TO HONOR HIS ONE-TIME STUDENT Famed poet

MY MOTHER WAS determined to visit Ireland and play piano in an Irish pub. I'm proud to say I helped make that happen before she passed in 2008.

MY GRANDMOTHER Olive loved hollyhocks. She was my mother's mum, and lived next door. She taught me to separate and save flower seeds each fall. Revered among her many flowers were the faithful hollyhocks. Dad's mother, Grannie Annie, loved her lilacs, too. I remember a large crystal bowl filled with those soft, circular blossoms -- sometimes a clutch of all-whites, other times a profusion of pinks, purples, reds.

Buffalo Bill's Cody is a showy town; tiny Fishtail has a good time, too Amusements abound at the Buffalo Bill Cody Center of the West -- and Cody town herself; then there's Fishtail, Montana

AUF WIEDERSEHEN TO A BELOVED ICON: ACTOR, WRITER, CAT LOVER, GOURMET, GARDENER, TRANSLATOR, TRAVELER Hannelore Carter, left, her longtime companion and "son of the heart," Jason Webinger, and Christene Meyers, at a reception following a play. "The sun will rise and the moon will set and we learn how to settle for what we get. It will all go on if we're here or not, so who cares, so what." --  "So What?" from the score of "Cabaret"      STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS

Make your journey fun, safe and smooth sailing when you're traveling with four-footed pals

Editor's Note: This story was written a few years before Meyers and Keller were married in a pop-up ceremony during a family reunion in her native state, Montana. STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS: VINTAGE and BRUCE KELLER The famous photo taken on VJ Day at Times Square,1945, inspired the "Kiss" sculpture that inspired this column. Top photo: Bruce Keller and Christene Meyers on a date in San Diego. THIS VALENTINE'S  week, with "The Kiss" statue back in San Diego, I'm taki

PENY WAS BORN in 1949. Christa was born in 1948. They would have been friends. Both were gregarious, over-achieving, loving, fine teachers, intrepid adventurers, with daring, charisma and humor. Christa became famous as the first teacher to train for a space flight. Peny was a ground-breaker, too.