People, Things: Dollars and Sense… and Doggie Slippers

There was good news and bad news about the economy yesterday…
The bad news first: our economy shrank 6.1% in the first quarter of 2009. Yikes!!
Now the good news: consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of our GDP, rose at an annual rate of 2.2%, the most in two years.
So, you might wonder, what are we [...]

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Things: Some Thoughts On Time’s Flight

Tempus fugit; a fact indisputable of a thing irretrievable.
The seasons, to me, are portraits of time’s passage.
It is the second of two “stick seasons” this month, here in New Hampshire.  The first one comes after the leaves fall in October, and the world turns grey, ever colder and darker as we await winter’s white peace.  [...]

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People, Things: America, [how] do you want your news?

A couple of months ago I visited the Johnson Space Center in Texas, where a tired one hour tour passes through NASA’s historic Mission Control Center.  Until 1992 this was a cutting edge communication hub, filled with the hum of important activity and the same state of the art technology that helped mankind take our [...]

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People and Places: New Zealand Nomenclature

In New Zealand many of the people, and most of the places and things have two names, one in English and one in the language of the indigenous Maori.
So I got to wondering, to whom does this country belong?
Does it belong to the Maori who came here from Polynesian places in outrigger canoes (canoes!) between [...]

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People, Places, Things: Facing Fear on the Great Barrier Reef

There are pictures of me as a little girl, floating in open Caribbean waters with my father, rendered fearless by childhood.
I have no recollection of those times, nor of any time before I was afraid to swim in deep or dark water where I am surrounded by the unknown.  For as long as I can [...]

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Places, Things: Back East

Arriving back on the east coast was a strange experience, at once comforting and disquieting.  
I was glad to be heading “home” for Christmas after such a long trip, but that also meant our long trip was coming to an end, and we both have yet to answer some of the big questions we set out [...]

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Things: my lack of new posts

I’ve had spotty web access and not a lot of time to write new posts over the past week and a half, but I’m getting to it.
In addition to lots of incredible pictures, here’s what’s coming:
- Vegas, baby!
- Zen in Bryce & Zion: Off-season in the National Parks
- A Canyon Grand & Tempest Fugit
- Ginormous [...]

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People, Places, & Things: Illinois & Route 66

One of our goals for this trip is to get off of interstate highways and take scenic byways as often as possible.  In practice, we’ve realized this typically doubles travel time, at least, but so far it’s been worth the extra gas.
We pulled out of Milwaukee, bound for Madison and the Wisconsin River Road.  Wisconsin’s [...]

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Temporary update, technical difficulties

We are in St. James, Missouri today, and getting ready to head west toward Wyoming in a few hours. We’ve had some technical difficulties in the past few days that have made it difficult to update the blog, namely a super-slow connection via our at&t wireless web watcher thingy.
I’ve really been itching to post updates, [...]

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Lovely pear

Filed under: People
A nice man brightened my afternoon yesterday…
I stopped for lunch at my neighborhood Whole Foods and as I stood in the express check-out line I was lost far away in my own thoughts.  In my basket: a 1qt of milk, 2 bottles of lemon-flavored sparkling water, a salad and a bosc pear, which [...]

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