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Face Photos from Readers
Photo Memory of the Week
Posted: 2025 Apr 04
Poetry of the Week
The Rhodora
- Ralph Waldo EmersonRhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask, I never knew:
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.Posted: 2025 Apr 04
Tag Archives: Travel
The Other Kate
Exploring the perspective on history enjoyed by those who actually have some. Well, by ‘recent’ I mean ‘not medieval’. The speaker this time is neither a precocious three-year-old nor a witty 70-something — it is a young woman who … Continue reading
A Wink and a Nudge
One of a miscellany of short observations from a trip to Scotland. Because it keeps the witches away. The interrupter is three, or so said his grandfather in introducing him to our tour group. As a second son (the three-year-old, … Continue reading
An Embarrassment of Marmalades
One of a miscellany of short observations from a trip to Scotland. It’s Elizabeth Barrett Browning meets Count von Count from Sesame Street: How do I love thee, Scotland? Let me count the ways. One, two, three: three kinds of … Continue reading
Edumacation and Unedification
One of a miscellany of short observations from a trip to Scotland. It is our first full day in Scotland, and full is the operative word. We sleep late, figure out how to use the tricky switched electrical sockets, resist … Continue reading
Drop. Snap. Repeat.
I am under no illusions: finding the airport bus at Edinburgh International Airport doesn’t rate as an impressive adventure-travel story. Continue reading
Travelling Since 16 Hours
We have been travelling since 16 hours. We don’t want to eat. We don’t want to drink. We don’t want anything. Continue reading
Cheap and Good; Good and Cheap
One of a miscellany of short observations from a trip to Scotland. £280. I look again. Yes, that’s what it says. £280. In the last 24 hours I have slept, oh, about 4 hours max. My first meal of this … Continue reading
In The Stack
As an adolescent, I wondered why countries couldn’t or wouldn’t solve their joint problems. How hard could it be? Now I treasure anything that we do get right. Continue reading
The View From Ten Thousand Feet
After hours of intermittent dozing in a space so cramped you couldn’t put convicts in it without provoking human rights complaints, my point of view is a tad jaundiced. All I want is to be once again in a place where throwing garbage on the floor is socially unacceptable. Continue reading