May 31
The last couple of years, life has had some sad hardships which I will not recount here. Travel has not been a priority. In fact: I’ve struggled to find the usual enthusiasm for something that is normally such a passion. I’m confident I’ll find heart for it again. But for now, I have my photos …
May 30
This photo was taken on December 30, 2021 on Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro. These crude public toilets sit at campsites. They are nothing more than ‘long drop’ pits surrounded by crude wooden structures. – There are no commodes. One places their feet on either side of a hole and squat. Not surprisingly: not everyone who uses them …
Mar 26
March’s perfunctory post is again from December 25, 2021. (On our Tanzania trip, we shot over 9,800+ photos and videos, so I can go to this source for a long time when I’m feeling short on posting enthusiasm.) Lake Natron is a remote, surreal landscape. The lake is hyper saline and super alkaline with temperatures …
Jan 30
This being another challenging month, I’m just sharing a photo from January 7, 2022 taken in Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park. But I thought, for a change of pace I’d share the raw, uncolor corrected image compared to post color correction and sharpening. All color correction was done in Adobe Lightroom and the sharpening was done …
Dec 26
The last month has been chaos and trouble and I won’t relate it here. But in spite of some serious mental exhaustion, I’ll fulfill my monthly posting duties and leave this year with a fond recollection of where I was last year in December.
Aug 30
Taken at a Massai Boma in Oldupai Emanyata, Tanzania on January 12 2022. With another villager’s help, this man started a fire with friction in less than a minute. A humbling exposure to another culture, another way of life.
Feb 04
“If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go.” ~Edmund Hillary
Jan 22
“The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.” ~Conrad Anker
Sep 18
Security Theater amuses and frustrates me. Today’s random photo from the vault was taken at Bangalore Palace, October 31, 2015. Here is a simultaneously funny and scary example of Security Theater: an unattended rifle, leaning, rather precariously against a shrub. I watched for some time: no sign of the guard. What could possibly go wrong? …
Mar 31
I spent a good deal of timing writing posts to the Friends and Family section of the site this month, and so: all I have time or energy for here is a quick and lazy sharing of a nearly random photo from my collection. This is a merchant on the streets of Mandawa, India taken …
Aug 30
End of the month; actually a lot happened; more than I have time to write about; yada yada yada… So, instead, in commemoration of the vacation I’m not taking this summer because of the plague: here is a hot summer breeze blast from the past photo memory. Lake Powell: September 3rd, 2017. Oh, how I …
Oct 30
Taken on a recent vacation while staying at the lovely Arenal Kioro Suites & Spa. “There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and …
Dec 31
The world doesn’t need another Iceland landscape photo. At least: not another unexceptional Iceland landscape photo. But I need a blog post and am out of time and out of sorts to do more than slap up one of the photos I took this year. Ergo: I give you: “Generic, but Lovely Seascape Captured in …
Nov 30
Along the road, In the south of Iceland, near the Bay of Holtsós is a small cave. The cave is not very deep: little more than an alcove. It is so shallow, in fact that it gets enough light that the entirety of the cave is overgrown with ferns and moss. The small grotto is …
Dec 30
I wanted to write a post expressing my frustration and outrage at the train wreck of modern conservative politics, but I just finished a long post on my password protected Friends and Family section and I’m out of steam. These things need said: flares of distress need sent up. Spotlights of attention must be shone. …
Oct 12
“This is the sense of the desert hills, that there is room enough and time enough.” ~ Mary Hunter Austin
Feb 12
For lovers of Pittsburgh and / or lovers of adventure sports, I highly recommend giving a recent Fitness Lab Pittsburgh podcast a listen. And hats off to the ECP president Ron Edwards on a great interview that really provides perspective to those who might not have the experience but want to learn more about mountaineering and …
Dec 28
I’ve been back from India for over a month and thought I’d share a few more observations from the trip to compliment my Bangalore Vernacular post from October. There are many road-side options to buy motorcycle helmets, and although drivers often wore them, passengers (which are very common), seldom do. – This lack of head …
Dec 02
“The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” ~Sir Richard Burton
Nov 13
A traveling tip for parental units: When the airport luggage carousel is jam pack surrounded with adults trying to get their bags, you’d be wise to move the little kiddies away from the machinery instead of letting them play with it, occupying a much needed spot. Alternatively: keep your mouth shut if your spawn gets …
Oct 29
I’m a few days into my first trip to Bangalore (Bengaluru), or for that matter: my first trip to India. A few initial, random observations: People are very friendly (but then again: I’m of the philosophy that you find what you’re looking for when you travel). Plugs tend to spark a bit when you stick …
May 31
Spotted in the men’s room of the Toronto airport – everything you need for an evening out.
Jul 31
I had an occasion to visit Gettysburg Pennsylvania this weekend for a little R&R. As expected, the area is rich in history and amazing stories: tragic and heroic. But I was also amazed how swamped the area is with ghost stories. The first hint came when it was posted on Facebook that we were going …
Dec 28
Away for the Holiday We went to Vegas over Thanksgiving for six days. The holiday hasn’t felt very homey for a very long time and we wanted to take good advantage of a few days off, so we found a good deal with Southwest and headed to the desert lights, – after all, nothing says, …
Nov 27
October found me back in Paris. – A city that has always been a delight to me. I’m home now, but the romance of the city lingers in my mind. I guess it goes to show that you just never know where life will take you. You search for answers. You wonder what it all …
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