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 are small mountain houses we call cabins. So I pictured aContinue reading “The cottage”
Category Archives: Travel
Canadian respite
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. So I left in full darkness. A bright crescent moonContinue reading “Canadian respite”
Tajine class & a surprise blogger visit
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 much of a cook, but when I’m well supervised, when someoneContinue reading “Tajine class & a surprise blogger visit”
Karatsu
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 called out “Hello, how are you?” giggling as they tried outContinue reading “Karatsu”
Hagi
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 appeared and disappeared in after-rain gray skies. My large room atContinue reading “Hagi”
Hiroshima
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 Peace Park. A skeleton of a building left standing, the A-BombContinue reading “Hiroshima”
A potter’s pilgrimage: Bizen
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 and improving my Japanese. For a week, I alternately traveled aContinue reading “A potter’s pilgrimage: Bizen”
Canyon rim drive
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, but it becomes a raging river that floods the canyon floorContinue reading “Canyon rim drive”
Canyon de Chelly
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, managed and run by Diné (the Navajo name for their people)Continue reading “Canyon de Chelly”
Desert landscapes
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 Garden of Pioneer Park in St George, Utah, or the BotanicalContinue reading “Desert landscapes”
Ruth Rosenfeld 