Remember when earlier this month I talked about frogs living in y watering tank. Well there has been some new developments

We're on Oahu again for our anniversary. Also, as a substitute to the Maui trip, originally intended as a familial trip, that we opted out of a few months ago.(Our anniversary was actually a few…

I’ve been on vacation out West with my family for the last two weeks and I’m missing getting my thoughts out on the blog. It seems obvious, but I now realise how much I need to be alone in order to…

Magnificent strudel kindly baked with the sweet new Rosette apples of the season by Head Chef, Farokh Talati of St John Bread & Wine, for this Sunday’s tour of Whitechapel. Click here to…

I am in the Stonehenge car park looking out at the surrounding fields. All the long grass is bright yellow, like piss. There are tiny little crispy wildflowers, I can see them when I squint. Some of…

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Our last stop on this year’s summer vacation was South Tyrol. We stayed at Lago di Caldaro, and it was a contrast to our previous stops, as everything was already in German. It did not feel as much…

mule deer pauses by the road at dusk neither of us knows

Today I&#8217;m sharing a wonderful and beautiful post of Philadelphia where I grew up, near my the sledding hill of one of my TEDx talks, after two related serious posts about me visiting sites of…

If you take your bike on GO Transit to Barrie, there are three main trails you can get to. Among these, I rode the Thornton Cookstown Trail last year, as well as the Barrie-Collingwood Rail Trail…

This year’s garden planning also involved writing a book to make it easier for all Kiwis to plan and maintain their vegetable gardens. The post Planning Kat&#8217;s Garden with Kat&#8217;s Garden…

There are few creatures quite as charming—or as suspiciously competent—as the raccoon.With its black mask, ringed tail and remarkably nimble front paws, the northern raccoon, Procyon lotor, looks…

I got slowed down by just the most beautiful farmers market with people in the lawn on blankets in the sunshine. I love seeing everyone out and enjoying the parks. I think I need to focus on running…

It&#8217;s never too late! Well, sometimes it is. But the Googles says it&#8217;s not too late to plant watermelon where we live. So that&#8217;s what we did, in a brand new garden space.

Looking back at my photos from the our second day in Mexico City, I’m still amazed at how much managed to pack in. First things first, breakfast. I’m not usually...

&nbsp;Anticipating a dry fall!The summer of ’26 has been one of ambivalence. On the one hand, the weather has been mostly beautiful: only a few days of extreme heat, and only a few of smoke (so far).…

I have been hiking a lot recently. Mostly because I go back to the child mines on Monday, a job that precludes me from taking off into the woods for three hours on a random Tuesday morning. Partly…

Our first Australian road trip Limestone stalactites and helictites in Jewel Cave ✒️ Written by: Abbie While spending a month in Western Australia, we knew we wanted to embark on a lil' road trip—a…

Living in Kuala Lumpur has pros and cons and I&rsquo;m not going to list them in this post. However, it&rsquo;s about a problem every pedestrian notices immediately: this place is hostile for…

23 August 2026 Ticks have been in the news a lot lately, especially on the East Coast where lone star ticks are causing alpha gal syndrome, an unpleasant and potentially deadly allergy to red meat…

Here are two fun, random slide scans for you! Starting with this 1969 photo of several cars preparing to experience an incredible gravitational anomaly known as MAGNETIC HILL! There are a number of…

&#160; This Bird Hunts by Dancing. This bird makes worms think it’s raining. The woodcock taps the ground, waits for movement, and then finds them without ever seeing them. Woodcock Stomp? I never…

Leaving the Awanui river and entering the Rangaunu harbour at daybreak was pretty magical A bit of mist, the tide well on its way out and a channel defined with marker posts still saw me beaching on…

...two camping sites.

The CN Ruel subdivision runs from Capreol to Hornepayne and is part of CN's main line through Ontario. VIA Rail's "Canadian" uses this line.

I love bog filters. I use them in most of my own ponds, I talk about them constantly on YouTube, and I’ve even built a bog filter calculator to help people

Went for a walk last night to celebrate National Latina Day, and to commemorate Cocoa. It's been one month since she last walked.

I had the time of my life in Chicago. Read about my journey in my lastest blog post!

Some Owl's Clover from an otherwise-undistinguished hike this morning. #dailyphoto #oregon #flowerphotography

NO ONE told me that the nesting you go through when sending your kid off to college is very similar to what it's like right at the end of pregnancy. So we're trying to move back to the other house,…

I visited the Basilica of St Adalbert on August 17, 2026. I was granted access to the interior and had the amazing interior to myself for more than an hour.

Recording my gear and bike build as I prepare for a ~1,000 mi bike ride around Lake Michigan in a few weeks. Yes, I overpack. Partial inventory: Bike Kona Rove DL 2021 54cm frame + fork SRAM Rival 1…

Saturday 11th July 2026 A Simon Dewhurst Essex car day is always one of the highlights of the BRAPA calendar, and being part of our 'Summer-of-fun', (no football to spoil the pubbing) Daddy BRAPA…

A day at the mountains with blackberries and meadows so dry they crunched underfoot. A little sweaty, a little longer than planned, but no rain and plenty of quiet moments to enjoy the trail.

14-08-26 A whole week since I was last at Saltoun. I was trying to hold off for a better weather window but realised one may never materialise and today looked the best of a bad bunch. I had…

If you saw a bunch of signs warning about a Spokane Street Swing Bridge closure this weekend, that is only for motor vehicles. The biking and walking path will remain open and usable. Unlike many…

Right now, I am visiting Amsterdam. While Amsterdam is a nice city and I like my hotel, one of the worst parts is the hotel&#8217;s Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi is heavily firewalled. Meaning only mainstream TCP…

Brian Westphal discoverd that the Mazamas climbing club took a number of historic summit registers home with them after climbing excursions in Idaho. Those registers taken were from Mount Borah, He…

A variety of late-season queen-related topics; finding, missing, marking, judging, and clipping them … together with discussions of some DIY 'mods' that make all these things easier. All that, plus…

Someone somewhere in the Dominican Republic

Check out Matto’s nice video (link below)about the Pathfinder raft up at Vinalhaven. Well done, Matto, thanks for the effort! A lot of great memories there. https://youtu.be/LO_AHwxCWgs

Ciclamini. Is it time for the cyclamen to flower in the mountains nearby. Until now I had not noticed but in these mountains I climb with their tiny presence, resilient and kind, tiny flowers that…

As Brits, we largely think of no-frills budget airlines as a way of jetting ourselves off to sunnier places (or more accurately this year, just as blisteringly hot but with cheaper drinks) for our…

La Fiamma is an impressive rock spire located on the southwest shoulder of Packrat Peak. It was first climbed by Fred Beckey, Steve Marts, and Dan Davis in 1963. See IDAHO, SAWTOOTH RANGE, LA…

In the Newsletter this weekAnalysis: The end for Freiburg-Colmar? But was there ever a start?Bullshit Meter: Virgin Trains to run Channel Tunnel services in 2030Good week: Koralmbahn results in less…

Part two of our summer vacation: Frankfurt, Germany!

The Luxembourg Point of Inaccessibility lies at Blaschette (Blaaschent), a small village in the commune of Lorentzweiler, in the canton of Mersch in central Luxembourg. The point is on the…

It was very hot during the day, but I could almost always catch some cats during my early morning walks. Not as many as last time, but watching the kittens play more than made up for it.