Along my trip across Japan I collected a bunch of postcards from places I visited. I got them in museums, in tourist shops or in second-hand bookstores. I sent some to friends and family, but most of…

International restaurants and shops along South Grand Boulevard

The Priest Mountain Shelter, VA (37.817850, -79.070375) Seven years ago I hiked half the Appalachian Trail, from its midpoint in Harper’s Ferry, WV, to its northern terminus at Katahdin, ME.…

Portugal charges its vehicle tax once, when a car first receives a Portuguese plate. That tax is the ISV, the imposto sobre veículos, and it explains both why used cars cost more here than in Spain…

Stepping off the train at Faversham station last Friday , a minute or two after midday, brought back quite a few memories. The four-platform station is more extensive than I remember but not…

Amidst the chaos of our lives we have glimpses of a stillness, a calmness, a breathing living possibility outside all the goals we're trying to accomplish.Recently I got up early and went on a…

Two Jack Lake Summary In which our intrepid travelers leave the United States and depart for our neighbor to the north, experiencing the joys (ha!) of modern air travel and the wonders of the…

Orange jelly spot (Dacrymyces chrysospermus) is a bright orange jelly fungus that forms wrinkled masses resembling a brain or a cluster of petals. It is widespread across North America and grows…

the usual https://solitum.net/posts/hike-lost-creek-falls-2026/ -Overview A ran into a friend of mine last week who suggested we take a little hike he’d found in Provo Canyon, and here we are.…

A small job this morning with Glorious Grasslands. We headed over to Pitchcombe to seed a small field squeezed between mill ponds...

Ring Barking I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Coillte using continuous cover forestry practice to manage a plantation. Apart from selectively removing larger spruce trees, other spruce have also…

I could watch egrets fishing all day, but I've got stuff to do.61 words · 2 images

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I was eating dinner at a fast-casual restaurant in Hong Kong last night when I was pleasantly reminded of the energy, hustle and efficiency that I love about this city. The restaurant was the kind…

Maybe it is the fog rolling in from the ocean. Maybe it is the centuries-old buildings, dark country roads and forests that become pitch black surprisingly early in October. Or perhaps Atlantic…

I’ve been meaning to write something, anything , about my experiences over the last, like, five months–holy shit, it’s been nearly five months since I left the US. Holy shit! I thought just now,…

Photos and notes from an Ottawa trip posted.

Colors in DuPont Oct 18 I realize that there is a head spinning amount of information in my last two blogs. With our future gardens certainly to be reduced in size, delegating continuation and…

Spent most of yesterday in the mountains just east of Eugene, on a trail run along the McKenzie River Trail and around Clear Lake. I’ve been going to Clear Lake for years now and find it a…

We drove our rental Noovo Plus from Noovo’s Los Angeles Boutique north out of LA, along I-5, ending up at Stanger Vineyards for the night. This post is about the drive… which ended up taking an hour…

The Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence. Photograph by the author. I’ve recently returned from a week’s holiday in Florence, a much-needed recharge for me, both artistically and to remedy my exhaustion…

Stepping into a wild jungle 🌴 When the rest of the world 🗺️

19 October 2026 Until the first killing frost woolly alder aphids (Prociphilus tessellatus) actively coat alder branches like fluffy white socks. I found some in late September 2020 but didn’t…

The first week of October 2026 saw me making the long haul up the M1/A1 to Newcastle for my first visit in many a year. Lower league football on Saturday had tempted me in this direction, with plenty…

<img src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/dreamlogic/s67-2026-10-18-1938049ca443ba63f9.w

Join our Myanmar Group Tour to the Taunggyi fire balloon festival Ready for this? Maybe you know the cool Thailand lantern festival? It&#8217;s been viral on socials for years. Gorgeous mass release…

This summer has been brutal, amongst others, I grow a fair number of cloud forest orchid species in a grow tent in my garage . This summer got hot in May and stayed hot until about a week ago.…

IMAGEhttps://www.instagram.com/p/DeqXGRrMr-1/

We started attending Tucson Meet Yourself three years ago—before we even decided to move to Tucson. This year was the 51st annual celebration of Meet Yourself. Dozens of ethnicities and nationalities…

The HipCamp I stayed at this past weekend had a purrfect host

A close-up of a crane fly reveals its finely patterned compound eye, antenna, and bristled mouthparts against a coral background.

Replica of “first thing ever printed in Worcester.” Replica of “first thing ever printed in Worcester.” Recently author Caroline Linden &amp; I paid a visit to the American Antiquarian Society. I’m…

The setting for Pedicab Driver was newly within reach for Hong Kong residents. The Sheung Wan ferry terminal opened in 1985, expediting links between Hong Kong and Macau with a bone-janglingly bumpy…

It's our third day in Athens. V. is just jumping into the shower, and I'm sitting at a small table in the kitchen. I won't have much time to write, I just want to account for the things we've done…

I've just returned from a lovely 8-day vacation with my wife. We went to Italy! Our first time in the old continent. Great food, much chaos, beautiful views, strong coffee. Enjoy some of my…

I went to Greece in September 2026 with my brother and cousin for two weeks. It was a memorable trip! Worthy of my first time in Europe (and my first time flying internationally in ten years) -- I…

This week's photo is off the shore at Bluffer's Park in Toronto. I used Adobe PHoto Express to remove a rather annoying sign and a couple of trash bins, then tweaked the contrast and colour in…

Ever since we visited the Siskiyous back in 2023, I've wanted to return to explore the northern reaches of California, west of Mt. Shasta. This region - dominated by the Klamath Mountains - contains…

It&#8217;s been many years since I walked around Berkeley Deer park, so we decided to spend the morning there and also check...

For the first-time traveler to Hawai'i, a word about the birds. There are two groups of birds, the species native to the Hawaiian Islands, and the introduced, or invasive species. There are also two…

• 4-star hikes • 4 to 5 mile options • Easy | Gain 140 to 360 feet • Haverhill, MA | Northeast Region . The 1875 castle-like summer home crowns the park. Winnekenni Park is a scenic conservation area…

Seaham, a town of about 20,000 people, is just down the coast from Sunderland. Its main development stems from the construction of a port in the 1820s to export coal, but its fame today is based…

Winding down at the lake. We've been lucky. It's been brisk most days of my visit but there have been some warm and sunny ones too. Above is what you see from the lakeside, with the neighbor's oak…

We have giveaway winners this morning! Kathy Anderson and Ginni Selby, you will both receive an ARC ebook of The Rancher&#8217;s Christmas Wife. Thanks for coming by! I love hearing from all of you!…

One of our favorite things about boat life (aka, slow travel) is discovering all the things we don&apos;t yet know we&apos;re missing.Which brings us to English bubbles. We&apos;ve been cruising…

In this blog, I’ll share my experience of travelling across Sri Lanka in 2026. While the main purpose is to share my personal account of the trip, you can also use it as a guide if you’re planning…

The first leg of our campervan life from Sydney to Hunter Valley ✒️ Written by: Abbie We flew from Perth to Sydney overnight, leaving behind our base with family in Fremantle and ready to take on a…

1) My Three Big Mistakes When I saw the first “summit” pictures of Manaslu back in the early 2000s, I thought it were impossible for them to have been taken from the same place as those from the 1956…

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I just got back from a lovely family holiday to Bali. The waters were blue and warm, the weather was beautiful, the skies were clear (a precious thing we don’t take for granted these days, in hazy…