Category Travel
New Warning
This was a new one for me. I can’t decide if it is overkill or necessary. In almost seven decades of summertime visits to Old Orchard Beach, I don’t recall seeing this one before. Admittedly the technology to deliver weather warnings to my phone didn’t exist for most of that time. For that matter, neither […]
Hidden Ruins
My wife knew they were there, but these ruins were in a part of Ottawa I don’t frequent often. Calling them ruins isn’t technically correct wither. More like public art. The columns are technically ruins, having come from Ottawa’s Carnegie Library, built in 1906. When the library was demolished in the 1970s the columns were […]
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.
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