My home is perched on the side of a mountain, at the edge of town. In an earlier essay (Thoughts for the new year), after a devastating fire near Boulder, I wrote about fire danger in my mountain neighborhood. There are a few houses aboveContinue reading “Ode to a tree”
In June, I joined my brother and other family members at a rented cottage a few hours north of Toronto in densely forested Ontario. A steep dirt path through pines, maples, and naturally lined by ferns, not landscaped, led down to the lakeside. The waterContinue reading “Salmon Lake”
From Toronto, we drove north and a bit east for almost three hours, the last stretch on winding dirt roads. We were headed to a rented cottage on Salmon Lake, in a quiet, rural, forested pocket of Ontario. Where I live, in Colorado, there areContinue reading “The cottage”
My flight was mid-morning. I live an hour and a half from the airport, planned for another half hour to park and take the shuttle to the terminal, and, of course, it’s best to arrive two to three hours in advance of an international flight.Continue reading “Canadian respite”
I have taken a few cooking classes while traveling. My son and I made pasta with anchovies in an Italian home in Sicily, and I joined a group making a variety of dishes in an industrial sized kitchen in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I’m not muchContinue reading “Tajine class …and a surprise visit”
I thought that the last stop on my potter’s pilgrimage, on the island of Kyushu, would be the most remote and provincial, but Karatsu, Japan is a thriving city, the women were fashionable, and it’s a bit of a resort town. Several school children calledContinue reading “Karatsu”
The town of Hagi lies on the Japan Sea, near the western tip of the main island. The lonely, one-car train chugged along through tiny mountain towns, crossing the island and following the coastline at the very end of its journey. Misty rock islands appearedContinue reading “Hagi”
On my week-long potter’s pilgrimage, I made one stop for another reason. Since my chosen route took me through the city of Hiroshima, I arranged my train schedule to allow for a few hours’ pause to convey my wishes for peace and harmony at PeaceContinue reading “Hiroshima”
During my third year living in Japan, in 2011, I made a potter’s pilgrimage to three historic towns where contemporary potters, many descended from old masters, still produce mingei, stoneware folk pottery. This trip had been long planned; I had spent years gathering information andContinue reading “A potter’s pilgrimage: Bizen”
The south rim drive along Canyon de Chelly gives one the big picture of its depth and length. The walls tower over one thousand feet high at its deepest. The wash meandering through it doesn’t seem powerful enough to have carved this spectacular scenery, butContinue reading “Canyon rim drive”
I began this road trip hiking the red rock canyons of St. George, Utah. Turning north from Tucson, towards my home in Colorado, the stunning red rock Canyon de Chelly National Monument beckoned. I stayed two nights at the Thunderbird Lodge on the grounds, managedContinue reading “Canyon de Chelly”
A walk around the grounds of the Botanical Gardens before leaving the Tucson area. The scenery, despite the arid climate, is home to the unusual shapes of cacti and succulents, tall and tiny, rugged and intricate. Not as planned or sculpted as the Desert GardenContinue reading “Desert landscapes”
Always looking for an interesting place to walk, I strolled the grounds at Tucson Botanical Gardens. The highlight of the park was the butterfly center. Staff members or volunteers limited the numbers in the enclosed area, and carefully checked for butterflies that may have landedContinue reading “Butterflies in Tucson”
After a long day’s drive across the desert southwest from California, I spent a few days in Tucson with a friend from younger days. As with my other stops along this road trip, I wasn’t looking for cityscapes. However, since I had arranged to meetContinue reading “Tucson street art”
Just north of San Diego, in La Jolla Cove and adjoining beaches, harbor seals and California sea lions make their home. Carefully warned by signage and rangers not to approach too close, visitors gather to watch their antics and photograph. I spent a glorious fewContinue reading “La Jolla sealife”
A long day’s drive took me from St George, Utah to temperate Carlsbad in southern California, avoiding the glitz of Las Vegas and Nevada road stops with their flashing signs, through desolate desert landscapes with occasional sculpted rock outcroppings. Carlsbad has a comfortable and attractiveContinue reading “California beach walking”
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Lovely, my adventurous traveling friend. How did you like the “fresh” fish?
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Thank you! It was fine once it was cut up. I prefer not to think that my teeth were the instrument that killed something.
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