My January is half melancholy, half relief. I slip back into well-worn patterns, and find comfort in the familiar. There is beauty there, and surprises too. Ailsa’s Travel Theme, Routine, made me think of these — glimpses of other people’s ordinary moments. 1. Early commuters streaming to work in São Paulo. An hour earlier, I ambled through the sleeping city to São … Continue reading
As you explore the Big Island, several names keep coming up. Kamehameha the Great, the king who united the Hawaiian archipelago, and Ka’ahumanu, his formidable queen, are the island’s most dominant mortal protagonists. Among gods, two sisters lead the way: Poli’ahu, the goddess of ice and snow, and her perpetual nemesis, Pele, the goddess of fire, a pretty big deal on terrain … Continue reading
Thirty miles north of the tranquil Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park is another hidden gem, the Puako Petroglyph Archaeological Preserve, one of the largest petroglyph fields in Hawaii. Over 3,000 k’i’i pohaku (images in stone) are tucked along the trails of the 233-acre preserve, quite a sight. It all starts modestly enough. From Route 19, enter the manicured Mauna Lani … Continue reading
After soaring over lava, our afternoon in Hilo was a bit of a blur. I remember the rows of colorful, two-story buildings, frayed, but cheerful, many dating back to the sugar boom of the 1920s; the smell of rain over the pavement; and lots and lots of leaves, primordial in their size and hues. Next … Continue reading
If the cozy views of Carmel-by-the-Sea get too saccharine for your taste, head four miles south to witness “the greatest meeting of land and water in the world,” Point Lobos State Reserve, 554 acres of cliffs, meadows, and forest trails and over 700 acres submerged undersea (a scuba diving, snorkeling and kayaking haven, I learned too late). The quote belongs to Francis McComas, … Continue reading
Our home base on the Monterey Peninsula was Carmel-by-the-Sea, a town so storybook cute I had to remind myself that this was not, after all, a realm of wealthy hobbits. I mean, just look at it: These Epcot-village views aside, the town is a venerable old lady, by American standards. A Carlmelite friar claimed this area … Continue reading
Growing up in a dry, landlocked country, I was spellbound with Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. For months, I was Professor Aronnax, exploring the undersea wonders with Captain Nemo and his submarine, Nautilus. Many of the book’s most memorable discoveries were figments of Verne’s imagination. At the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I was startled to … Continue reading
This was the perfect gardening weekend. We decided to stay close to home, and a good thing too: Our first hatchlings of the season just made their debut. First, we spotted a mourning dove nest in the front yard, so flimsy, precarious, and low to the ground that every time I pass by, I have … Continue reading
Now that spring has finally sprung, I look forward to our walks at my favorite local place to watch the seasons turn: the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve. Just south of Old Town Alexandria along the scenic George Washington Memorial Parkway, Dyke Marsh does have its scrappy patches, the old wounds still visible and, in places, growing. Still, there … Continue reading
This week’s photo challenge is Home: “share a picture that evokes HOME for you.“ Apart from my family–the one I was born to, and the one that grew around me over the years–my home is the garden that embraces our house. When I garden, I imagine myself the Little Prince, tending his planet against the catastrophe of … Continue reading
In Savannah for a day, its historic walks behind me, I was in the mood to escape Southern hospitality–and humanity in general. An oasis of calm awaited only 20 minutes away from the city center: the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, 29 thousand acres of bottomland hardwood groves, swathed in Spanish moss, and freshwater marshes, wide … Continue reading
When I began preparing for a work trip to São Paulo, my expectations were quickly tempered: The city does not come up as a destination of choice. It is sprawling, congested, scruffy, expensive (many of the visitors are business travelers who stick to the ultra-luxurious hotels and restaurants), and not altogether coherent. There are more … Continue reading
Our autumn sunrise at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge ended up among the favorites in the assortment of impressions and memories of the past year. The Refuge is a serene and meditative place in any season, but we especially love it in the winter: Everything is so spare then. Because all the other colors … Continue reading
Pigeon, that at once annoying and endearing vermin, is a common sight wherever you go. In San Juan’s Old Town, though, their presence is particularly hard to tune out: Pigeons are everywhere. There is even an entire park devoted to them, Parque de las Palomas, where they nest in the City Wall, lounge in trees overlooking the … Continue reading
I loved the whirlwind of color, movement, and imagination stirred up by this week’s travel theme challenge from Ailsa’s Where’s My Backpack: Multiples. There are so many great responses. I’d like to add mine to the chorus. My swarms, rows, and badelynges of multiples are grouped by season and month when I encountered them. 1. Winter 2. … Continue reading
Transplanted Tatar 