Travel Stories and Other Adventures
“Fooooooooooaaaaaaaammmmmmmm.” “Fooooooooooaaaaaaaammmmmmmm.” The man in the front of the room encouraged on the followers, “Fooooooooooaaaaaaaammmmmmmm.” The old, respected guru was about to enter. What sort of cult was this?
Continue reading “Singing the Brews”
Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang. Ah, the joys of listening to a piledriver.
And how is that relevant to the serenity and contemplation one might find in a Chinese Garden? Read on.
My storytelling muse hasn’t been amusing itself lately. So rather than a cohesive “Once Upon A Time”, here are a few vignettes from recent wanderings around town.
Winter.
Here in the good old USA, numerous folk are “enjoying” the style of winter that is often considered the exclusive domain of International Falls, Minnesota and their robust Canadian friends further north. Temperatures are brutally cold, well south of freezing, accompanied by ye olde insidious wind chill and ample amounts of that white stuff that wanted to be rain before Mr. Freeze squeezed its little liquid heart. While the Canucks and Minnesotans may shrug it off, for those less accustomed to this winter thuggery I offer a Spring Break – a reminder of things to come.
Afternoon Visit
In A Japanese Garden
Feeling Shades Of Gray
Following A Path
Entry To Serenity
Nature’s Softer Side
Branches Twist And Turn
Tendrils of a tree’s soul
Gives Calming Patterns
A Mossy Clearing
Pagoda Climbs To Heaven
The Maple Watches
A Glyph Guards The Frame
Of Quiet Tea Ceremonies
House With Autumn Moon
A Solid Presence
Ancient Anchor To The World
Crafted Wall Of Rocks
A Gentle Dripping
Calming Sounds Refresh The Air
Stress Draining With Water
An Old Tree Provides
Patterns Of Bark And Needles
Beauty Of Aging
Sandy Sacrifice
The Buddha Faces Tigers
Garden Of Stone
Lake Of Raked Gravel
Geometric Distances
The Islands Ripple
Winding Stairs Climb
A Rocky Hill Surrenders
The Spirit Ascends
Miniature Vignettes
For Pondering Natures Soul
Garden Says Goodbye
What is the best time of year? Ask four people, you’ll likely get four different answers. For that matter, ask me, four different times of the year, you may get four different answers. These photos are my answer for this time of year.
We’ve all heard about the 1 percenters, usually in a less than flattering way. The richest 1% hold 50% of the world’s wealth, and most have no interest in sharing it. Greedy bastards. But let’s be honest, wouldn’t you like to be part of the 1 percent, even for a day? I had that chance, last Monday.
It’s so hot… farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying hard-boiled eggs!
It’s so hot… I saw two trees fighting over a dog!
What do you do when it’s so hot that you wear your wrinkled clothes outside to use nature’s ironing board, but you still need to cook up dinner?
Continue reading “How Hot Is It?”
Time to get amped, the rhodies have been busy and the show is on!
A year ago I took you on a tour through the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens in Portland. I had the best of intentions at the time, bringing along my digital SLR and extra lens, but upon arrival discovered I wasn’t fully loaded for bear – I’d left the SLR’s memory card at home and was obliged to shoot with the phone camera. This year we went again, and I remembered all the good gear. Did it make any difference?
