Māori Aotearoa
Is Māori Aotearoa (the indigenous name for New Zealand) as beautiful as everyone says it is? The simple answer is yes. Undulating green hills, the color of seagrass. A palette of tall broadleaf trees and ferns covering mountainsides. Pelicans, cranes, eagles, hawks, herons, and songbirds here and there. Quaint towns and campgrounds tucked in coves […]
Kangaroos Goannas and Dancing
On our tour of north-eastern Australia, we visited several National Parks. Remarkable scenery with bushwalking and stargazing opportunities. Jagged rock outcrops surrounded by hilly bush and woodland forest. Ferns, sundews, and orchids in the damp gullies, fig trees, and wattles. At certain campgrounds, groups of kangaroos lounged comfortably between campsites, munching on the grass. Goannas […]
Beaches
All the beaches I visited in Australia were beautiful. Some more than others of course. The white, smooth sand was so soft that when my feet sunk in the soothing powder it felt like they were encased in a pair of velvety slippers. I loved the mellow aroma of salt in the air, the crystal-clear […]
No Hurries No Worries
There are so many things I’d like to share with you about my time in Australia and New Zealand. It was everything I had wished for and more and I hope to impart at least some of the main foci in the next several blogs I publish –what I learned and the insights I gathered […]
Gone Fishing
Not long ago I needed to buy a few items from my local outdoor store. Usually, when I drive into town, I combine several errands to make the trip worthwhile. But that time I just made the trip for those few things. When I got to the store the front door was locked and the […]
The Poet
A poet can be described as anyone who uses language creatively, who can evoke a specific emotional response through words, or a person possessing special powers of imagination: Edgar Allen Poe, William Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, Robert Frost. My favorite poet as a teenager was Elizabeth Barrett Browning and I spent hours reading her collective works. […]
Emily and Me
The Bible still holds the record for the most books sold at 5 billion copies. Next, Quotations from Chairman Mao (1.1 billion copies), the Quran (800 million copies), Don Quixote (500 million copies), followed by Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (200 million copies), and The Lord of the Rings (155 million copies). The Harry Potter books, 7 in all, have sold more than 500 million copies. The Complete Poems […]
Mistakes
J.K. Rowlings was rejected 12 times by publishers. They all thought Harry Potter wasn’t good enough. There were insufficient lifeboats on the Titanic because engineers at the time believed it was unsinkable. It took 177 years to build the tower of Pisa and 10 years for it to start leaning. Faulty construction led to the […]
Life Goes On
Where I live, most trees and shrubs form their buds in the late summer or fall before they go dormant for the winter; sleeping, not growing, or changing, waiting until spring to swell and leaf out. Bears give birth usually in February, during hibernation and even though the mother bears metabolic rates have slowed, they […]
Valentine’s Day
When I was in second grade, I had a crush on a boy in my class named Frank. I liked his dark black hair and blue eyes. To me, they sparkled in the light. For months I wanted to tell him that I liked him and that we were destined to be together, but I […]
Praise
My book consultant believes that as an author I should be singing any or all commendations, honors, awards, and endorsements most, if not all, of the time. “Get your brag on,” she says. “Don’t waste time. Get over yourself.” Easier said than done, and besides, isn’t someone who is constantly promoting themselves annoying? Shouldn’t I […]
Snowshoeing
This winter the conditions for snowshoeing have been just right. Lots of good snow and cold temperatures which has encouraged me to snowshoe a lot. Near where I live, we’ve created a solid trail that runs about two miles from start to finish. Whenever it snows, I try to be the first one on the […]
Stress
The word stress comes from the Latin word “strictus” which means “to tighten” or “narrow.” Stress is defined as the pressure exerted on a material object; a state of emotional strain resulting from very demanding circumstances; a particular emphasis made in speech or writing; or subject to tension or pressure. Hans Selye, the founder of […]
Pileated Woodpeckers
Current scientific studies state that approximately 48% of existing global bird populations are declining. According to Audubon, more than half of the US bird population is shrinking due to habitat loss, climate change, predation by domestic cats, and invasive species. They also suggest that there have been 3 billion North American birds lost since 1970. […]
New Beginnings
Beginning. /be’ giniNG / the point at which something starts; the first part; inception; initiation; outset; arising; emergence. A few weeks ago, I burnt five boxes of old, damaged books when we decided to light our yearly burn pile, the only paper stuff in an otherwise ten-foot-high mound of cedar and spruce boughs, branches, small […]