Category Travel

Live and Learn

I think it was on the third page I grabbed my phone saying, “this can’t be real.” But it is. The title over the novel isn’t important. I haven’t finished it yet, and haven’t decided if I would recommend it. What sent me looking for confirmation was the idea of a paternoster elevator. My guess […]

My Favorite Crucifix

How is it possible to believe, how can anyone believe without fear and trembling that all of God was present in a man? Who can believe that God incarnate is dying on a cross? No reasonable being can accept such an implausible and frightening revelation, the impact of which always makes one reassess everything. – Jacques […]

Impromptu Art

In a weird way, it makes sense. Public art, created by the people, just outside Canada’s National Gallery. When you are inside the gallery you are required to wear a sticker that shows you have paid the admission fee. Each day the sticker is a different color – that way people are less likely to […]

Life Is Fragile

I don’t think of myself as a frequent flyer. For me air travel goes in spurts, and it has been two years since I was last in a plane. Maybe 2026 will see a return to the skies, but probably not. It isn’t fear that keeps me on the ground, though I will admit there […]

Ships in the Sky

After Saturday’s post about bombs falling in the Middle East, a different skyscape today. This is a repost from 2019. A little less than a half hour’s walk from our home in Sulzburg, Germany, was a famous nursery. People came from miles around to get their plants and flowers and to eat at the cafe. […]

Ice Dreams II

Another photo essay, ice sculptures from the 2026 edition of Winterlude.

Ice Dreams I

Ottawa’s annual winter carnival, Winterlude, ends today. As usually happens, I wound up not taking part in very much. My wife and I did take in the ice sculptures in Confederation Park downtown. I didn’t find them as compelling as in some other years, but that may be because I usually have seen them when […]

Words of Protest

I saw this installed in a Vienna transit station in 2019. Originally an American work, I wonder if it would be acceptable there today.

A Different View

It’s funny how you can walk by something hundreds of times and not notice. Or maybe I did notice that the Confederation Building in downtown Ottawa is reflected in the glass of the building across the street, I noticed this on Saturday. Has me wondering what else I have been missing.

Sunrise At Last

Some people sleep in on vacation. Not me. A good day is when I am up in time to see the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean. On this year’s annual pilgrimage to Maine, it seemed that I wasn’t going to see a sunrise. Cloud and wildfire smoke seemed to limit the view every morning. […]